Shania Twain’s singsongy twang plays over a slideshow of creator Lauren-Ann Graham (@nasa.lag). At first she’s being captured in the context of a wistful, feminine photoshoot. Then she is posing in front of the spacecrafts in the Space Coast.
This creator shares her story as a professional engineer still being mansplained to at an auto store.
The Shania Twain Mansplaining trend
@nasa.lag is not the first woman to post about her mansplaining experience. She is one of thousands of women jumping on the new trend. Women create slideshows of themselves moments after being the subject of mansplaining. Specifically, they are being mansplained to about their own fields of expertise.
Graham took her car to a shop thinking she would pay for her services and leave in peace, only to have the employee helping her mansplain the mechanics of her car. The rebuttal? Thank you, I’m actually a rocket scientist. The Daily Dot has reached out to Graham to confirm the details and whether or not she let him fix her car.
And in case you were wondering if there’s any greater lick back than being an actual acme of mechanists, Shania Twain has the answer. She personally commented on Graham’s success: “Okay, so you’re a rocket scientist? That DOES impress me much.” It’s a lyric from her late ’90s hit, “That Don’t Impress Me Much.”
The creator responds, flabbergasted that her NASA video received this kind of heat, “Oh my gosh my jaw is on the ground!! You’re ICONIC!”
Is mansplaining only mansplaining when she knows the answer?
No. It seems obvious but we are gonna break it down anyway. Mansplaining defined by Merriam-Webster: “to explain something to a woman in a condescending way that assumes she has no knowledge about the topic.” Other online sources specify that there is generally some misinformation included in the mansplanation as well. The deliverer is not even sure of his information. Or in some cases, like at autoshops, when the perpetrator can immediately make an economic benefit, it is intentional disinformation.
The lengthy monologues are, therefore, not out of excitement to share, but are bumptious swings taken at seemingly dependable opportunities for casual condescension. All to show that not only is it annoying, but mansplaining is the topical consequence to an undercurrent of deeply ingrained misogyny.
Other mansplaining moments
In 2023, an article published by Jalopnik depicted first-hand experience of altered treatment in the car world by Victoria Scott, an automotive journalist and a trans woman. She reviews new releases and goes as far as covering the politics of Tesla. She had the unique experience of speaking to men in the automotive world before and after transition. The details of her experience are in her article “The Answer To The Car Industry’s Sexism Problem: More Women, More Men In Heels.” The workers at her regular auto shops didn’t recognize her as a return customer. You bet the treatment was different.
Shania Twain’s ’97 hit “That Don’t Impress Me Much” has been the feature in a snowballing trend of women showing their daily experiences with casual misogyny. Look up “that don’t impress me much mansplaining trend” and you will probably not be surprised how much you find. Thousands of women from police officers to doctors to sports commentators face regular aggravation talking to men about their professions. It’s almost as if men are unwilling to accept women as legitimate contributors to society. Women like Lauren-Ann and Victoria Scott are just out here documenting it.
@nasa.lag I can fix your car or your spacecraft🚀🤷♀️
♬ That dont impress me much – MusicVideos102 👑
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