Stop ‘hepeating’ women, exam chiefs tell male staff

It means hijacking their ideas – then loudly declaring them as your own!

YOU may – or may not – have come to terms with such workplace sins as ‘mansplaining’ or ‘microaggressions’. But now there’s a new offence in the minefield of office politics: ‘hepeating’.

The term has been coined to describe the act of a man hijacking an idea previously suggested by a woman – then getting all the credit for it. And now civil servants have been warned not to do it.

The portmanteau of ‘he’ and ‘repeating’ appears to have been invented in 2017 by friends of American physics professor Nicole Gugliucci, whose tweet defining the term went viral.

Although the word has yet to make it into the Oxford English Dictionary, staff working for exam regulator Ofqual have introduced it in an internal handbook.

The 28-page book, obtained by The Mail on Sunday under Freedom of Information legislation, describes ‘hepeating’ as ‘a situation where a man repeats a woman’s comments or ideas and then is praised for them as if they were his own’.

But not everyone is impressed by the term.

Jeremy Black, emeritus professor of history at the University of Exeter, called it an ‘ugly new madeup word that’s foolish and devoid of meaning,’ and added: ‘It should play no role in educational advice.’ Broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell said: ‘I am rapidly losing touch. Soon I won’t be able to function as a journalist in anything but The Oldie and school reunion magazines.’

And award-winning author Dame Margaret Drabble added: ‘I’d never heard of this word. It hasn’t really caught on probably because it’s such an ugly word and not a very useful concept.’

The new word joins a growing feminist glossary for male misbehaviour alongside ‘mansplaining’: the patronising way a man will explain something to a woman, assuming she is ignorant. Other terms include ‘manologue’ (a man speaking at great length while women are waiting to contribute); ‘bropropriating’ (a slight variation on ‘hepeating’, where a man deliberately steals a woman’s idea); and ‘manterrupting’ (the unnecessary interruption of a woman).

Last night, an Ofqual spokesman said the glossary was a ‘resource and guide for staff’ rather than a ‘prescriptive document’, adding: ‘This glossary is drawn from civil service guidance and other public and private sector sources.’