Mansplaining is a phenomenon that occurs, in my opinion, too frequently in a college classroom setting. For those who do not know what mansplaining is, here is the Merriam-Webster definition:
Now that we are four weeks into the school year, I have had enough time to identify all mansplainers in my classes and I now avoid sitting remotely near them. My theory is that they feel extra smart right now because they are fresh off their summer internship at daddy’s company where they watched adult men mansplain everything to their non-male counterparts. The result is a white-male-entitlement complex that found its way into the academic setting.
The absolute worst is when your professor puts you in a group with a mansplainer. They feel the need to reiterate simple concepts to their non-male peers, and they think their unsolicited instructions-for-dummies are welcomed and appreciated. Newsflash: I have functioning eardrums and I don’t need you to explain the exact same thing our professor said 10 seconds ago!
Kim Goodwin from BBC published an article in 2018 about mansplaining in the workplace. Goodwin cites that gendered communication is implemented in the classroom when children are in elementary school and boys receive more praise for participating than girls do when they participate. Women are also, in general, interrupted by men more than than they interrupt others. Does it sound familiar?
Gendered communication leads to preconceptions about women and men in any professional setting, regardless of their positions. Assertive women are viewed as bitchy and assertive men are viewed as leaders. The result? A normalized behavior, exhibited by men, that demeans their counterparts.
I don’t think that men intentionally mansplain in order to assert dominance or to make their colleagues feel inferior; however, the normalization of this behavior completely reinforces existing gender stereotypes in academia and other professional settings. It relies on the underlying assumption that a woman 1) lacks knowledge and 2) needs reinforcement from a man about any given concept in order to further understand that concept.
Regardless of intentions, mansplaining needs to stop because I am s*ck and t*red of it.