How Mansplaining Harms Women in STEM
Written by: Alicen Ricard
How many women out there can relate to talking about something you鈥檙e an expert in and are interrupted by a man, who might not be an expert in the same topic, who then proceeds to explain what you鈥檙e talking about to you? This is mansplaining and . The concept isn鈥檛 new, even if the word has only been around for the past six years or so. Women being 鈥渕ansplained鈥� in their career fields has always been a problem, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) or careers. In the podcast, one of the hosts who is a professional boxer says that men try to give her boxing advice all the time, some of it wrong, and that most of them don鈥檛 even box.
was first used to describe essay 鈥溾��. In this essay she tells the story of a party she and a friend went to where the host cut her off while she was talking about her latest book to tell her about this 鈥渧ery important book鈥� on the same topic that was just published. Turns out, not only was it her own book, he hadn鈥檛 even read it. When her essay was republished in 2012, the internet used the word 鈥渕ansplaining鈥� to describe what had happened to Rebecca and the . The word has even been added to the Merriam-Webster with the definition: "Mansplaining is, at its core, a very specific thing. It's what occurs when a man talks condescendingly to someone (especially a woman) about something he has incomplete knowledge of, with the mistaken assumption that he knows more about it than the person he's talking to does." The word may be new but the concept can be to an article from 1903 called 鈥溾��.
The internet didn鈥檛 stop there, and last year a new phrase was born: . The phase was coined on Twitter by astronomer Nicole Gugliucci and her friends. She tweeted 鈥淢y friends coined a word: hepeated. For when a woman suggests an idea and it's ignored, but then a guy says same thing and everyone loves it鈥� and next thing you know, the tweet is going viral, and we have a new word to describe this behavior. Gugliucci goes on to explain that the term can be used for more than just gender; it can apply to any 鈥渕inority鈥�.
So we know that this all exists, but what is the impact on women in STEM careers? So much pressure is put on women in these fields that they feel like they need to be perfect, and if someone 鈥渕ansplains鈥� something to them, it just further fuels the feeling of not being good enough. With men outnumbering women in these fields, . Women often feel as if they have to downplay any feminine style they may have to be in their careers. The bias against women in STEM fields is one of the main things that from going into these careers in the first place, .
The Internet is a prime place to find examples of mansplaining everywhere. Twitter is especially bad at showing this type of sexism. When astrophysicist Katie Mack saying 鈥淗onestly climate change scares the heck out of me and it makes me so sad to see what we鈥檙e losing because of it.鈥� it didn鈥檛 take long for people to start attacking her for it. One reply said 鈥淢aybe you should learn some actual SCIENCE then, and stop listening to the criminals pushing the #GlobalWarming SCAM!鈥� Katie鈥檚 reply proved she wasn鈥檛 going to stand for any mansplaining. The scientist responded with, 鈥淚 dunno, man, I already went and got a PhD in astrophysics. Seems like more than that would be overkill at this point.鈥� Exchanges like this are hardly rare on twitter as shown by more examples .
How the term and concept of 鈥渕ansplaining鈥� has been received greatly varies. Some people embrace it and run with it. There are articles explaining how 鈥渘ot to mansplain鈥� such as 鈥溾�� from Men鈥檚 Journal, 鈥溾�� from Men鈥檚 Health, and 鈥溾�� from The Tab. Others are adamant that we . It can and create double standards-- do it. A news blog from the UK argues that . Another article claims that men are . No matter your stance on whether mansplaining is a thing or not, and whether we should have a word for it, it is still a problem and a roadblock for women who are in STEM fields.
can cause women to be uncomfortable in their own careers and can keep women from entering STEM, or other male-dominated fields, in general. Our focus should be kept in retaining women in these fields and helping them to feel like they belong there. Maybe if people become more if they are mansplaining and stop it from happening, this task could be easier.