While Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif’s ongoing feud is not a secret in any way, it became more than evident in a recent interview where the two were promoting Jagga Jasoos. This time round though, Ranbir’s behaviour in a show in particular, dredged up an issue that women in all walks of life may have faced at some point or the other — mansplaining — which refers to how a man often tries to explain something to a woman, in a condescending manner.
In this scenario, Ranbir overrode Katrina and tried to explain her character to the host of the show. He continuing to mansplain and Katrina grew more and more frustrated. Though thrown into the limelight because of the stature of these two B-town biggies, mansplaining exists in all walks of life. Most women were able to not only relate to the incident, but also share a few instances of their own.
Heena Sidhu, who is the first Indian shooter to reach number one rankings internationally, says that she has faced this phenomenon whenever she goes to the gym. “I’m not someone who needs to beef up or bulk up for my sport. I need stamina and stability exercises. I’ve often had male gym trainers try to explain what kinds of training I can add to my regime,” she says, ruefully.
Director Alankrita Srivastava says that mansplaining is something that many women have to face. “In fact, the reverse is also true. When someone is having a discussion with a man and a woman, it is almost always the man who is addressed more or asked for his expertise than the woman. And both men and women do this. It is behaviour like this that further perpetrates mansplaining,” she explains.
Having established the existence of the phenomenon, is there anyway in which mansplaining can be tackled? Advocate Mrunali Deshmukh says, “The best thing to do here is to shrug it off and take in what is being said, no matter how patronising the tone. If there’s some difference in the point of view or any different angle that is taken, then I try to take in that perspective. It’s best to just take their advise with a thanks, rather than rise to the occasion and fight about it. That just encourages them to patronise further,” she says, with a laugh.
