Neurologist gives epic response to male peer who tried to mansplain her own paper to her

Gender bias against women is prevalent in the professional world, particularly in STEM fields. Professor Tasha Stanton, known as @Tash_Stanton on X, shared an incident where a male peer mansplained a topic to her and cited her own research for reference. She posted on X: "Friends at conferences - please do not assume that the people you talk to do not know anything. I just got told that I should read what Stanton et al found about pain. I. Am. Stanton."

She explained the details of the incident in the thread and how she corrected her peer. "Just to be clear: I would never expect people to know what I look like! The more hilarious part of this was that the earlier part of the conversation had more of a condescending tone with recommendations of what I should read, which happened to be MY paper. Like, hey?" Stanton revealed. "I literally replied, 'I am Stanton,' held some serious eye contact and then gave a big smile," the professor shared, recalling the incident.

In response, the person was "visibly shocked, awkward silence" and "some attempted back-pedaling," Stanton wrote. "Then we both had a laugh. I told him that it was a massive compliment that he recommended my paper and that I was glad he enjoyed it and found it useful." The researcher is hopeful that the person will not outright assume that people don't know things after what happened, specifically when they are at a conference of peers. "We all make mistakes (I know I certainly have), but hopefully the message got across," Stanton stated. Professor Stanton had been invited to the conference to discuss the very same paper the man had commented on and her other work on osteoarthritis.

"It was just... this amazing, somewhat delicious moment because you just never get that opportunity to actually be like, 'Hold up there for a second friend. I am Stanton. I'm the one that you just mentioned,'" the professor remarked to Good Morning America. "It's really important to be able to stand up and call it as it is because that's not a great way to interact with someone at a conference. People will never learn if you don't call it out." As it turns out, the researcher isn't the only person who has gone through such a thing. Several other women took to the comments to share similar incidents.

@KidneyMyosin wrote, "Once had someone say to me (after I went through the introductory info on my poster) - 'Yes, but YOU did not discover THAT!' (likely implying that it was fundamental/background knowledge in the field). To which I looked them square in the eye and said, 'Actually, I did!'" @LizTunbridge shared, "I once had someone at my poster 'explain' to me what Tunbridge et al argued, even after I pointed out that I. Am. Tunbridge. I continued to argue with me about what I'd said. Seriously, petal, I know what I @£#&ing said." Meanwhile, @CGMMaher felt, "I suspect there is some gender bias here (unfortunately). Delegate probably thought Stanton's written words were so wise they must have come from an old grey-haired male professor."

This article originally appeared 2 months ago.