40 Women Share Stories About Men Who Confidently Mansplained Something Obvious To Them
Interview With Author
The term “mansplaining” is a relatively new one. After first being innovated by the author Rebecca Solnit in 2008, it allowed women to describe a common experience they share for which they never had the terminology. “Mansplaining” went beyond the generics like “patronizing” and “presumptuous” and shed light on a profoundly negative side that men explaining things to women has.
Unfortunately, unsolicited explanations from men who are neither your teacher nor your manager are all too common. But to see the level of absurdity and obviousness of the things women have mansplained to them, we have to look at the actual instances that happened to them in real life.
So when Twitter user Nicole Froio, who’s a PhD on sexual violence and masculinity, asked women to share “the most obvious thing a man has ever mansplained to you,” the answers started pouring in one after another. Both ludicrous and plain irritating, they speak thousands of words about power imbalance and gender bias, which shouldn’t be the case when we live in 2021.
Read more irritating mansplaining cases as shared by women in our previous article right here.
Image credits: NicoleFroio
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I witnessed an American man trying to explain a Spanish girl's name to her. He was insisting that one of her names was a 'middle' name, and she was patiently saying that names work differently in Spain. She finally snapped and said 'I know what my own name is'. He was also manspreading in the worst possible way. It was quite hilarious to watch.
He's an idiot for trying to explain someone's own name to them, but I don't really like this manspreading thing. I was once accused of manspreading on a bus by a woman using her seat, and setting her purse on the seat next to her. My legs werent even going past my seat (there were a few inches on each side of my seat still unused.) I was still sitting with v shape, but with maybe 6 inches between my knees. Then when I tried to move my legs together, I had to kinda wiggle around to move some... anatomy. Then she basically claimed that I did that to harass her. I apologized and just ignored it. Then a very elderly couple came on and I stood up to give my seat and the woman did not, nor did she move her purse to make an extra seat. so the elderly woman sat in my seat, and I had to kinda hold the elderly man up while moving, and he stumbled quite a bit. When the woman who got mad at me finally got off the bus, she gave me this long scowl and stared me down. I was never trying to impose.
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I had this happen too. In the 11th grade a friend of mine said my dad had misspelled my name in my lunchbox lid. It was spelled correctly and this kid had known me for 11 years. It was sad. And yes he was a boy
I usually get,"what sort of a name is that"? My name is pronounced Ethnee
My last name is Hungarian, and everyone that sees/hears it for the first time spells it wrong or says it wrong, but they're nice about it. But I've had a couple incounters with teachers who have seen my last name on paper and have pronounced it wrong, and when I corrected them, they say I'm saying it wrong. -~- dude. I think I know how to pronounce my own last name. I kinda learnt that like 10 years before I even met you.
A guy in high school asked me if I was Asian and when I responded no (my grandparents came from Algeria to France) he literally told me that I must be wrong and that I should check with my family XDD. He never believed me ! Like, I think I know where my family is from better than you, stranger !
My spanish name ends in an O and I have so many (white) men explain to me that only male names end in O in Spanish.
I had this happened a few times (by both women and men to be fair). My surname starts with V but it sounds like B because spanish is weird. I remember three times when being abroad I said "my surname is Valenciano with a V" (pronouncing it with B) and they had the audacity to correct me "you mean "Valenciano" (pronounced with a V). Thanks but I know how to pronounce my own name you idiot... (Obviously this is a fake surname)
I have the exact same problem! Most of the time they're nice about it, but there is always a few. My last name starts with V not B, seriously! But mines Hungarian so it just sounds like I'm pronouncing it with a B a little cause V just sounds too much like B. We just say (surname) and start spelling it (cause EVERYONE spells it wrong) we start with V for Victor. Always works.
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I had a boss argue with my dad on how my name was spelled (we worked at the same place at the time). My dad pointed out that he had named me and that ended the argument.
My Hindi teacher tried to explain to me how to write my own name in Hindi. She spelled it wrong. My parents taught me how to spell it at home
I have had folks tell me I pronounce my own name incorrectly. It's Rih-shard, not Rit-cherd!
Ooo that’s nice. “Rih shard” is a pretty last name
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When I worked in a casino I had a name badge, a customer tried to tell me that I was christened the longer version of my name. I'm not christened and my given name is the short version
Had a variation on this, was booking a holiday and the lady I was talking to told me I had pronounced my daughter's name wrong and told me how to pronounce it. The name is specific to my country and there is only one way to pronounce it correctly. That aside, you can pronounce a name any way you want and as I was the one who picked the name for her I'd know..
Not so hilarious when you've reserved a hotel room for a English friend at the height of tourist season only to be told that no room number matches this person,s name. The Hispanic receptionist thought his middle mane was his family name.
My name is spelled with three a's and a k, and the guys used to spell it with an o instead of an a, and a c instead of a k. When the time came for a group project, my team presented and all the guys chorused, "You spelled her name wrong." Me: I think I know how to spell my own name. They shut up after that.
My name is the Swedish localisation (my grandmother is Swedish) of a common name, so it has an "aj" in it pronounced as "eye". One time, at the airport, two security officers (they were male, but I don't think they intended to mansplain) pronounced my name phonetically. I corrected them, and they thought that the "J" was a typo and meant to be an "I".
I've had this from a female colleague - my last name exists in both Italian and Spanish, but I'm Italian (born in France). She keeps pronouncing my name as if it would be in Paris, I've corrected her but she keeps doing it, as if she's right and I'm wrong about my own name... so frustrating!
If he said it to me I'd be like, "Yah, I fell asleep on the keyboard when I was applying for this job"
My birth name is Marijela. It is pronounced ma-ri-ye-lah, but people said ma-ri-jeh-la, or a lovely variation that popped up in high school, ma-ri-neh-lah
I have been told I have a Man's name, My name has been spelt 15 different ways over the past half century.
I got that a lot before getting married. Not my first name but my birth name. My brothers didn't have a problem (except people refusing to pronounce what is a simple word, correctly). But, No, for me I was told all kinds of lovely things like it should not be allowed and Yes, I was misspelling it. Sigh.
I have a name from Shakespeare that men have ALWAYS tried to shorten or change. Guess they are saving their lips or a 4 syllable name is just to much for them. If they couldn't get something like my name, they certainly weren't going to hear anything else I said.
What a complete idiot that colleague must be. Obviously, your PARENTS spelled your name wrong. (Sorry, I couldn't help it. It's a lovely name.)
With all those p's and b's jumping around everywhere, I think anyone would.
Bored Panda reached out to the author of the thread, Nicole Froio, who is a feminist writer and researcher. Nicole explained that “mansplaining is one of many daily aggressions women go through in a sexist and misogynistic society, so it has to be understood as a part of a larger system of oppression rather than an isolated incident.”
It comes from the assumption that “women and other non-men don't have the intelligence to understand the topic at hand, which is a sexist and misogynistic assumption. The mansplainer will explain something that the woman probably already knows already, usually in a condescending and infantilizing way.”
According to Nicole, it depends where the act of mansplaining happens. For example, when it’s in a professional setting, “this can result in the woman in a professional setting feeling disrespected and/or inept for doing their job, they could feel like they've been publicly humiliated in front of their colleagues and feel a general loss of respect for her expertise."
I don't know the situation there and it sounds like he was a moron. I've written a lot of code and at least a couple of times someone told me what it was really doing which wasn't what I thought it was doing. So they were right. I wrote in a bug and they caught it.
For the men who’re wondering about not coming across as mansplainers, Nicole says that simply asking can go a long way. “Instead of assuming a person doesn't know about a certain topic, why not ask 'Do you know how this works?' or 'I'm not sure if you're familiar with this, but if you do, feel free to stop me.'” These simple questions can correct the behavior that might accidentally harm someone.
Even though Nicole said that mansplaining is not one of the worst things experienced by women in a patriarchal system, she sees it wrong because “it rectifies the gender structure on an interpersonal level.”
“For example, you might be a woman in a male-dominated industry where your expertise is already undervalued because that field is male-dominated, and then one of your colleagues mansplains a simple concept everyone in the office is familiar with.”
Such cases can do long-term harm to women. “This can lead to things like imposter syndrome and an unwelcome work environment for women, where people's suspicions about the woman's supposed lack of expertise are rectified by the mansplaining."
When asked how one should react to being mansplained to, Nicole said that personally she finds being assertive quite important when responding to mansplaining. “I usually respond by saying things like 'Thanks for explaining, but I already knew that' or even interrupting the mansplainer and saying 'Sorry to interrupt, but I already know that, so we can move onto the next topic instead of wasting time?’”
Your response can just be a gentle nudge to the fact that you are knowledgeable and that you don't need an explanation, Nicole concluded.
Maby it's more a case of he learned and read up about it and wanted to share it? My partner did the same for our son, not that he was be the breastfeeder xD. But i was happy that he took his time to read up and understand allot of things about having kids. And even if me and his mom already knew things. It's not hard to just listen, and be happy that at least they try instead of not caring about it.
I said something about that very issue to my sister who had no idea of the direction one should wipe.
I didn't even know there were such things as trucks with 36 gears! Does it work like bicycle gears?
In fairness I have met a lot of people who didn't know the political history of their home country. And no they were not just Americans. Some of my Russian students have said some really funny stuff too, like when one tried to tell me the statue on the main square was Stalin. Its a bearded bald guy who is pretty obviously Lenin. And my colleagues used to have students tell them in English about the history of their home town ( Kirov) and none of the students seemed to know who that was despite the town being named for him and us having statues of him dotted around. In fairness I study Soviet history, but they would say, "Let's ask the American" and then I of course knew who Sergei Mironovich was and students would study harder for their next dialogue.
I'd suggest he also go look up infant and maternal mortality rates in Africa and then report him
Do they get a kick out of wrongly declaring things for women? Alternate drug high?
Note: this post originally had 65 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
In most of these cases, a woman could just as easily said these stupid remarks. It's just stupidity and ignorance, not mansplaining.
It's both. There isn't a term called "womansplaining", but the idea behind mansplaining and 'womansplaining' is being ignorant and dismisve.
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Just a few days ago, we had a "mansplaining" post and most people will agree that the term is merely a sexist stereotype for behaviour that simply shows a lack of respect, gender of either side notwithstanding. In case of this list, most of these are not even when the term supposedly should imply, but examples of rude beaviour from men towards women, typically not really "explaining" something but merely stating it. Therefore, the whole post is boring but to those who want to be infuriated.
I think the VAST majority of mansplaining incidents are not that at all. I know lots of dudes who "mansplain" things to men all the time. They're just idiots. It's not a sex thing so stop looking for something to be offended by.
Exactly! Mansplaining is like "ok boomer", there's some truth to it but now it's just used to dismiss people.
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Last time I got manspained I was told that -10 C (or 14 F) "really wasn't cold at all" and I was wrong to think that, and while this might be somewhat true as -30 C is not unusual here in Sweden, the way someone perceives different temperatures is individual. Certainly in the context this was said which was at what temperature would we think it was a little bit too cold to take out the garbage, and I answered -10 C. But uhm, yeah, I was wrong.... 🙄
I am and was a car girl. Vintage Mustangs. Walking into a mall with then current bf. Passed a parked '67 mustang fastback. I pointed it out as we walked past and made a few comments. BF said that it was a '68. I said no, a '67. Another guy walking past said yep, a '68. We had continued to walk as we had an appointment. After some more back and forth, I insisted we go back outside. It was a '67.
I have a confession: I was under my car working on it when my wife came by and was chatting with me... I asked, "Honey can you hand me that screwdriver over there... the one shaped like a star..." She replies: "YOU MEAN THE PHILLIPS?!?!?!?" oops... yeah, that one :)
My boyfriend did that to me too! Like, I moved into your house with a huge toolbox. That you borrow regularly. Come on!
Load More Replies... The closest I came to experiencing mansplaining was when a guy I was riding bikes with, single speed beach cruisers mind you, tried telling me I didn't know how to ride a bike. We were side by side, riding down the strand. I just thought he was a douche and never went out with him again.
Ahh... 'Mansplanning'! I had a female customer accuse me of this and of being 'condescending' when I tried to explain to her that the invoice she was querying wasn't correct. I say 'incorrect' because it wasn't from my company, and I say 'customer' because she wasn't actually - she had rung the wrong company... Still... At least she apologised. Well, she just got unbelievably pissy with me when I pointed out dumbarsedary and she slammed down the phone. Still... Made me laugh!
Not mansplaining per se but it reminded me to a conversation with my partner. His father told us that if we wanted to have a boy we shouldnt drink tap water "because of the hormones turn the baby into a girl". I said nothing about that stupidity because I didnt want to be rude but when we were back home I explained my partner how sex determination works in mammals. He believed his father (a informatic teacher) rather than believing his girlfriend (a biologist). Men can be really sexist without even realizing.
Fire. FIRE! Why does every single man think that building a fire is some sort of specialized skill that only he has!? "You need to put the kindling on first," Yeah, no s**t buddy. "It needs air" Yeah, a child know that. "Actually....I'll do it." EVERY.TIME.EVERY. MAN.
Thank you!!! The same here. I thought it was just because I was a man.
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These posts are idiotic. If you go looking for something to be misogynistic then guess what? You'll find it! I know "I am woman hear me roar." All of you women who get butt hurt over a male attempting to be helpful just put the women who are truly strong, skilled, talented, and smart at even more of a disadvantage. But then, the truly strong, smart, talented women don't have time for this bullshit because they're busy being strong, talented, and smart while you caress each other's asses to heal the butthurt with more "men are pigs" nonsense. Signed, a pig.
I'm glad you signed correctly there, ol' pot and kettle :)
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I often wonder how to join a conversation without being accused of mansplaining. I like to understand how things work, I find trivia fascinating, and I like to share what I have learned with others... Doesn't mean that I assume I'm 100% right. So what I have started to do with any conversation regarding a topic that someone has experienced personally is "You probably know better than me, but I heard that _____", or "Is it true that ____", or "I'm no expert, but I thought that ____"
I have had things explained to me by both men and women and in both cases, it was embarrassing and hurtful because they made me feel like I was stupid. Anyone who feels the need to always be explaining something to people is rude and has some self esteem issues.
I normally have no issues with someone younger teaching me something or giving their perspective or supervising me, but (drum roll)... Someone young enough to be my daughter felt that I could learn a thing or two about life from her -- apparently, I have no life experience to speak of and she's the font of wisdom. Luckily, I rarely see her and last time I did, she ignored me (maybe because I had earlier yelled at her, "We're all individuals!!!!"). Sometimes, ignorance is bliss :)
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My ex describing to me, a neuroscientist, how oxytocin works (incorrectly). A relative claiming to have the vestibular disorder that I have had since I was 16 (he does not). Countless students (I am their professor) arguing that my requirements are wrong.
I agree with the other commenters below, that this isn't a gender issue. I am a man working in childcare and I have been 'mansplained' by women from the very beginning. There have been trainees, who tried to explain to me, who at that point had been in this job for five years, how to change a kid's diapers. Some coworkers wanted to 'explain' to me how to soothe an upset child, while I was already calming them down, as if there was one single way of doing it and I wouldn't be able to understand an emotional situation unless they give me a step-by-step tutorial. When I talk to other men in my field, it seems like a lot of gendered issues are not gendered at all and have more to do with which group of people is in the majority/in charge. It has been implied that we 'steal' jobs from women. That we only got our jobs because we are a minority in this field of work. And, something I doubt many women have to deal with, that we are potential criminals and predators.
Some of these are legit. But some would have likely happened to men too. Not everyone who treats you poorly is doing so because you are a woman (or any specific reason), they may treat you poorly simply because they treat everyone that way. Also I find sometimes one may just be enthralled or enthusiastic about a certain topic and start spewing about it in excitement... sometimes to the wrong crowd though. For example the musician who is having thei work explained back to them, it could just be a bumbling nervous fan who will cringe forever at the memory
It seems that the urge to explain things when it is totally unnecessary comes from an urge to take control of a situation. Which men in our society have traditionally been expected to do. It might sting more in situations where women have fought hard to gain respect and acknowledgement, such as careers, or in childbirth, which we were biologically designed to do 😅
Most of them don't fall into mansplaining to me ... It's just obnoxious people. I mean, I'm a man and I had a few of them told to me too (explaining me my code, if you don't think about the pain you would not feel it etc)
Why do all of these seem to happen in US? (live in Europe) I haven't encountered mansplaining from anyone else but Americans. Or maybe I was just really lucky???
Indian here and it happens here! I think it happens everywhere, you're just lucky either location wise, or just as a person
Load More Replies... Gotta love a comment section full of people trying to mansplain mansplaining. It's so meta. And no its not just idiots. It is specifically men making assumptions about a woman's competence and expertise based on her gender while ignoring things like her qualifications. I get it all the time particularly from the subspeicies that is the wikipedia warrior. I'm like hey I have a PhD in Soviet history and that's not true and they will be all "wikipedia says .. . " or tell me to read Solzhenitsyn ( whose works are classed as fiction for a reason), tell me to "do my research" or just break out the insults because I challenged what they think its true. Mansplaining is real and super annoying because it happens all the time.
It's real but it's not something that can be accurately pinpointed. You can't always know if the man made an assumption based on your gender or is just like that with everyone. I'm a man and I've had thing's explained to me as if I were an idiot .Is that mansplaining?
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Nah, it’s beyond idiocy. What else can we call it that makes it clear that it’s about sexism too? “Sexplanation?”
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I think what is most infuriating is the obvious overlooking of a woman's skills, expertise, knowledge, background, intelligence, authority, and competency. It's as if these ladies weren't professionals, did not write the book, or haven't already demonstrated their bona fides. Happens constantly and truly, it's almost universal when a certain type of man speaks to any woman. The fact that men have to jump into the comments to explain how these instances are not really mansplaining or that it's simply untrue or that womensplaining is a THING is objectively hilarious, gross, frustrating, and seriously recursive.
I'm 71 years old. No health problems....but! My Dr said women my age, on average, take 8 to 12 prescription drugs a day, so I left his office with 6 different prescriptions in hand....which I tore up and threw away..
I've seen my share of mansplaining, but as an immigrant to the US I also get a lot of "immigrantsplaining" or whatever you can call it... It is when people hear that you speak with an accent and try to explain the simplest things to you as is you just arrived from the stone age before the wheel was invented.
I had a guy ask me to proofread an essay for him. After I did and fixed the errors, his friend read it and changed all my fixes back to the originals. My friend said his friend was right bc his friend was in community college - his friend was using the text book I had helped write and edit at my job, which I had to earn a Masters Degree to have.
Every time I go to my aunts house this man proceeds to tell me how to drive the car and park properly, like turn left, turn right, move slowly, I mean I drove from my house on the very busy expressway but I'd be damned if I knew how to drive on this little street. I just smile and follow his instructions
I guess because I do not know the context but half of these stories can happen with a woman, too. Its just that not all people are as smart as others.
Condescension knows no gender. In the spirit of equity and equality, I hereby propose that we stop calling this practice "mansplaining" and return to calling it "condescension."
Jhfutdytduvhjbojhojh men are real bold with their mansplaining hvugvugcygcygcytc
And I only say that because I went looking for the tweet to read more replies and couldn't find it. Then I realized how long ago it was from.
Load More Replies... Frankly, I've been glad of the odd mansplain when I've not known how to open the fuel cap at a busy petrol station!!!!
whats the point of this article?That we all men are stupid,patronizing and presumptuous by default characteric of our gender and that is the common experience of women who have to unfortunately cope with this alien specie?Cause i take an oath that i thought till now that stupidity and ignorance has nothing to do with gender and we can even be stupid within our own behaviour and thinking as individuals from time to time and different circumstances.This article is as bad and wrong as if the roles could be reversed and instead of men where women saying these or other things.And not fun or light matters bored panda promises at all
In 99% of these cases we can‘t know if it‘s mansplaining or not because we don’t know how these men treat other men. Maybe they‘d explain the same stupid stuff to other men because they’re simply arrogant assholes.
Trying to plan a wedding in a pandemic. I explained to my dad what a challenge it is and getting a venue is very competitive right now. Next week I complained that another venue option fell through...he explained to me it's very competitive right now because of the pandemic....seriously!?
My mum does that to me all the time. "Yeah I know mum, I'm the one who told you that last week, remember?"
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In most of these cases, a woman could just as easily said these stupid remarks. It's just stupidity and ignorance, not mansplaining.
It's both. There isn't a term called "womansplaining", but the idea behind mansplaining and 'womansplaining' is being ignorant and dismisve.
Load More Replies... Just a few days ago, we had a "mansplaining" post and most people will agree that the term is merely a sexist stereotype for behaviour that simply shows a lack of respect, gender of either side notwithstanding. In case of this list, most of these are not even when the term supposedly should imply, but examples of rude beaviour from men towards women, typically not really "explaining" something but merely stating it. Therefore, the whole post is boring but to those who want to be infuriated.
I think the VAST majority of mansplaining incidents are not that at all. I know lots of dudes who "mansplain" things to men all the time. They're just idiots. It's not a sex thing so stop looking for something to be offended by.
Exactly! Mansplaining is like "ok boomer", there's some truth to it but now it's just used to dismiss people.
Load More Replies... Last time I got manspained I was told that -10 C (or 14 F) "really wasn't cold at all" and I was wrong to think that, and while this might be somewhat true as -30 C is not unusual here in Sweden, the way someone perceives different temperatures is individual. Certainly in the context this was said which was at what temperature would we think it was a little bit too cold to take out the garbage, and I answered -10 C. But uhm, yeah, I was wrong.... 🙄
I am and was a car girl. Vintage Mustangs. Walking into a mall with then current bf. Passed a parked '67 mustang fastback. I pointed it out as we walked past and made a few comments. BF said that it was a '68. I said no, a '67. Another guy walking past said yep, a '68. We had continued to walk as we had an appointment. After some more back and forth, I insisted we go back outside. It was a '67.
I have a confession: I was under my car working on it when my wife came by and was chatting with me... I asked, "Honey can you hand me that screwdriver over there... the one shaped like a star..." She replies: "YOU MEAN THE PHILLIPS?!?!?!?" oops... yeah, that one :)
My boyfriend did that to me too! Like, I moved into your house with a huge toolbox. That you borrow regularly. Come on!
Load More Replies... The closest I came to experiencing mansplaining was when a guy I was riding bikes with, single speed beach cruisers mind you, tried telling me I didn't know how to ride a bike. We were side by side, riding down the strand. I just thought he was a douche and never went out with him again.
Ahh... 'Mansplanning'! I had a female customer accuse me of this and of being 'condescending' when I tried to explain to her that the invoice she was querying wasn't correct. I say 'incorrect' because it wasn't from my company, and I say 'customer' because she wasn't actually - she had rung the wrong company... Still... At least she apologised. Well, she just got unbelievably pissy with me when I pointed out dumbarsedary and she slammed down the phone. Still... Made me laugh!
Not mansplaining per se but it reminded me to a conversation with my partner. His father told us that if we wanted to have a boy we shouldnt drink tap water "because of the hormones turn the baby into a girl". I said nothing about that stupidity because I didnt want to be rude but when we were back home I explained my partner how sex determination works in mammals. He believed his father (a informatic teacher) rather than believing his girlfriend (a biologist). Men can be really sexist without even realizing.
Fire. FIRE! Why does every single man think that building a fire is some sort of specialized skill that only he has!? "You need to put the kindling on first," Yeah, no s**t buddy. "It needs air" Yeah, a child know that. "Actually....I'll do it." EVERY.TIME.EVERY. MAN.
Thank you!!! The same here. I thought it was just because I was a man.
Load More Replies... These posts are idiotic. If you go looking for something to be misogynistic then guess what? You'll find it! I know "I am woman hear me roar." All of you women who get butt hurt over a male attempting to be helpful just put the women who are truly strong, skilled, talented, and smart at even more of a disadvantage. But then, the truly strong, smart, talented women don't have time for this bullshit because they're busy being strong, talented, and smart while you caress each other's asses to heal the butthurt with more "men are pigs" nonsense. Signed, a pig.
I'm glad you signed correctly there, ol' pot and kettle :)
Load More Replies... I often wonder how to join a conversation without being accused of mansplaining. I like to understand how things work, I find trivia fascinating, and I like to share what I have learned with others... Doesn't mean that I assume I'm 100% right. So what I have started to do with any conversation regarding a topic that someone has experienced personally is "You probably know better than me, but I heard that _____", or "Is it true that ____", or "I'm no expert, but I thought that ____"
I have had things explained to me by both men and women and in both cases, it was embarrassing and hurtful because they made me feel like I was stupid. Anyone who feels the need to always be explaining something to people is rude and has some self esteem issues.
I normally have no issues with someone younger teaching me something or giving their perspective or supervising me, but (drum roll)... Someone young enough to be my daughter felt that I could learn a thing or two about life from her -- apparently, I have no life experience to speak of and she's the font of wisdom. Luckily, I rarely see her and last time I did, she ignored me (maybe because I had earlier yelled at her, "We're all individuals!!!!"). Sometimes, ignorance is bliss :)
Load More Replies... My ex describing to me, a neuroscientist, how oxytocin works (incorrectly). A relative claiming to have the vestibular disorder that I have had since I was 16 (he does not). Countless students (I am their professor) arguing that my requirements are wrong.
I agree with the other commenters below, that this isn't a gender issue. I am a man working in childcare and I have been 'mansplained' by women from the very beginning. There have been trainees, who tried to explain to me, who at that point had been in this job for five years, how to change a kid's diapers. Some coworkers wanted to 'explain' to me how to soothe an upset child, while I was already calming them down, as if there was one single way of doing it and I wouldn't be able to understand an emotional situation unless they give me a step-by-step tutorial. When I talk to other men in my field, it seems like a lot of gendered issues are not gendered at all and have more to do with which group of people is in the majority/in charge. It has been implied that we 'steal' jobs from women. That we only got our jobs because we are a minority in this field of work. And, something I doubt many women have to deal with, that we are potential criminals and predators.
Some of these are legit. But some would have likely happened to men too. Not everyone who treats you poorly is doing so because you are a woman (or any specific reason), they may treat you poorly simply because they treat everyone that way. Also I find sometimes one may just be enthralled or enthusiastic about a certain topic and start spewing about it in excitement... sometimes to the wrong crowd though. For example the musician who is having thei work explained back to them, it could just be a bumbling nervous fan who will cringe forever at the memory
It seems that the urge to explain things when it is totally unnecessary comes from an urge to take control of a situation. Which men in our society have traditionally been expected to do. It might sting more in situations where women have fought hard to gain respect and acknowledgement, such as careers, or in childbirth, which we were biologically designed to do 😅
Most of them don't fall into mansplaining to me ... It's just obnoxious people. I mean, I'm a man and I had a few of them told to me too (explaining me my code, if you don't think about the pain you would not feel it etc)
Why do all of these seem to happen in US? (live in Europe) I haven't encountered mansplaining from anyone else but Americans. Or maybe I was just really lucky???
Indian here and it happens here! I think it happens everywhere, you're just lucky either location wise, or just as a person
Load More Replies... Gotta love a comment section full of people trying to mansplain mansplaining. It's so meta. And no its not just idiots. It is specifically men making assumptions about a woman's competence and expertise based on her gender while ignoring things like her qualifications. I get it all the time particularly from the subspeicies that is the wikipedia warrior. I'm like hey I have a PhD in Soviet history and that's not true and they will be all "wikipedia says .. . " or tell me to read Solzhenitsyn ( whose works are classed as fiction for a reason), tell me to "do my research" or just break out the insults because I challenged what they think its true. Mansplaining is real and super annoying because it happens all the time.
It's real but it's not something that can be accurately pinpointed. You can't always know if the man made an assumption based on your gender or is just like that with everyone. I'm a man and I've had thing's explained to me as if I were an idiot .Is that mansplaining?
Load More Replies... Nah, it’s beyond idiocy. What else can we call it that makes it clear that it’s about sexism too? “Sexplanation?”
Load More Replies... I think what is most infuriating is the obvious overlooking of a woman's skills, expertise, knowledge, background, intelligence, authority, and competency. It's as if these ladies weren't professionals, did not write the book, or haven't already demonstrated their bona fides. Happens constantly and truly, it's almost universal when a certain type of man speaks to any woman. The fact that men have to jump into the comments to explain how these instances are not really mansplaining or that it's simply untrue or that womensplaining is a THING is objectively hilarious, gross, frustrating, and seriously recursive.
I'm 71 years old. No health problems....but! My Dr said women my age, on average, take 8 to 12 prescription drugs a day, so I left his office with 6 different prescriptions in hand....which I tore up and threw away..
I've seen my share of mansplaining, but as an immigrant to the US I also get a lot of "immigrantsplaining" or whatever you can call it... It is when people hear that you speak with an accent and try to explain the simplest things to you as is you just arrived from the stone age before the wheel was invented.
I had a guy ask me to proofread an essay for him. After I did and fixed the errors, his friend read it and changed all my fixes back to the originals. My friend said his friend was right bc his friend was in community college - his friend was using the text book I had helped write and edit at my job, which I had to earn a Masters Degree to have.
Every time I go to my aunts house this man proceeds to tell me how to drive the car and park properly, like turn left, turn right, move slowly, I mean I drove from my house on the very busy expressway but I'd be damned if I knew how to drive on this little street. I just smile and follow his instructions
I guess because I do not know the context but half of these stories can happen with a woman, too. Its just that not all people are as smart as others.
Condescension knows no gender. In the spirit of equity and equality, I hereby propose that we stop calling this practice "mansplaining" and return to calling it "condescension."
Jhfutdytduvhjbojhojh men are real bold with their mansplaining hvugvugcygcygcytc
And I only say that because I went looking for the tweet to read more replies and couldn't find it. Then I realized how long ago it was from.
Load More Replies... Frankly, I've been glad of the odd mansplain when I've not known how to open the fuel cap at a busy petrol station!!!!
whats the point of this article?That we all men are stupid,patronizing and presumptuous by default characteric of our gender and that is the common experience of women who have to unfortunately cope with this alien specie?Cause i take an oath that i thought till now that stupidity and ignorance has nothing to do with gender and we can even be stupid within our own behaviour and thinking as individuals from time to time and different circumstances.This article is as bad and wrong as if the roles could be reversed and instead of men where women saying these or other things.And not fun or light matters bored panda promises at all
In 99% of these cases we can‘t know if it‘s mansplaining or not because we don’t know how these men treat other men. Maybe they‘d explain the same stupid stuff to other men because they’re simply arrogant assholes.
Trying to plan a wedding in a pandemic. I explained to my dad what a challenge it is and getting a venue is very competitive right now. Next week I complained that another venue option fell through...he explained to me it's very competitive right now because of the pandemic....seriously!?
My mum does that to me all the time. "Yeah I know mum, I'm the one who told you that last week, remember?"
Load More Replies... 