A leading academic has pushed back against calls to retire the term 'mansplaining', arguing it remains a crucial descriptor for a pervasive social phenomenon.
Contesting a Call for Retirement
The debate was ignited by a recent article from Guardian columnist Zoe Williams, who suggested the word 'mansplaining' has outlived its usefulness. In a direct response, Dr Amanda Nimon Peters, Professor of Leadership at Hult International Business School, has defended the term's continued relevance.
Dr Nimon Peters acknowledged that Williams's articles are often insightful but found her conclusion on this issue disappointing. She addressed the core of Williams's argument, which pointed out that the label is sometimes misapplied to knowledgeable men.
"No one is arguing that there are not many men who do indeed know what they are talking about," wrote Dr Nimon Peters. She contended that this occasional misapplication is insufficient justification to dismiss the underlying concept, warning it risks 'gaslighting' women about a genuine experience.
Research Backs the Phenomenon
The professor pointed to concrete evidence supporting the term's validity. She highlighted a research-based article published by The Conversation following Chancellor Rachel Reeves's use of the word.
That piece was authored by Professors Louise Ashley and Elena Doldor of Queen Mary University of London. Their work documented why mansplaining is a real issue and why Reeves was correct to reference it.
"Men and women can be both perpetrators and targets of mansplaining," Ashley and Doldor stated. "However, the term has particular force because it reflects deeper cultural patterns in which authority is still coded as male and, more specifically, white and middle or upper class."
The Root Cause: Perceived Authority
Dr Nimon Peters bolstered this with findings from her own research. She stated that implicit bias in how we judge others' expertise is so common it can be demonstrated with very small sample sizes.
She concluded with a powerful prognosis for the term's future: "'Mansplaining' reflects a real phenomenon, and the term will remain relevant so long as humans in general continue to see authority as the domain of men."
This exchange, published in the Guardian's letters section on 1 December, underscores an ongoing societal conversation about language, gender, and power structures.
