LiCata, V. et al
As shown previously by several investigators, mansplaining is reflexive for many male-identifying scientists, with some scientists proposing that it may even be a natural instinct.
In this methodological review, we’ve analyzed the mansplaining literature and found that “discipline specific mansplaining” can have significantly more impact, but requires some rudimentary learning or training to supplement the basic instinctual behavior. Examples of discipline specific mansplaining in four different research areas are discussed herein, along with step-by-step protocols for implementation.
For Crystallographers
More women are going into crystallography nowadays, and it’s important for their non-crystallographer male colleagues to mansplain their research to them – similar to how Jim Watson mansplained Rosalind Franklin’s work to her, despite the well-known fact that Jim Watson barely knew simple algebra and frequently confused diffraction diagrams with tic-tac-toe games.
It’s always best in a highly mathematical field such as crystallography to open strong with a broad-based statement like “It’s quite gratifying to see so many more women going into a field with so much math in it.” This will disorient your female colleague momentarily as they try to parse whether this is a compliment or an insult (spoiler alert: it is an insult structured as a compliment!).
Then you could explain that Fourier transforms are named after a French mathematician named Fourier, and that they are extremely complicated trigonometric sums of sines and cosines that somehow add up to a molecular image.
When your female colleague gently reminds you that she teaches X-ray crystallography and generates X-rays in her own laboratory, be sure to tell her that X-rays are dangerous if not handled properly.
For Organic Chemists
With your female organic chemist colleagues, you must remember that these are women (i.e. people) who have access to harsh chemicals and caustic solvents. Do not attempt to mansplain their work back to them while they are holding any sort of flask or beaker filled with liquid. Remember that with proper misuse of interpersonal space, you can awkwardly trap them in conversation in a hallway, classroom, or seminar room.
Take such an opportunity to remind them that organic solvents should always be handled in a fume hood, but do so in an off-hand, semi-passive-aggressive sort of way, such as: “I hope the fume hoods are still working okay for you. Let me know if not.” This is especially effective if you actually have nothing to do with fume hood maintenance.
Another useful mansplaining tactic for your organic chemistry colleagues is the time-honored game of alternate pronunciation. If you are lucky enough for your female organic chemistry colleague to mention a named organic reaction during your conversation, be sure to suggest an alternate pronunciation: “I believe it is pronounced Grin-Gee-Yard by a lot of people.”
It goes without saying that there is no need to have any clue what you’re talking about.
For Amazon Rainforest Fieldwork
Many ecologists do field work in exotic places around the globe, and leading and funding a data-collecting field expedition requires excellent organizational and research skills that are in no way gender specific. However, it is still important that you explain to your female ecology colleagues that doing fieldwork in the Amazon rainforest is potentially dangerous – for a variety of environmental, cultural, and political reasons. It should be obvious that it is best if you can explain these dangers to your female colleague immediately after she has returned from fieldwork in the Amazon, and before she can tell you about the several different dangerous situations she successfully mitigated during her recent trip – or better yet: by talking over her as she starts to tell you these things.
Don’t forget to mansplain to her that the Amazon is named after an ancient female-led society. Mansplaining the risks of fieldwork to a female colleague works best if your own research does not involve any fieldwork.
For Mechanical Engineers
If you are ever blessed by running into the rare and elusive female Mechanical Engineer, count your lucky stars. Although she undoubtedly could run intellectual circles around you before she has her morning coffee, that is no reason not to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity for mansplaining.
You could play the math card – we all know that works with any technical field, but why rely on that old saw for such a rare and special encounter. Instead, discuss at length how engineering requires excellent three-dimensional visualization skills, and how men, by virtue of their hunter-gatherer evolution, have enhanced spatial perception and so it is extremely impressive that she is succeeding in the field.
Or launch into a detailed explanation of how you changed your own oil in your car once, but then realized you’d actually filled the windshield-wiper fluid reservoir with oil, but thanks to your innate mechanical skills you were able to fix the problem (by buying a new car).
Or let her know that your uncle was an alcoholic and also an engineer, and that has long left you with a nagging question of how hard a profession it really is.
And don’t forget to tell her that most engineers work on military projects and then ask her how she deals with the morality of that (ask her this regardless of what she tells you she works on).
