I almost puked on myself back in January after reading Donald Trump's tweet about the Women's March: “Beautiful weather all over our great country,” a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!” He knows why we marched, correct? This is another example of Mansplaining. “Mansplain” may be a mash-up of “man” and “explain," yes, this is a weird word.
Normally, when this happens to me its subtle things — interruptions and unasked-for explanations that leave me feeling like I'm overly sensitive that this behavior angers me. I feel ashamed that I am "worked" up by this.
When a man “mansplains” something to a woman, he interrupts or speaks over her to explain something that she already knows — indeed, something in which she may already be an expert — on the assumption that he must know more than she does. Sadly, this happens to me EVERY SINGLE time I go to a hotel gym. Usually, it's my "body alignment" or my weight routine that these "know it all's" bother me about. When men interrupt or presume to correct me it feels like they are saying “Shh. I know best.” But, really, who is the expert in this case? It's me, and I'm totally fine with you ignoring me. The latest instance was when I was doing wall sits on my beach vacation. This dude working out tried giving me tips on how to work my legs. I didn't ask for ideas or even make eye contact with him. He then went on to tell me and show me different exercises. Ugh! I know this guy wasn't purposely trying to devalue my experience that day, but he did! This dude just couldn’t stop himself from “helping out” with unsolicited and misinformed explanations.
Is this the world we live in now? I'm just supposed to accept these conversational dynamics as the norm?
What are your experiences?
Love,
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