Plenty of women know what it’s like to have their voices ignored until a man repeats her words, but now there’s a catchy word for it.
Twitter user Nicole Gugliuicci posted the term Friday, and women immediately took to the phrase.
“My friends coined a word: hepeated,” Gugliucci wrote. “For when a woman suggests an idea and it’s ignored, but then a guy says [the] same thing and everyone loves it.”
Gugliucci, an astronomer, told HuffPost that the term came up in a group chat with some of her girlfriends who work across industries.
“More than once we’ve all run into issues, at work mostly, when we have an idea that doesn’t get any traction until a man says it,” Gugliucci said.
When she decided to tweet it, Gugliucci had no idea it would go viral, but her tweet has gotten over 7,000 retweets and 19,000 likes. A few people have given similar words referring to the phenomenon, but it seems like “hepeated” is catching fire.
Many women can relate to being “hepeated,” especially in the workplace. “Hepeat” is a word on the same level as “mansplain,” discussed in 2008 by Rebecca Solnit. “Mansplaining” is when a woman is interrupted by a man who explains a concept she well understands.
“You never know what random thing is going to go viral,” Gugliucci told HuffPost. “I think it’s interesting women and people of colour are recognising these things, and it’s great they have a tool like Twitter to share their stories.”
The astronomer says she’s lucky that her male co-workers are respectful and recognize these types of behaviors in the workplace, but she and her friends are glad to see their conversation resonating with so many people.
Responses to “hepeated” have been mostly positive, with men chiming in and making jokes, too.