HThe Georgia Ball video could be shown for years to come. A perfect example of an insult, as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it: “to explain something unnecessarily, arrogantly, or dismissively (usually directed at a woman).”
Georgia Ball is one of the few women in the UK who can call herself a PGA-certified professional golfer. As a golf instructor, she is constantly fully booked. To reach more people, she offers online sessions and sells subscriptions to videos explaining how to perform punches correctly.
Last week, Ball posted one such video. A man's voice can be heard off camera interrupting a training session at a driving range near Liverpool. The man says: “Excuse me.” “What you're doing – you shouldn't be doing that, you should be swinging and then moving on. You're too slow on your way up.”
The basic problem with mansplaining
The video shows the basic problem with insult: the other person is not seen as a conversation partner, but merely a recipient. It is not listened to. Paul tries to explain that she hits this way because she's training for something, but the man keeps interrupting her: “No, I know, but what you're doing… you've got to do it differently.” He knows that, after all. , he's been playing golf for 20 years (a similar length as a ball). The man watches the ball as he hits a clean shot and then says with satisfaction: “See how much better it is now?”
Nearly 12 million people on Tiktok have now watched how a professional golfer tries to escape unwanted advice. Ball told the BBC at the weekend that she could laugh about it, but the situation was definitely “uncomfortable”.
So what do you do when you're insulted but too polite to explain yourself? This is what happened to Paul. She said that she was “very humble,” and it was not within her authority to be direct in such moments.
Ignoring it, as the most viewed Tiktok video (19 million views) shows, is not a solution either. Singaporean amateur golfer Rebecca Defoe practiced at the driving range in May. The player next to her hit his balls at such an angle that they went straight past DeFoe. “Girl,” he called to an exasperated DeFoe and then explained to her that she desperately needed to improve her swing. Defoe barely had a reaction, but the man didn't stop. On Tiktok, she also talked about how uncomfortable she feels often being the only woman on the driving range and how it makes it more difficult to be visible in man-shaming moments. In Singapore in 2016, nine out of ten golfers were men. Globally, women are still a minority in golf.
DeFoe's temporary solution: Put your Airpods in your ears even when they're not on. This is what an anonymous follower advised her to do after the incident. Even outside of driving, headphones are a way for women to get some peace and quiet while working out.
Paul pleaded with the BBC that we should all give ourselves more space to train in peace, including in the gym. Here too, women's youthful appearance is often equated with ignorance and they explain how to use devices without being asked. It would be much more beneficial for women if men instead removed their weights from barbells without asking before someone less powerful wanted to use them.
“Food practitioner. Bacon guru. Infuriatingly humble zombie enthusiast. Total student.”
More Stories
Thomas Gottschalk moves to Bavaria
“Classes for the disabled”: The La Liga Party candidate raises a scandal
Pope Francis visits the Venice Art Biennale