I saw a man smoking as he drove. Mentally, I compartmentalized him as a weak person who is slave to addiction. A bit further on I saw a woman driving with a cigarette. My passion thought was that she was trying to have her “moment” – I imagined her to be a liberated woman and in charge of herself. Instantly, I realized both thoughts were judgmental and gender discriminatory, resulting from preconceived notions – the result of a lifetime of experience, observations and readings. In this case, it didn’t matter too much as I am unlikely to interact with them ever. But what happens when we carry such preconceived notions into our everyday relationships and interactions ? Almost always such prejudices impact relationships. So, if a woman believes that men are disrespectful to women, she is going through approach every man she ever meets cautiously, and her interactions are bound to be stiff and wary. We keep striking at imagined enemies, reacting to past exper...