College student issues powerful message after ‘sexist’ exchange with male classmates: ‘This made me so mad’
A student goes viral after posting a video showing the number of times she is interrupted during class.
Claire McDonnell is a PhD student at the University of Iowa. The 22-year-old is one of only four women in her science and finance program, according to BuzzFeed News.
McDonnell shared a TikTok video in late September describing one of the most problematic parts of this inequality. The clip, which now has more than 3.3 million views, shows how often she is interrupted by her male classmates.
"My male classmates love to listen to my posts and to let me finish my sentences," she said ironically about her video.
The clip is a compilation of multiple moments, which McDonnell explained to BuzzFeed, all of which occurred during a single zoom call. She recorded the video during a meeting for a group project and originally planned to send it to another friend in the class.
McDonnell told BuzzFeed that after watching it again, she decided that this was a good example of "how often this happens to women in a male-dominated area." So she posted the clip on TikTok.
"Live footage of a woman in STEM" is the on-screen text of her video.
STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and math, is an area of study where women are massively underrepresented.
According to a new study by sociologist Kim Weeden, 18 percent of all college graduates major in MINT subjects, 8 percent of which are women.
The problem also goes back to high school. 26 percent of Weeden's male pre-college respondents said they plan to attend STEM majors, compared with just 13 percent of female respondents.
McDonnell's video was recognized by thousands of commentators who supported her way of highlighting "sexist" behavior in class.
"That made me so mad," wrote one user.
"I would have screamed," added another.
"Just wait until you get to work and everyone is talking about you," warned another.
Despite the reactions, McDonell warned that this "happens every day." The student told BuzzFeed that she hoped she could shed more light on the subject.
"From the outside, you almost have to laugh at how awful it is," she said. "It's a very serious problem that brings to light how many women are experiencing it. That has to change. Men have to be willing to make these changes."
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The post A College Student's Mighty TikTok, Reveals How Many Times Her Male Classmates Talk About Her, first appeared in In The Know.
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