I've noticed it more that it's men that do it to women. If in the presence of other people they will say belittling things, nasty digs but it's always in front of others.
@QueenOfQuirk: Because men don't really care about what other men think about them as much as we care about what women think about us. We don't get very close with each other anyways, meanwhile women do seem to get very close with each other. Just my observation though.
You are not an idiot and I didn't mean in any way to imply that you are silly. If you're an idiot, I'm brain-dead. :-) I really hope that everything works out for you though Nelly .