Mansplained

Tuesday, February 5, 2013
I've worked in male-dominated fields my entire adult life, and I have to tell you - I am sick to fucking death of being mansplained.

I am a top performer in my field. I've always been professionally successful, always been in the top 10-15% of sailors, or technicians, or engineers who do the same work I do. And I've always been in the minority, the only woman in the room, the only woman on my team, the only woman with my qualifications.

And for the last 30 years, I've had to listen to entitled, self-impressed gits talk over me, or marginalize my thoughts or opinions, or present my ideas as their own in the same meeting where I just presented my idea, or just ignore me altogether.

It's not my job to stroke the ego of some Good Ole Boy who has never learned to work with women who are qualified to do work other than "women's work." It's not my job to let a man take credit for the work I perform because it's inconceivable that a woman might perform better than a man. It's not my job to cater to whatever territorial pissing contest some man has in mind when it comes to my professional working environment. It's just not, and I'm not willing to act like it is because it makes men uncomfortable to have their unearned privilege challenged by an uppity woman.

So I'm going to start taking my cue from my new personal hero, Hillary Clinton,* who smacked the shit out of some mansplainers recently in Washington, DC. I can't even tell you how much I loved how she conducted herself, and the next time this happens to me, my response will absolutely be, "Are you still talking?"



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*H/T on the link to Sista Stacey.

5 comments:

mom in northern said...

Guess I missed her performance...shut off from the world in rehab right now...You must fill me in.
Love ya

Warner said...

Mom in northern, it was fair to middlin impressive.

I've seen boors do the same thing to men.

Karen said...

Once again, I offer a silent thank you to the fact that I am retired. My career in I.T. was successful in spite of numerous (more than I can count) attempts by that other sex to steal my work, derail my credibility and minimize my contributions.

Gypsy Chaos said...

sigh. You eloquently write about my life.

I hadn't subscribed in 2011 when I stumbled upon your blog. I just found it again because I googled myself - which led to my one comment made in 2011.

I had the same reaction to Clinton's speech. I've had the same things happen as you have. I too worked in the military industrial complex, though not in IT. (If I was an IT expert, I might have a job....)

Anyway-- thank you for putting into words my experience and reactions.

Funny thing - since March/May 2011, my lilsis and her husband have relocated to this place, Parker, CO, in July 2011. His gov't job moved, so they did too - and she left her USN job behind.
My mother followed in Dec 2012 - she's in Aurora, CO.

Tis certainly a small world.

Janiece said...

Welcome back, Gypsy Chaos.