Often, they don't even realize the damage they are doing to themselves, their mate and their marriage. Most people have a stereotypical idea about gossip and gossipers. Many probably envision housewives gabbing over the back fence about a neighbor's drinking problem. Or you may think of teenage girls exchanging malicious remarks about a classmate over the telephone. These perceptions, however, are not only sexist, they are wrong.
Woman are no more likely to gossip then men.
Both husbands and wives who are prone to gossip carry some of these common gossip traits. Some spouses talk incessantly but do little else. During their nonstop chatter, they may cover the same ground again and again. You see, gossips appear to be keeping a secret but aren't. They move like a magnet toward the latest personal problem and focus on that.