The Whip Crackers

“Crack the whip, Annie’s making an announcement!”

This is one of the sentences often exclaimed by my male colleagues when I would raise my voice to make a statement in front of a student committee, which mostly consisted of males. Whenever I delegate, make a comment, or raise my voice, fellow male students get out their smartphone and crack the virtual whip application. It certainly cracks them up every time. This behavior gave me something to think about: why is the whip cracked whenever I speak up? The women I know wouldn’t start cracking an electronic whip when a guy starts speaking in front of a group of people. Is this because it simply seems more natural that a man takes the rhetoric lead?

In her book Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg comments on similar experiences: “We evaluate people based on stereotypes. Our stereotype of men holds that they are providers, decisive, and driven. Our stereotype of women holds that they are caregivers, sensitive and communal. Because we characterize men and women in opposition to each other, professional achievement and all the traits associated with it get placed in the male column.” This passage explains not only my experience, but also that of many other women very well: while it seemed perfectly natural and familiar for one of the men to lead the group discussion, my same behavior was perceived as bossy and dominant, because it did not suit the stereotype of a woman. My colleagues’ whip-action may also be due to society’s deeply rooted image of women as a sex symbol. A driven and perhaps dominant woman can be seen as dominant such as a domina. This in turn triggers the image of a whip-cracking domina… Do I have to elaborate any further?

Getting this kind of negative attention can be disheartening for many women. Especially when it took overcoming insecurities to speak up in front of a group of people. I encourage women and men to point out their colleagues’ behavior and support females who do pluck up the courage to speak up. This is the only response that will point out such negative reactions and help avoiding it in the future.

Annamarie