Professor has own research paper 'mansplained' to her by friend: 'You don’t know what you’re saying'

A woman of color with a Ph.D. is wondering if she’s wrong for acknowledging that her own work was being “mansplained” to her.

She discussed the issue on Reddit’s “Am I the A******? (AITA)” forum. During a meet-up with friends in academia, she met a mutual friend, a man currently pursuing a Master’s degree in the same field.

Once the man realized they were in the same field, he instantly started quizzing her on the “basics” of her field. Then, he started to mansplain a paper he had read to her. What he didn’t know was that it was a paper she herself co-authored.

“I interrupted at one point to correct him. He tried to say I was wrong and I just don’t get it blah blah blah,” she wrote. “Eventually a friend cuts in and says, ‘Dude, it’s literally her paper, you don’t know what you’re saying.’”

The guy gave her the cold shoulder for the rest of the night. Afterward, a friend told her she should have been forthcoming about her paper and credentials. They said, “It was embarrassing for him to correct him.”

Redditors sided with the poster on this issue.

“He embarrassed himself,” a user said.

“Dude got overexcited and assumed that he knew more than the person he just met who’s in the same field,” another wrote.

“He did not ask, he assumed he knew more than you,” a Redditor commented.

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