How Mansplaining Discourages Women From Sports
By: Stark Raving
Tags: Equality, Feminism, Masculin, Sports, Women

How Mansplaining Discourages Women From Sports

It’s everywhere and it’s not helpful.

Photo by Jeffrey F Lin on Unsplash

Let’s be honest, there are enough reasons to bow out of a workout. We really didn’t need one more. And then along came the mansplainers.

There is one lurking in every gym, climbing wall, race track or sports pitch, waiting — actually, not waiting — to be asked to dispense their dodgy but plentiful advice to any woman around.

So of course in my new Muay Thai class, there is one such guy. Let’s call him Jim. In the space of an hour yesterday morning, Jim had explained many kicks and punches I already knew, confused me by saying several things that were the exact opposite of how my coach is teaching them, made me feel self-conscious about everything I was doing, forced me to waste time doing things according to his instructions so he wouldn’t be offended. As I was leaving, he dashed up to me to explain how I should cook for losing weight (because obviously, that is my aim, as a woman doing exercise …) and how to turn on my scooter.

I know that he is just trying to be helpful, and I’d like to return the favour by explaining the effect mansplaining actually has.

First of all, Jim is an amazing fighter and has a lot of knowledge that I don’t have. The thing is, he isn’t a teacher, and coming along and explaining things often goes against the process my actual teacher has, which is progressive, pedagogic and prevents me from getting hurt in the process. In this particular case it was just kicks on a punchbag, but back in my aerial silks class in Paris, a guy used to come along and explain figures to us, which was often downright dangerous. Because he could do them but not necessarily explain them correctly, so we would do them — because that is the polite thing to do when someone has explained something to you — except when you’re 6 metres off the ground, you really want someone who knows how to teach you all the safety precautions needed not to plummet to the ground.

Secondly, it is a demand on your time which takes away from your workout — yet another time when we are forced to turn our attention away from our own occupations to provide an ego boost to a guy. I used to take zumba classes and I’ll never forget the time when the only two guys in the class came up to the front of the room, turned off our teacher’s music, and informed her that they were gonna teach us a dance. She was clearly ill-at-ease and feeling awkward at being pushed out of her role, in the middle of a song, when they hadn’t cleared it with her beforehand. In fact everyone in the room was nonplussed, and yet none of us said anything, we just did their silly dance.

Lastly, and most importantly, mansplaining makes women feel like they are not in their place. Having every exercise explained to me makes me feel self-conscious and incompetent, which are two things women are already encouraged to feel about their bodies, and really don’t need any more of. There are places I don’t go anymore just because I know that if I do, as soon as I start my workout, a guy will be along to give me some unsolicited advice, and I will feel uncomfortable. I will feel like I don’t belong. Since this often happens in spaces that are already connotated as being “men’s spaces,” such as gyms, it adds another level of discomfort to the one that is already there.

I know these mansplainers mean well, but intentions aren’t enough when what you’re doing is actually harmful.