Student Records Male Classmates Repeatedly Interrupting Her During Zoom Calls And Her TikTok Goes Viral
Claire McDonnell is 1 of 4 women among almost 60 men in a graduate science and finance program at the University of Iowa. And the minority have a problem.
“Some of us girls have the top standings in the program, and no matter how experienced we are, none of the men seem to take us seriously,” the 22-year-old told BuzzFeed News.
More info: TikTok
Image credits: cleasel
McDonnell got reminded of that earlier this week, when she was on a Zoom call for a commercial underwriting group project. Her male classmates were repeatedly interrupting and shutting down her ideas. It got so bad, that the woman even began recording it.
McDonnell said she only planned to send the video to a friend and another woman in the program. But after she watched the clip back and thought, she thought it was such a great example of “how often this happens to women in a male-dominated field,” she posted it on her public TikTok account.
There, it immediately went viral, and has already been viewed over 2.5 million times.
@cleaselmy male classmates love listening to my input and letting me finish my sentences ❤️. true respectful kings 🥰. ##fyp ##womeninstem ##misogyny ##men♬ original sound – Claire McDonnell
Women from all fields have been relating to the video
I am a woman who owns and runs an estate sale company with a female partner. We do all the organization work, appraising items and selling it at the sale. We're 59 and 65 years old. We still get men who ask if there's a man they can talk to about tools, a vehicle, lawnmowers, generators, etc. It's maddening.
To everyone who reads this: This Rokas guy is just trying to be an idiot and we have to pay him no mind.
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Yep. OMG. Back in my day? It was *worse*. You didn't get into STEM if you were female, unless you did thrice as much, and thrice as well, and then? You had to dodge the male professors who saw female students as either secretaries or sex objects. And that was the early 1990s... *sigh* And in med school? People asked "Why not just be a nurse?" (OMG.) And and and... Yep. I can fix the car, the house, and the broken leg, but I need to go cook supper and hush. (And some of that came from WOMEN.) RAISE BETTER PEOPLE.
During my PhD work one of the men in the program told me I should be home by five every evening because my son "deserved a childhood". Same guy got mad at me "acting cute" when I told him I would only make time to train him if he stopped showing up 20 minutes late. This was about 5 years ago.
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Thanks to all the men who so graciously came on here to mansplain how this has zero to do with her being a woman. We appreciate you correcting this woman on her frequent, painfully common experiences as a woman in a male dominated room, as well as the thousands of other women who have experienced this their entire lives. You surely know better than all of them...obviously the only way they would be sexist is if they actually screamed "I hate women!!"...nothing short of that can be sexist, right guys? These silly females, I swear.
I hope you say this to white ppl who insist racism doesnt exist.
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This hurts because I play AFL (Aussie Rules) and that is obviously male dominated and when I used to play in a all boys team the amount of times they ignored me calling for the ball was ridiculous. RAISE BETTER MEN (and humans in general)
Men would also talk over seemingly weaker men, or the ones who shut up after being interrupted. In the conversation men tend to let the ones on the higher level of hierarchy (or more influential) speak, and they would gladly interrupt the peers to get their point across (sometimes it's the same point someone with a weaker voice was making a second ago). Women have to be more assertive; they have two factors working against them - a perception that women aren't likely to be on the higher level of hierarchy, and their ingrained (usually by upbringing) passive approach in the conversations or arguments. But I bet they will be very surprised how little it takes (being assertive, consistent, but still polite) to change the things around in their environment. We don't have to change the world. We only have to change the things around us.
I was going to make a long comment. Deleted it. But this^ There are currently 3 comments right now, two of which don’t see the sexism. Maybe it isn’t, maybe it’s just rude pricks. My money is on the woman/female in STEM saying this is her experience.
“I think we have trouble communicating. Shall I clap every time I finish?”
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I work with a boatload of men. They don't interrupt me, they just wait until they think I'm out of earshot and bad mouth me.
If a woman can tell the POTUS, "I'm not done speaking," so can the rest of us! Just like any child, they will eventually learn. My ex-husband and my son-in-law would never show this disrespect to any woman. They both had good parenting and strong mothers
The field of study I went into didn't have this problem. I am a history major and in most of my classes, everyone listened to each other. It may not entirely be because she is a woman, but part of it is. I seriously doubt that the male classmates interrupt each other like this. She should not have to shout or be rude to be heard. I have had to deal with this before as well. At one point, I was the only female delivery driver and when it was my turn to take a delivery, my coworkers would not come to the dish area and let me know they just took it themselves. They never did this to each other. It's hard for women to work in male dominated fields. It's even harder when men say that we are overreacting or lying.
Seeing this is truly ticked me off. When I get older (get a job, go to college) anyone who interrupts me or anyone else gets a *FIGURATIVE* slap to the face.
I'm a female with an advanced engineering degree and a volunteer hockey coach (house teams) in Michigan. It sucks.
I've read through some of these comments. And there are two posters in particular that I'd like to address. Bone Daddy and fuggnuggins. I truly can't believe that there are still knuckledragging neanderthals like this still allowed to roam in society. I'm sure they're both a couple of frustrated mouth breathers, living in mom's basement and every woman they've come in contact with has not given them the time of day. Perhaps if they worked on their social skills instead of trying to insult normal, decent people they wouldn't be so bitter. Bored Panda should just shut them off. They offer nothing to any discussion.
Not that I dispute that men can do such a thing to women, but it almost seemed more like she'd accidentally muted it and they literally couldn't hear her. (I am a software developer and haven't run into that much in my career, but I did run into that kind of behavior in college. However, it just honestly seemed like they literally didn't even hear her.)
I was one of the few female technical writers at my company. On my first day the men ignored me. It was assumed I would hang out with the female clerical staff (who were a lot more fun). When a new guy started he was immediately asked to lunch with the fellows. When I took the new guy over to introduce him to another group (all men), they started asking him questions he couldn't possibly have known the answer to yet. I did know the answer. Discrimination was built into the culture. And that was before my group gradually transitioned to male evangelicals. When the company offered voluntary resignation, I took it. Never regretted it.
It's "Private" and I can't see it without signing up for TikTok? Pass.
I am 72 years old, and I worked jobs women were nort "supposed" to do back in the 70's and 80's. I drove an 18 wheeler. worked on high, end fancy cars and wired houses. I guess I'm stubborn, I never take NO for an answer.
Try looking and dressing like a serious scholar instead of making faces and dressing like a little kid if you want to be taken even remotely seriously, lol.
I'm not denying that sexism and mansplaining is rampant (and moreso in male-dominated fields), but this looks like someone who has muted themselves on Zoom - something I do often by accident, and something I would expect deliberately from a social media account desperate to rile people up for attention. Skepticism very high at this point.
Happened to me once during a discord game lol i was kinda frustrated till i found out i was muted the whole time
Load More Replies...
Wowie, it's almost like you should've listened the first time. Weird how that is. Get off your lazy bum and go make your own damn sandwich, we don't want to hear your crap either.
Load More Replies... 
you could hear that right? Did you hear them interrupt one another? If you're a man, you have NO IDEA how often this happens in business. Men talk over us constantly b/c they think they are more important.
Load More Replies... That's because it often IS about sexism. Yes, sometimes it's just jerks in general but it is often an issue for women to be ignored by or interrupted by men.
Load More Replies... Yes, some people are just jerks who like to interrupt. But it is a common experience for women to be talked over by men or to have their ideas ignored and then when a man makes the same suggestion, people pay more attention. Sexism is not a trivial first world problem.
Load More Replies... I am a woman who owns and runs an estate sale company with a female partner. We do all the organization work, appraising items and selling it at the sale. We're 59 and 65 years old. We still get men who ask if there's a man they can talk to about tools, a vehicle, lawnmowers, generators, etc. It's maddening.
To everyone who reads this: This Rokas guy is just trying to be an idiot and we have to pay him no mind.
Load More Replies... Yep. OMG. Back in my day? It was *worse*. You didn't get into STEM if you were female, unless you did thrice as much, and thrice as well, and then? You had to dodge the male professors who saw female students as either secretaries or sex objects. And that was the early 1990s... *sigh* And in med school? People asked "Why not just be a nurse?" (OMG.) And and and... Yep. I can fix the car, the house, and the broken leg, but I need to go cook supper and hush. (And some of that came from WOMEN.) RAISE BETTER PEOPLE.
During my PhD work one of the men in the program told me I should be home by five every evening because my son "deserved a childhood". Same guy got mad at me "acting cute" when I told him I would only make time to train him if he stopped showing up 20 minutes late. This was about 5 years ago.
Load More Replies... Thanks to all the men who so graciously came on here to mansplain how this has zero to do with her being a woman. We appreciate you correcting this woman on her frequent, painfully common experiences as a woman in a male dominated room, as well as the thousands of other women who have experienced this their entire lives. You surely know better than all of them...obviously the only way they would be sexist is if they actually screamed "I hate women!!"...nothing short of that can be sexist, right guys? These silly females, I swear.
I hope you say this to white ppl who insist racism doesnt exist.
Load More Replies... This hurts because I play AFL (Aussie Rules) and that is obviously male dominated and when I used to play in a all boys team the amount of times they ignored me calling for the ball was ridiculous. RAISE BETTER MEN (and humans in general)
Men would also talk over seemingly weaker men, or the ones who shut up after being interrupted. In the conversation men tend to let the ones on the higher level of hierarchy (or more influential) speak, and they would gladly interrupt the peers to get their point across (sometimes it's the same point someone with a weaker voice was making a second ago). Women have to be more assertive; they have two factors working against them - a perception that women aren't likely to be on the higher level of hierarchy, and their ingrained (usually by upbringing) passive approach in the conversations or arguments. But I bet they will be very surprised how little it takes (being assertive, consistent, but still polite) to change the things around in their environment. We don't have to change the world. We only have to change the things around us.
I was going to make a long comment. Deleted it. But this^ There are currently 3 comments right now, two of which don’t see the sexism. Maybe it isn’t, maybe it’s just rude pricks. My money is on the woman/female in STEM saying this is her experience.
“I think we have trouble communicating. Shall I clap every time I finish?”
Load More Replies... I work with a boatload of men. They don't interrupt me, they just wait until they think I'm out of earshot and bad mouth me.
If a woman can tell the POTUS, "I'm not done speaking," so can the rest of us! Just like any child, they will eventually learn. My ex-husband and my son-in-law would never show this disrespect to any woman. They both had good parenting and strong mothers
The field of study I went into didn't have this problem. I am a history major and in most of my classes, everyone listened to each other. It may not entirely be because she is a woman, but part of it is. I seriously doubt that the male classmates interrupt each other like this. She should not have to shout or be rude to be heard. I have had to deal with this before as well. At one point, I was the only female delivery driver and when it was my turn to take a delivery, my coworkers would not come to the dish area and let me know they just took it themselves. They never did this to each other. It's hard for women to work in male dominated fields. It's even harder when men say that we are overreacting or lying.
Seeing this is truly ticked me off. When I get older (get a job, go to college) anyone who interrupts me or anyone else gets a *FIGURATIVE* slap to the face.
I'm a female with an advanced engineering degree and a volunteer hockey coach (house teams) in Michigan. It sucks.
I've read through some of these comments. And there are two posters in particular that I'd like to address. Bone Daddy and fuggnuggins. I truly can't believe that there are still knuckledragging neanderthals like this still allowed to roam in society. I'm sure they're both a couple of frustrated mouth breathers, living in mom's basement and every woman they've come in contact with has not given them the time of day. Perhaps if they worked on their social skills instead of trying to insult normal, decent people they wouldn't be so bitter. Bored Panda should just shut them off. They offer nothing to any discussion.
Not that I dispute that men can do such a thing to women, but it almost seemed more like she'd accidentally muted it and they literally couldn't hear her. (I am a software developer and haven't run into that much in my career, but I did run into that kind of behavior in college. However, it just honestly seemed like they literally didn't even hear her.)
I was one of the few female technical writers at my company. On my first day the men ignored me. It was assumed I would hang out with the female clerical staff (who were a lot more fun). When a new guy started he was immediately asked to lunch with the fellows. When I took the new guy over to introduce him to another group (all men), they started asking him questions he couldn't possibly have known the answer to yet. I did know the answer. Discrimination was built into the culture. And that was before my group gradually transitioned to male evangelicals. When the company offered voluntary resignation, I took it. Never regretted it.
It's "Private" and I can't see it without signing up for TikTok? Pass.
I am 72 years old, and I worked jobs women were nort "supposed" to do back in the 70's and 80's. I drove an 18 wheeler. worked on high, end fancy cars and wired houses. I guess I'm stubborn, I never take NO for an answer.
Try looking and dressing like a serious scholar instead of making faces and dressing like a little kid if you want to be taken even remotely seriously, lol.
I'm not denying that sexism and mansplaining is rampant (and moreso in male-dominated fields), but this looks like someone who has muted themselves on Zoom - something I do often by accident, and something I would expect deliberately from a social media account desperate to rile people up for attention. Skepticism very high at this point.
Happened to me once during a discord game lol i was kinda frustrated till i found out i was muted the whole time
Load More Replies... Wowie, it's almost like you should've listened the first time. Weird how that is. Get off your lazy bum and go make your own damn sandwich, we don't want to hear your crap either.
Load More Replies... you could hear that right? Did you hear them interrupt one another? If you're a man, you have NO IDEA how often this happens in business. Men talk over us constantly b/c they think they are more important.
Load More Replies... That's because it often IS about sexism. Yes, sometimes it's just jerks in general but it is often an issue for women to be ignored by or interrupted by men.
Load More Replies... Yes, some people are just jerks who like to interrupt. But it is a common experience for women to be talked over by men or to have their ideas ignored and then when a man makes the same suggestion, people pay more attention. Sexism is not a trivial first world problem.
Load More Replies...
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