If you are chronically online like me, you might have seen the women in male fields trend that's on TikTok and Instagram.
Usually, the background song is Anaconda by Nikki Minaj and it features women with smug looks on their faces and a quote about having behaved in a way that would normally be attributed to men. These examples are made up, but fit the gist of the posts.
Some are about professional life.
“I interrupted him and then I rephrased his idea and took credit for it.”
“He told me that he wanted to get a doctorate in chemistry and I asked him how he would meet a nice woman that way.”
Some are more personal.
“I texted him that I would be on my way home after this drink and then stayed out six more hours and blocked his calls.”
“I said that I would watch the kids while he napped and then went to the bathroom for an hour.”
These posts are humorous and sometimes eerily familiar, but many point to or explicitly mention warning signs of abuse or toxicity. There's also a resounding relatability to the trend. We have all met this guy.
It's not even exclusive to women. Anyone who is marginalized needs to work twice as hard and be twice as good as everyone else just to get on even ground.
Anyway, a man recently asked me how to do an op-ed for public radio and I asked him how he planned to record the audio with all those kids in the background.
I'm Nia Springer-Norris and this is my perspective.
