Being instructed on an activity you are an expert in can be both infantilizing and frustrating. Now, throw in some sexist bias, and you’ve got yourself a serious and enraging case of mansplaining. A professional female golf player exemplified the maddening phenomenon after exposing the uncomfortable moment a man interrupted her session to teach her how to execute an activity she already excels in. An expert in gender studies has since reacted to the incident.
Highlights
- Pro golfer Georgia Ball faced mansplaining during a session, a viral video showed.
- Georgia, a PGA professional, offers $91 Zoom golf lessons.
- A Cambridge professor explained that mansplaining stems from socialized belief in the importance of male opinions.
Georgia Ball, a professional golfer with the UK’s Professional Golfers' Association (PGA), captured the uncomfortable moment a man tried to explain her own swing to her.
The athlete regularly films her golf sessions and documents her life as a professional golfer to her 165,900 followers on TikTok, which she also uses to coach others in the sport.
With Zoom golf lessons she charges $91 for, it's safe to say that Georgia is knowledgeable about her physical profession.
Georgia Ball, a professional golfer, captured the uncomfortable moment a man tried to explain her own swing to her
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
But on Wednesday (February 21), Georgia proved that despite her impressive resumé in the field, she wasn’t safe from mansplainers, as she showcased in a video that quickly became viral, amassing 10.1 million views.
In the video, which she posted on Tiktok, Georgia is seen taking a swing when, all of a sudden, a man can be heard interrupting: “Excuse me, what you’re doing there? You shouldn’t be doing that.”
Georgia, who seemingly appears to be very confused, turns to the manly voice and silently listens as the stranger inserts his instructions on how to golf.
Georgia regularly films her golf sessions for her 165,900 followers, but this time, she captured the moment she was being mansplained to
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
“You’re doing too slow on the way up,” the man is heard saying at some point.
“Ok, I’m going through a swing change at the minute, so…” Georgia is seen replying, keeping her cool.
The man, who doesn’t leave Georgia alone, continues to instruct her, arguing that he has played golf for “20 years.”
Georgia is a pro-golfer with the Professional Golfers' Association as well as a golf coach
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
As Georgia proceeds to take an impressive swing, the man appears to take credit for it, saying: “See how beautiful that was?”
“Laughing in shock at what this guy is saying,” Georgia wrote in the video.
The pro golfer is seen laughing at the whole situation and even explaining that her process was something that “the best golfers in the world” do to improve their game.
The man didn't leave Georgia alone and continued to instruct her before taking credit for her own swing
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
Commenting on the clip, Georgia confessed: "This was a bit awkward, not going to lie. I couldn't help but laugh. I was lost for words!"
People were stunned, as a TikTok user commented: "The way he cuts you off. The way he took credit for your swing and the way you strike the ball."
"Mansplaining" is a term used to describe a situation in which a man condescendingly explains something to a woman
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
A separate individual chimed in: “I’ve been driving for 25 years but I’m not about to give Lewis Hamilton some pointers.”
"Mansplaining" is a term used to describe a situation in which a man condescendingly explains something to a woman in a manner that assumes she has less knowledge or understanding about the topic simply because of her gender. The internet is full of mansplaining memes that raise awareness of it.
Dictionaries gave the word “mansplaining” its origin around 2010, which was inspired by the work of American writer Rebecca Solnit.
"Men mansplain because their privileged structural position has socialized them to believe that their opinions are important," a professor of gender history explained
Image credits: georgiagolfcoach
“However, the phenomenon of men being overconfident and talking over women has been noted for many decades, with Punch running a famous cartoon in 1988 that showed a kind of mansplaining in the workplace,” Lucy Delap, a professor of modern British and gender history at the University of Cambridge, told Bored Panda in an email.
The history of feminisms expert highlighted the work of feminist scholar Dale Spender in Man Made Language, which was also very significant in the 1970s for showing how men spoke more often than women, including over them, even though misogynist stereotypes commonly depicted women as talking a lot.
Professor Delap explained: "Men mansplain because their privileged structural position has socialized them to believe that their opinions are important."
"Men take comfort and feel powerful through being competent and knowledgeable," the professor said
“You would, of course, find the same patterns within any social system – white voices over racialized and indigenous voices, for example, and non-disabled voices over disabled people.”
She continued: “Men take comfort and feel powerful through being competent and knowledgeable, and [they] are sometimes unable to see that this might close them off from other kinds of expertise and skill.
“And golf is still heavily culturally dominated by images of male golfers.”
Georgia's video continued to infuriate people on social media
