By Mia Hanuska
Taking up a new interest is hard. I get it. Maybe you joined a club, or your friend introduced you to new music, or you finally started that thing you’ve always wanted to do. You finally made the decision to begin something new, then you run into the inevitable—gatekeepers. They’re the worst. You’re not allowed to call yourself part of the group unless you know every little thing about it. You don’t care about an obscure fact from 1973? Apparently, you’re no longer allowed to be a part of the community. It makes people feel that they’re an “imposter” because they don’t know every single thing about an interest. And not to generalize, but I see this with many male-dominated activities and interests, specifically music, STEM, and video games. As soon as a woman shows a lick of interest in something, but doesn’t know the little facts, she isn’t a real fan.
For example, take band shirts. Videos of people going up to others, mainly women, and asking them to “name three songs from [xyz band]” circulate all around the internet, claiming they’re calling people out for not knowing the band. Women are targeted for this because of the stereotype that women are only in it for the fashion, which is not only a sexist and unfair belief, but frankly untrue—plus, even if they do wear it because it looks cool, what’s wrong with that?
This is a form of sexism extremely prevalent in the world of STEM as well. Men doubting women’s knowledge of cars, machinery, and tools; gatekeeping the industry, and thus, making it harder for women. When talking to a Westmont alum (who prefers to stay anonymous), she told me how one guy at her co-op tried to say her car takes premium gas because it has a turbocharger. This alum co-ops in a car manufacturing plant and studies as an engineer; she has taken courses with engine simulations and labs that already taught her about engines and the gas they require. Plus, her car manual even says that her car doesn’t take premium gas! Simply, men aren’t used to women knowing things in STEM, and instead resort to “mansplaining” and making women feel they are imposters, and based on my and others’ experiences, I believe this is to further strengthen their ego and feelings of intellectual superiority over women. Plus, I’ve encountered this too as a part of a STEM-based club. If I don’t know certain designs or make mistakes, I am looked down upon much more than my male peers. When I exhibit less skill in something, instead of receiving tips on how to improve, someone comes to do it for me. Men will simply assume I will do something wrong, yet have total confidence in male members who often have less experience than me. Even in high school young girls must work much harder to gain the respect of the boys around them, especially in STEM. The issue of the lack of women in STEM is a huge topic, but a large part must be attributed to men pushing women out and making them feel they do not belong—whether it is because of knowledge, or stereotypes (AAUW).
Finally, men act like this in “nerdy” interests too, such as video games. A Reddit thread from 2019 asked, “Why do some men gatekeep nerdier hobbies or interests against women?” and the responses are all along the lines of: “women destroy any aggressive, rough and tumble atmosphere with their sensitivities and disgusting offended feelings,” as stated by user u/Atlas_B_Shruggin. Entering a new hobby is already daunting—joining the community and fitting in is difficult despite gender. However, when the interest is already toxic to them, simply because of their gender, it makes the feeling of alienation worse. The video game Counter-Strike is a good example of this. While playing, one senior noticed, “a lot of fans say that women should not be playing the game, and they especially don’t want them on professional teams.” Male players will quiz female players with “obscure trivia” because they believe that women who aren’t heavily invested in a game shouldn’t play it. These actions are obviously rooted in misogyny and enforces the sentiment that women must know everything about a game to participate in it.
Of course, anyone, regardless of gender, should be encouraged to dabble in whatever interests them, without the pressure of needing to be perfect or extremely knowledgeable about it. The harmful gatekeeping of video games, STEM activities and fields, and music promotes imposter syndrome among women, beginning as early as middle and high school. Telling women they must know the music of the shirts they wear and that they’re ruining the atmosphere of male-dominated interests only further exacerbates the already negative stereotypes around women’s interests. Instead, we must work together as a society to uplift women, encourage them, and give them the confidence to ignore men who doubt them. Meeting challengers is inevitable, but by giving young girls the skills to deal with them, it will help them to feel less like posers. Girlies: you’re not an imposter because you don’t know everything. Enjoy what you enjoy, and find the people that will uplift you and encourage you to follow your interests. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.