Women Are Sharing What Are The Most Ridiculous Things They’ve Been Mansplained
Some men have an almost compulsion-like need to explain the most basic things to women, even when it’s mind-numbingly obvious. The more common term for this effect is “mansplaining,“ and if you’ve never had this happen to you, strap in, you’re in for a ride.
We’ve gathered the worst, most infuriating stories of women dealing with rampant mansplaining from across the internet. So get comfortable as you scroll through, prepare to roll your eyes in disbelief, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section down below.
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My own job. I am an attending physician in the ER of a busy academic trauma center. I am board-certified in emergency medicine and emergency medical services. I was a paramedic before I went to medical school, and have kept that certification current (for twenty years). I am an operational medical director, meaning that I actually go on calls with the EMS agencies I oversee. So I know a little bit about EMS. I had a medical student who was also an EMT try to mansplain EMS medical direction to me on his first shift in the ER.
I didn’t even have time to start dismantling him before the nearby female paramedic who overheard the whole thing ate him alive. Rumour has it he’s on his third or fourth trip around the world frantically backpedaling.
What's the difference between EMS and EMT? I'm guessing similar to Australian Ambulance Officer compared to Paramedics, though we usually uses the terms Ambo and Paramedic interchangeably colloquially.
My period.
I was in bed with flu and a kidney infection, and then I got my period. Due to me being floored in bed, I hadn’t had chance to do my usual shopping and only had one tampon left. My ex called on his way home from work and asked if I needed anything picking up. I said yes, tampons please. He huffed and puffed, and said it was gross and suggested other options (he could pick me up and drive me to the supermarket so I could buy them myself. He gave up when I explained blood and gravity).
He called me from the tampon aisle and whispered, “I’m here. Which ones do you need?”. I explained and he was about to put them in the basket. He was like, “hmm there’s orange ones here” so I asked what orange ones are. He said, “super plus plus”. I said, “nope too much. Just regular and super please”. Then he said, “babe I dunno if you know but there is a *lot* of blood”. I know my flow ffs! I had to stay calm and polite though because he’d just leave without buying any if I kicked off. I said no thanks, just the ones I asked for.
He came home with the orange ones. “Trust me, these will be better for you”. I had no other choice but to use them. When I tell you it was like pulling a London bus from my v****a every time I changed one, I’m not exaggerating. And he wonders why he’s my ex.
"Whatever size you bring home is getting shoved up ur 🫏. Your move cowboy."
Load More Replies...This ignorant cräp of guys thinking buying tampons/pads/cups etc is gross and all..its literally buying a package of "bandages" for a part on a body that's bleeding. Seriously, get over it.
It has never bothered my husband in over 24 years of marriage. He says if there are any other guys around, he loves how it’s proof he’s lucky, and not single and desperate like them.
Load More Replies...This is actually dangerous. If you use a way too big tampon it can cause a life threatening infection.
I'm so glad my husband is not grossed out by it. The only time he got it wrong is when I asked for purple Always towels , and forgot they have 2 shades 😄. No biggie, just had to change more often. He also washes blood stained sheets without losing his masculinity, imagine that!
I don't understand why anybody can't buy the products their partner requires. Are you worried that someone's going to think you're buying feminine hygiene products for yourself? Ffs get over your fragile little ego
Watch the "Try guys" on YouTube going through a regular workday while hooked up to a period pain simulator. It never fails to make me laugh 😁
I have a son and a daughter, so my son grew up in a household with two women who were having periods. My husband told our son that if he ever heard that son was weirded out or reluctant or just refused to get menstrual products for ANY woman who asked, he would personally drive to wherever son was and kick his @$$. Son now helps pick up any period supplies his wife needs. I heard he also went to the store and picked up tampons for his sister while they were in college and delivered them to her dorm room. 💜
Men think we use heavy tampons all the time. They don't get that it's about handling the amount, not the amount of total absorbsion if you leave it in.
An ex tried to tell me that I should just squeeze my period out all at once so I could be done with it and we could have s*x.
Dude, if I could, *I WOULD*. I don’t bleed for a week straight because I *like* it.
It’s absolutely amazing how some men think periods work. I once had a boss who insisted we ‘take care of it at home and not bring it to work’.
Tf??? A boss??? Are there no women in these "mens" lives? I'm staying over at a friend's house a few nights and he has a box of tampons bc he knows when you need one you REALLY need one. Says it's like having toilet paper or bandaids around. Why I put men in quotes. They're not all morons.
Load More Replies...Look, I get it that s*x ed is bad in some schools / countries. But this is the internet. Even without searching, you come across women describing how things work. A.k.a this very list. What excuse does any man have not to know about something that is mentioned regularly, apart from not reading it?
They don't listen to women, only men in their echo chambers
Load More Replies...How hard is it to Google about a woman's period before saying and arguing foolish things?
I hope that everyone knows that it is ok to have s*x when menstruating. Some women find that engaging in s*x reduces their menstrual symptoms.
Yeah but it's those syptoms that don't put you in the mood.
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How to drive a manual
As he sat passenger in my manual truck
Which I had driven my manual car down to pick up
He needed a ride due to having neither a vehicle nor a license
I have driven stick my whole life. I also happen to be a heavy equipment operator. I happen to know a thing or two about driving ***my own d**n vehicle***
... I offered to let him walk home.
Delivered a wagon back to its owner after doing some work on the interior and our newbie, 19, was following in the chase car. It was an old 4 over 4 Eaton gearbox that required a gentle but confident gear change. Newbie (who hadn’t even sat in it) tells the owner about the gearbox and the best way to drive it, her face barely flickers as she says ‘I’ll try that on the next 100,000 miles I do in it, thank you’. He got back in our car with a pleased face on, it was my duty to repeat the conversation back to him and ask him where he went wrong, clueless f*****t. Asked him not to talk to customers after that.
He would have walked if it had been me. However, a stick is fun to drive except in heavy traffic.
HAH! This remembers me of my very first experiment with an USA man trying to mansplain me in the matter. (Like 15-ish years ago) Okay, I made the "mistake" to tell him, I have no valid driver license, actually. First, he was horrified by the fact, second, he was trying to explain me, how cars works. Dude, I was getting my driver license on a Dacia 1310, the "masterpiece" of "Soviet-block" car in like 1996. I just didn't need it for long -long-long and even more long years, and was too lazy to go and extend it's validity after 10 years, when it' should have been extended. He pissed me enough off to borough one of my friends' Trabant car for a few hours, and ask him to "Dude, go with it!" He couldn't even start it. EDIT: I could start and drove it .... You should have seen his face ...
I learned to drive in a Chevy van with "three on the tree". Not my favorite, but not difficult either
I have a a3 TDI and nearly every time I go to get diesel I get a guy telling me I’m putting the wrong fuel in. So I just go into detail about what TDI means and they always get offended like if you knew what it was why did you run up to me in a huff to “save me from ruining my car”. I have started to go “oh no!! S**t!! I’m putting diesel into a diesel car!!!”.
In the UK the diesel hose is too big for the petrol tank so there’s no way you can misfuel that way, the other way though is possible (I’ve done it once 😱)
Hmm... you can't put diesel in gasoline car, the hose is too big and won't fit. You can only do do the reverse 🤷♀️
Yep! Guess the OP didn’t know that when posting that.
Load More Replies...Don’t try to explain to the mansplainer, just use that wonderful line!
My Dad used to have a Skoda Fabia 1.6tdi. Men would ask me about the car, I would answer... inevitably they would double check with my father or have me open the hood as if I didn't f*****g know how to read two numbers and three letters. 🙄
Or they could just assume she knows what she's doing. You think guys get other guys rushing up to tell them what kind of car they are driving? "nearly every time" seems an exaggeration though, but with people like you around, maybe.,
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Where my house is.
Background info: Where we used to live there was a train station, on one side of the station was a row of small shops- bakery, butcher, florist- just one of those little strips, on the other side an Irish pub, a burger place and an Indian restaurant. We lived behind the shops, then a little further down from us was a school.
When my daughter was at daycare she made friends with this little boy, his mum invited us over for a playdate, we went, had a lovely afternoon. Then her husband came home from work, we were chatting and he asks where abouts we live. I go "just behind the shops near (train station)" he gives me this look then says "OH YOU MEAN THE RESTAURANTS ON (road the restaurants connect to)" I say no, the other side, behind the shops. He says no, I can't live there, there's a school there. I say yes there is a school there, but there are a couple of streets in between the shops and the school and we are in between there. He says no, I must be confusing the shops and the restaurants, what I must mean is either the restaurants, OR the next train station along on the line where there is a large supermarket- because there are houses behind there.
We just kept going back and forth until I went home, to my house, which apparently wasn't located where I thought it was, despite me going to and from it every day for 4 years.
Worse than that - can you imagine a road trip with this guy?
Load More Replies...Okay, than for the next play-date bring your kid where do YOU think I Ilive, not, where I actually said I do. Good luck!
Urgh, this one is the worst. My husband tried to tell me that PMS wasn't an actual thing. It was just made up by the patriarchy to oppress women and used for comedy effect in misogynistic movies and TV shows. I think he thought he was being super supportive to the cause.
I was like, wtf are you talking about?? Haven't you noticed that I have an explosive mood swings the same three days out of every month. He tried to tell me that was just me and that's my personality. He's lucky it wasn't the wrong time of the month.
Nothing screams willfully ignorant like a man trying to tell a woman how their bodies operate as if they have first hand experience.
Well a lot.of them are comfortable telling us what to do with our bodies so....
Load More Replies...My MIL had horrific periods (fainting from pain, vomiting, almost died from blood loss tuntil the docs performed an emergency hysterectomy, whole pelvis full of cysts). So my bf treats me like a raw egg when I'm on my period and is super nice and helpful, even though most of my periods are just average symptomatic. It's such a nice feeling, he's a keeper 🥰👍
It affects each person differently though. Not everyone gets mood swings, some people just get cramps, some people get lethargic, some people get bloated. It varies.
Had a trans friend try explaining to one of the sisters that cramps are "just back aches: I get them all the time!"
Some people seriously need to sit down and STFU
Load More Replies...If he ever gets a vasectomy just tell him it's the matriarchy trying to oppress him. It's not real,😁
To be fair, not all women experience PMS, but it's kinda offensive to tell her that being affected by her hormones is just her personality as if she's just prone to mood swings for no reason at all. I give him the benefit of the doubt, though, as he seems to want to be accommodating, but he should take a hint when an actual women explains how her specific body functions...
It's obviously not the same for everyone, but I recall many times noticing that my wife was, err, more tetchy than usual on the half-hour drive home from work. There were even occasions when I would, taking my life into my own hands, ask her if perhaps she was due in a few days, but it took some years to be able to do that in such a way as to make her realise that perhaps she was being irrational and to reel it back in a bit.
Had a man mansplain to me what it’s like to live in Asia.
He is white and has not stayed in an Asian country for more than 2 weeks.
I grew up in a small island in South East Asia for most of my life. My ethnicity is Chinese and I grew up around the chinese culture along with the nuances of the culture in different locations. My family was low income.
His experience was that of a tourist. And he learned mandarin for 6 months. I speak mandarin and the 3 different dialects of it (my first language is still English though).
He was the general manager of my workplace. I totally snapped at him and said “Are you seriously mansplaining the Asian/Chinese culture to an American Chinese who grew up in Asia?!?”
He was at least embarrassed.
As he should have been embarrassed. That is like a lay person trying to tell a surgeon how to operate based on a few YT videos and WebMD.
Not a specific example,, just my life in general. I am an economist, I have a bachelors and masters in economics and have been an economic researcher and consultant for a few years now.
Anytime I tell a guy that is my job, he will explain economics to me. They often try to explain the current economic state through the stock markets (not accurate, only 1 variable of a million variable equation), they usually tell me that things such as buying power, household expenditure data, and under/over employment trends don't speak to the big picture and don't really matter in economic health.
I've stopped telling people I'm an economist and instead say that I'm a linguist (my side passion), because no one knows anything about the subject and therefore can't "teach me" based off Wikipedia and Joe Rogan podcasts.
You say you're a linguist and people leave you alone? Lucky you. I'm a linguist, and people keep explaining my field to me...
Let me tell you about the Proto Indo European language. I'm fluent!
Load More Replies...Maybe you should tell them to listen to Marketplace and learn that the stock market isn't the economy.
My cousin is a successful economist who has worked for the World Bank and our federal government. My conspiracy theorist uncle constantly tries to explain economics based on what he's read online to my cuz and won't listen to a word the trained expert says. It's interesting to sit and listen to them interact at family events.
A guy from my physics class shared his solution to a problem in our semesters whatsapp group. I told him he'd made an error (he had) forgetting the lower bound of the integration. He proceded to mansplain how integration works to me until he realized that I was actually correct.
Did he also actually acknowledge he was wrong? Or just trail off and avoid that bit?
As a calculus teacher, I can certainly believe that someone forgot both the upper and lower bounds of a definite integral. But if you somehow manage to forget just one, you won't get a wrong answer - you'll never reach an answer at all. So something is missing in this story.
Recently my roommate locked her keys in her car, while getting gas. I drive over and she is at the 1st pump, a guy is parked behind her at another pump and I park behind him. I get out with her keys. She has keyless entry and shouldn't be able to lock her keys inside the car.
So I ask, "How did you even do that?" The guy behind her immediately replies, "just push the one that has the unlock button on it."
I looked at him and said, "Yeah, I know. I'm asking her how she locked her keys in the car. Not how to use the clicker." Seriously, did he just try to mansplain to me how to unlock a door?
No, he didn't try to mansplain. He tried to make a joke, which fell flat.
He may have misheard the person and thought they said "how do I do that", use the key unlock. You gotta love when you honestly try to be of help just to get shot down and denigrated. Happens all the time these days, the immediate go to is to assume anything a man says to a woman these days is being a pig. Iv had it happen to me when I have offered help to someone I thought might need it. I rarely bother now.
Most recently I had a guy try to explain to me that postpartum depression was caused by the mother's natural instinct to know the baby has issues. Like in nature where animals will neglect a sickly offspring. I don't think he actually knew what postpartum was.
Nothing like telling an already depressed new mom there's something inherently wrong with her baby.
And that nature is telling her to leave it to die!
Load More Replies...Too sad his own mom didn't experienced his kind of "postpasrtum depression" back in time, and acted "naturally".
It turns out postpartum depression/anxiety only really happens to moms in cultures where we don't live communally with extended family, because humans did not evolve to take care of babies ALONE. So if a mom is having PPD/PPA, GET HER MORE HELP WITH THE BABY. More than just the dad, too. Dads can get PPD/PPA too, though it's rarer--but because it's brought on by stress, not just sudden hormone shifts, it's not exclusive to moms.
What yoga is. I've been teaching yoga for 18 years, training teachers for 12. He went to a class once.
I had a man explain to me that I’ve never been to India. I’ve spent 6 months of my life in India.
I met this guy in a bar and we found a mutual love of travel, so I mentioned I loved my time in India and he told me NO woman could possibly enjoy traveling there, therefore I’ve never been. And any attempt to convince him (relaying my past itineraries for example) was just me "trying to impress him". His friends apologized to me later.
As a woman, I personally love travelling in India. I do find parts more challenging than others, but it saddens me when people who haven't even been there make incorrect, sweeping statements
Load More Replies..."I'm not trying to impress you, I only do that with guys I respect. I'm CORRECTING you. There's a difference."
Boyfriend mansplained that on a heavy day when I was changing a tampon every hour this was too often and I could wear them for up to 8 hours (he was annoyed when we were out that I had to keep looking for a toilet). He was all like just put one in and forget about it till we get back home tonight.
*because thats what it says on the box*.
I'm saying this as a woman, fyi. But if you're changing a pad or tampon every hour, that's a (pardon the pun) red flag. Please get that checked. It is NOT normal.
If everything is otherwise okay, then it sounds like she was using the wrong absorbency of tampon. Low iron levels can cause 'flooding', as can the approach of the menopause. But one tampon per hour is not normal.
Load More Replies...Yeah "up to" as in the maximum time, there's not minimum on tampons (as far as I'm aware).
No minimum, but taking out a dry tampon can be pretty uncomfortable.
Load More Replies...He's going to lose his mind when he finds out what happens during menopause.
Yeah not for everyone,I had to change the super plus ever hour my flow was so heavy ,I often wore a panty liner along with my tampon..
Clothing manufacturing, after I had explained why bras are so expensive (he'd asked this question about a FOURTEEN DOLLAR bra his girlfriend got), and mentioned that I sew. He kept ranting on about "so little cloth shouldn't be that much" and how the quality of a $3 pair of briefs is good enough for him, so bras should cost that much, too. OK, buddy, you go price all the materials, spend the time doing trial and error to design a bra that is comfortable and doesn't result in weird pointy or even square b***s, then assemble it, and then come back and tell me how much that whole process should cost.
I bet his 3 dollar pair of briefs doesn't have a under wire supporting his pënis either 🤭
I wait for the yearly sale at VS. you can get bras between 14-30 on sale.
Load More Replies...A good bra is a work of engineering. He'd squeal like a little girl if he knew 2hat quality, not designer, bras cost.
At least not one that doesn't feel like it's cutting off your circulation and gets lumpy after the first wash.
Load More Replies...Yeah, I could maybe get away with a $14 bra when I barely had breasts but there's nothing on earth that costs $14 that's gonna be anywhere near comfortable now.
Load More Replies...Does he buy used underwear? Haven't bought 3 dollar briefs for at least 20 years.
My boyfriend showed me a video of a girl jumping on a trampoline and she peed her pants. I commented how she must have really had to go and then he went into a long thing of “oh you don’t know? Women accidentally pee all the time” I said “yeah maybe after they have a kid but most women don’t just pee their pants all the time” and he told me I was wrong.
I dunno if it counts, but my father once tried to explain to me, how I should apply my lipstick. I was 21 then. I just asked him, if he ever used lipstick himself. He said "no, but I know better".
Now I'm curious what he said. Did he tell her to hold the lipstick still and wipe her lips back and forth across it?
No, he wanted her to start at the middle of her lips, then make a slowly expanding spiral until her whole face was covered. That guy has issues.
Load More Replies...I actually DID take makeup advice from my Dad as he'd studied, among other things, stage make up. "How to make yourself look older" was handy as a teen, "what colours will make you look younger" came in useful later.
It's different if a man has actually studied the subject.
Load More Replies...Thought I’d share this. Another Redditor replied to OP with: “Had a similar conversation with my boss at work one day: Boss: "How much lipstick do women eat?" Me: "What?" Boss: "Lipstick. You eat it when you have food or drink. How much do you use?" Me: "We don't "eat" it. Maybe there ends up being a bit on the outside of a mug or underside of a fork or spoon, but it's not like it gets reapplied during a meal" Boss: "But if you get it in the cutlery it must get on the food and you eat it" Me: "I don't know about you but I don't swipe my food across my lips on its way into my mouth. But I'm happy to lend you my lipstick if you want to test it yourself." Boss: incoherent mumbles followed by silence”
There is a logic to what the boss said, even if it was badly phrased. If you wear lipstick you will ingest a tiny amount just because trace amounts will be carried into the mouth from everyday things such as eating, drinking, touching your lips with your tongue, and so-on. The amount will be negligible on a daily basis, but it would be interesting to know just how much lipstick the average wearer will ingest in a lifetime.
Load More Replies...Tell him he can do it his way and you'll do it your way. Then we'll see who looks better
A guy tried to explain how wreaths worked to me, pointing out the hook on the back was for ease of hanging.
That message was brought to you by the ministry of stating the fcking obvious 🤦
And that's not very nice, most developmentally delayed people are polite af, and would never pull this s**t.
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Pregnancy. I have had SO MANY MEN tell me what to expect, how it’s only going to get worse, etc etc. just based off knowing pregnant women (not even being with/living with a pregnant woman). It makes me ragey.
"And how many pregnancies have you had?" this also works for periods.
Look them in the eye and say, "Oh, where did you go to medical school?" When they say they didn't, say, "Then shut up."
I once had a man insist I was pregnant because I'm fat I only gain weight in my midsection no where else ,I told him no way I could be he said I better go to the doy I said I had a hysterectomy he said go get checked they did it wrong with a belly like that you're most definitely pregnant...I just said ok .
Sometimes the best reply is to burst out laughing. That generally shuts them up real quick.
I'm an attorney. My father was talking about a lease, and for some reason decided I needed leases and how they worked in that state (where I'm licensed) explained to me. I just stared in shock for a minute and asked him, "You know I'm licensed attorney, right? Why in the world are you trying to explain leases to me?" No answer, but he hasn't tried to explain legal things to me again. Wasn't even trying to match his rudeness, just so shocked it slipped out.
One of my friends tried to explain picture frames to me. We were going shopping and I’d mentioned that I wanted to try to find some so I could print some pictures out. For some reason he assumed that in my 22 years of life, I’d never been able to figure out how people get photos in those cute little boxes. He began to explain in great detail that picture frames come in sizes like 5 x 7, so that means you should put a 5 x 7 picture in it, and you can get that size either by printing it 5 x 7 or cutting down a bigger- … It got to the point that he was then explaining dimensions and using a ruler to me when I finally snapped at him.
The worst that I’ve had mansplained to me is reading. Apparently I read so fast that I don’t really read properly and therefore I can’t absorb the material. I sat and read the first Harry Potter in around an hour in front of him. Then he questioned me on the plot, when I could tell him all about it he accused me of having already read it. Now I’m older I’d just tell him to sod off!
I knew a girl in Jr. High that could read really fast. She just read a lot because her parents had a rule for how much TV she and her sister could watch so they both read a lot. I would sit and watch her eyes move down the page and flip to the next so fast. It always amazed me. I read a lot too but I would sometimes have to read the same line a few times to absorb it.
I once read an 800 page book in less than 24 hours. I recently read a 100k word fic in about five. Some people are just fast readers.
My final year of college I figured out I was reading around a thousand pages per week. This was for a history degree, so lots of reading in general.
I routinely read 800-1000 page novels in a day. I just read fast. I have since I was young. I started reading young because there was a lot of importance placed on it in my family.
Me too. I don't try to read fast, I just read. On the contrary, sometimes I try to read slower because good books are finished before they even have time to properly start.
Load More Replies...I’m a speed reader in that I take in the gist of what’s going on, but sometimes I have to go back because I’ll miss something. So pros and cons.
I am an artist and had a male customer explain a spine to me while working on his commission. Mind you I have 15 years of experience. He also explained to me in excruciating length how my time is my most precious resource and how he wanted to manage his replies to maximum efficiency further wasting my time.
I had someone explain to me that I must be wrong on my pricing because my currency (€) didn't match and I quote " dollars of the united states of America money" I told him after he asked what 10€ would be in freedom money that it's 12$ (can't even Google huh?) and he proceeded to tell me that 1€ must be 2$ because 12 and 10 have 2 as common divisor. And I told him decimal numbers exist, he got really pissy and canceled his order but not without making me lose more braincells on the way.
Had a dude explain to me how well my deck is built and what to pay attention to and how lucky I am to have such a skilled dad. I waited till he was done to tell him I built it.
Had an American come into the supermarket my daughter works at (uk) and ask to change his $20 to £20. She had to explain that the supermarket doesn’t do currency exchange and that the exchange rate doesn’t work like that.
In my head he’d been going to lots of other shops first, trying to pay with American dollars and kept getting rejected. I’ve seen posts about that before - where American tourists seem to think USD is a global currency that everybody should accept. There’s a reason he didn’t have any GBP on him.
Load More Replies...As a teacher and writer, my dad is highly skilled. He couldn't build a deck if his life depended on it.
Conversion rates are hard when you aren't willing to learn or use the tools given to do the work.
Yeah, after the last one eventually got fired, I took to saying "instruction manual" real quick with the n00b. I did not make the easiest step by step instruction guide, with pictures, just so you can keep asking me questions.
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My own body’s fat distribution. I posted in the plastic surgery sub about my chin lipo and Kybella experience and some dude (without a medical degree I might add) commented that lipo/Kybella was not the right move and I should have just lost weight. He then went on to say in the comments I’m clearly “considerably overweight” and even threw out “obesity”. I was a few pounds overweight at the time of the surgery, but definitely not considerably overweight. I wasn’t then nor have I ever been obese. Plus size, yes, but not obese. I also had had the double chin since I was a 5’7”, 115 pound, anorexic 14 year old. It knew from experience that even when I’m underweight, I have it. It’s just where I store any fat I have. But CLEARLY random dude on Reddit with no medical degree who doesn’t know me knows more about my body than both I and a certified medical doctor do. Give me a break 🙄.
Here's my standard reply for them; Wow you are really not embarrassed at all to go online and show how f*****g stupid you are. Good for you!
Bodies are just weird like that. Personally, all my weight goes to my thighs, so even when I’m 110 lbs (I’m 5’6”) they end up jiggly.
It's so easy to make a t**t of yourself when no one knows who you are.
Coworker randomly tried to mansplain the average temperature for San Diego, which is my hometown and he's never been there....
A few years ago a friend and I stayed in a hostel in Berlin. For context, I am from the North East of England and my friend is from Northern Ireland. I am from an area where Hadrian's Wall (the border that the Roman Empire built to keep out the Celtic) still partially stands. A super important piece of history that all Northerners know the importance of. Similarly, my friend is from Belfast and was born just after the Good Friday Agreement (which led to the ceasefire in NI).Anyways, we met these two American guys who were around our age in the hostel and we all got talking about our hometowns and local history. One of the guys was super sound but the other guy was completely insufferable. He began to mansplain to me the 'insignificance' of Hadrian's wall to British and European history... And then began to mansplain to my friend the Irish troubles as if she was completely ignorant and had not had to live through the after-effects of the violence.
I'm always up for a bit of healthy discussion but I literally had to tell this guy to f**k off. His justification was that he was a history major, therefore his knowledge from his studies trumped our lived experiences. So my response was that if he was going to justify his shocking opinions with his history degree, then my politics degree meant that I was justified in saying that the US constitution was insignificant (I obviously don't think this lol but I was just trying to show him how stupid his argument was).
Tell this to those idiots, who are fond of communism. Coming from an ex-communist country, I had to tell too much time for delulu people to FCK OFF!
Load More Replies...If he was a good history major, he would’ve been in heaven getting firsthand information and personal insights from OP and friend for both of those historic items, then comparing it to what he was taught, which could very well have had certain points in error. Intelligent people are happy to learn new things, and will admit it when they’re wrong, then correct or update bad or outdated information they’ve been given in the past. People only posing as intelligent merely double down on their bad or outdated information, and close their ears to learning anything new. They will NEVER admit they’re wrong.
Kabuki, Hadrian’s Wall is in England. Maybe check your geography first.
Do you ever read for comprehension? Reread the OP story - maybe mouth the words
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About a semester before I finished grad school, an older male coworker told me I wasn't allowed to have an opinion about our work projects until I earned my graduate degree. He did not have a degree himself.
Not strictly mansplaining, but it drove me insane
I happen to have a graduate degree, and so I am entitled to my opinion of OP's coworker.
I used to drive a car that was notorious for the transmission going out around 100,000 miles. Went on a date with a dude who felt the need to mansplain this to me. Told him, "Yeah, I know, I've got it covered." He went on. And on. Told him "Mine blew at 95,000. It's already been replaced. I know." Passed on a second date.
I have no problem with anyone offering advice on something that may save me a lot of money even if I do already know. Nobody is a mind-reader. Try being thankful instead of being arrogant.
I'll keep on explaining after you've told me you know, then.
Load More Replies...Change subject after being told it's been covered.
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A man once tried to mansplain my OWN name to me. Told me it was French instead of Creole because my heritage can't be Creole if I've never personally been to New Orleans.
Well I've never been to Norway or Scotland (I'm American) but my heritage is Norwegian and Scottish because that's where my ancestors come from. But apparently my last name isn't Norwegian because I've never been to Europe. 🙄
Now I am curious about your last name, as I thought Novotný is a Czech and Slovak last name.
Load More Replies...Crazy enough, people can also have names that don't reflect their heritage.
He may want to learn about Creoles before gate keeping. The complexity of Louisiana history is fascinating.
I have an Irish name that doesn't sound how it reads (to most people anyway) I get corrections on my pronunciation all the time. It's so frustrating!
Me and a few others were standing opened mouthed in stunned silence as a guy we just met mansplained to a really good friend of ours that her last name couldn't be what she said it was (Irish in origin) because she was obviously Asian. She let him have just enough rope to hang himself before saying, "My mom and I evacuated Saigon in 1975 when I was one year old. My mom married my dad a year later, d*ck head."
huh almost like French Creole isn't a thing.....he must be soooo smart
Err, well without knowing the name it's difficult to be sure, but doesn't Creole usually refer to the people and languages of the former French Colonies?
I assume OP knows the origin of their own name and it’s Creole.
Load More Replies... I was looking to buy some paracetamol in a supermarket. An older man wandered over and launched unprompted into an explanation of brand name vs generic and how I’d be getting fleeced by paying for one over the other. I knew this but thanked him anyway.
However he wouldn’t leave and kept explaining it as if I didn’t understand. When I ignored him and selected one he then asked if it was for lady troubles.... I left pretty quickly after that.
I've had basic cooking concepts explained to me, such as deglazing a pan. Did you know that adding liquid to the pan removes the stuff stuck to the bottom? Well it does! This after I had cooked several meals with him, including broths and pan fried dishes which involved deglazing.
I'm a woman. And a chef, by profession. Fo years. Tell no more! Sometimes, even in the industry happens, with early genX - boomer aged Kitchen leadres to 1. Women can max. do salads-appetizers-deserts. 2. Women can't make right meat- and fish dishes. Oh, the irony, when "trad-wife" idiots are all about women'-place-is-in-the-kitchen- And then trying to mansplain the KITCHEN. Gladly, there was a major change since Bourdain-times (who was an amazing pro!), and in pro-kitchens the employee's s.e.x. plays fewer and fewer role.
yeah, my son soaks the friday pan with liquid to remove the stuff. Over the weekend. For the maid to take care of it on monday...
How much yardage I needed to sew a garment for him. I'm an experienced seamstress. He had the gall to tell me I only needed 1 yard to make a button up shirt for a full grown man. "Any more fabric and I was obviously being wasteful. If I knew more about factory sewing, I could be more efficient and stop using so much fabric.".
Social anthropology. I'm doing my phd in social anthropology, but apparently my brother who has a bachelor degree in philosophy knows what social anthropology, something I've studied for 7 years, is better than I. My former boss knew about Cambodian culture better than I even though he has been there for 2 weeks as a tourist and I lived there for 6 months together with locals (I mean the same house, even the same room). 6 months is way too little to make me an expert but still...
An eraser ...
Was buying a pencil on a flea market. As I was about to leave the guy next to the seller yelled "Young Miss! Miss! Hey Miss! Do you know what that is? *points to pencil*"
"... a pencil?", I asked confuzzled.
"No! *giggles in superior mind* You see, tis an eraser, it makes the pencil writing go away.", he explained, as if he is sharing mindblowing revelations with me.
"... uh, ok?", I mutter and proceed to slowly walk away from that crazy guy.
I am over 30 years old - I know what a darn eraser is, champ.
This sounds more like someone who has a developmental disorder than mansplaining to me.
Maybe à pencil with a built-in eraser on top. They're very common here.
I had someone mansplain to me that caulk couldn't be clear. He drove a truck for a hardware store, so he knew what he was talking about. Meanwhile, I had recently re-caulked my bathroom with clear caulk. Idk, maybe he was thinking about grout?
Maybe a misunderstanding where one was talking about chalk and one about caulk?
Not saying it was the case here, but terminology varies, so different places may assign different more or less specific definitions to the same word. Caulk or caulking is not so common in UK English, for example, but may be used only to refer to some very specific types. To me it will always mean the fibre and bitumen we used to use to re-seal wooden decking on ships back in the day. Similarly in France the term Mastic is used for pretty much all sealants, rather than just the stuff that comes from the Mastic tree resin.
A 25 year old insurance broker tried to mansplain the brokerage market to me. I’ve been in the business since he was 3, but he still felt the need.
It's not about whether they knew that she knew all about it, it's about assuming that she did not know anything about it. That's kinda the definition of 'mansplaining', as in "you're a woman so you cannot possibly know anything about it".
Load More Replies...A three-ring binder. I asked a male higher-up for a report. He pulled it from his bookshelf (it was in a three-ring binder) and asked me if I knew how “this worked”. I was trying to figure out what “this” he was referring to and a little afraid he was about to ask for some quid pro quo type of deal over a freaking report when he started to explain how a binder worked.
But how does the paper get three holes on it? Do I just force it on the metal rings?
No, you take a properly-sharpened pencil and jab the holes in the paper.
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I went to the hardware store looking for a specific size screw for a diy project I was working on. I knew exactly what I was looking for and thought it’d be and easy and quick trip. As I’m looking for my screws a man next to me that seemed to be doing the same (not an employee) asked me what I was looking for.
I replied (and this was the only thing this man heard me say )
“ 2”wood screws”
Without knowing what I need them for or what I’m working on he goes into a verbal frenzy on screw and how they’re used and what they’re for and that I really should be using 3/4 instead or that I should probably use whatever the f**k else blah blah..
The whole time I’m just silent trying to see how far this will go. He then hands me a box of whatever screws he’s recommending because that will work so much better, grabs what he came for, and said he was always happy to help.
I gave him a “the audacity” half smile/half laugh that he probably mistook for gratitude and left.
As soon as he was gone I put back the box he gave me, grabbed what I came for, and went home and built our current bed frame.
When they're not actually helping, but dumping "I know better" all over you, yeah, it is rude.
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I just had a random dude mansplain to me why a certain stock that I have several hundred thousand dollars invested in is a good investment. OK, dude. Also, this mansplaining was triggered by the mention that my husband used to work as a director for that company.
I worked with I financial planning company. An advisor brought me some paperwork to do a transfer for a locked-in account. I told him I couldn’t process a transfer with what he gave me, explained exactly what was needed and why. He argued, but then gave up and went back to his office. He must have made some calls because he came back an hour or so later and explained to me, in great detail, exactly what I had originally explained to him. I was fuming!
"Yes, that's exactly what I told you the first time. Why are you repeating it to me?"
Recently a guy mansplained FGM to me after I pointed out that they (the men in the conversation) hijacked a conversation about FGM to talk about circumcision and had the repeated hall to compare the two like they're even remotely equal. After that he also said hijacking the conversation like that was a sign of "empathy".
So is circumcision, but it's not nearly in the same ballpark for cruelty.
Load More Replies...Comparing X to Y is not the same as suggesting that X=Y. The two issues are certainly comparable.
They are indeed comparable, tho Fgm is comparable to having the p***s removed entirely, i would argue its like comparing having an ingrown toenail removed to having your foot removed. So comparable, but not really
Load More Replies...I'm a welder with 9 years of experience. Something had been wrong with my machine, but maintenance didn't take me seriously. Then one day it shorted out inside and blew up. So then the guy comes over, and tried to mansplain that "electricity can k**l you." No s**t, really? I never knew! Good lord.
Well the safety advice he offered was on the 1st grade kid level so I would be deeply worried about his qualifications at his job.
Load More Replies...My own period/menstrual cycle and how midol with help with all of my symptoms. It helps. But not with everything my body goes through during my monthly.
Midol doesn't help with rage when in the presence stupidity.
But then, that doesn't really have anything to do with your period, since that happens no matter what part of the menstrual cycle you're in.
Load More Replies...A recent one. My partner tried to explain how antibodies work. I went to medical school. He does not understand how antibodies work. He doesn't do it often enough to outweigh the good points.
In a forum, I witnessed an idiot mansplaining the human immune system to an immunologist. It did not go well for him.
Lol I had a smart a*s student who tried to explain to me- his EFL teacher- what a double negative was, because he misunderstood the reason I was unsatisfied that his “rebuttal” of his partner’s work basically amounted to “nuh uh”.
I had to laugh, at the time, but I also asked him flat out which one of us was the native speaker, and to stop taking over me, so I could explain what the actual problem with his work was.
Teacher: "There is no such thing as a double positive." Student: "Yeah, right."
A couple of years ago my Lyft driver (who self-admittedly had never been outside the USA, and had been on 5 airplane rides in his life), thought I really needed to know how early I need to be at the airport - in big cities, international and regional airports. We were on our way TO the airport, he had already commented on my well-used suitcase, we'd discussed what I did and the ridiculous amount of travel I did (which is how I'd learned how little he had), and he STILL had to explain to me how to get to the airport(s) on time.
Explained how a multimeter could measure my resistance in Kelvins.
Dude I have a traditional engineering degree.
I doubt it was a conversation in a supermarket. Obviously they were at a location where resistances are being measured for that to be discussed.
Load More Replies...I had a first year med student explain to me that the influenza is the flu. I was 30 at the time. My response was gee wilikers really!
Those are the ones you send to the other department for a "long weight". Which the other dept will happily give.
I’m old, the guy at the grocery store thinks I need to be told how to pick up my bags. I quest I was doing it wrong. Told me to only pick up the bag from the bottom, which I was already doing. Got so mad I told him Thanks but my Mother let’s me do the shopping now, for the last 50 years.
If it was going to rip from the bottom, then they loaded it wrong.
Load More Replies...Whenever any dude at the gym explains to me that I need to do lower weight, more reps to tone. Who the fuck said I was here to tone? Why are you telling me things I already know? Who asked?
Long hair- did you know when you grow your hair long then you need to dry it or style it EVERY DAY otherwise it doesn’t look nice?
Actually, no. I had nice long hair and a little combing was enough. I’d just braid it or tie it into a ponytail and that was that.
I remember realizing in junior high (70's) how many people were blow drying their hair every day. I felt lucky to get dressed in the morning.
Load More Replies...I work alone with little to no contact with the public. All I need is my hair up and out of my face; it doesn't need to look nice.
Wrong. The first day is styled day. The second day is ponytail day. The third day is updo day.
The less you have to wash your hair, the healthier your hair will be.
Different people have different hair. I can’t be bothered to wash my hair daily but I should do. By day two my hair is greasier and a shade darker. I’ve tried different shampoos, etc but my hair wants to be washed every day. It’s not usually recommended to wash your hair daily, but it depends on hair type, scalp condition, how much exercise you do, etc.
Load More Replies...tbf, this is true for me. I got my aunt's hair (more than happy) - but if it's not tied up and left towel dried, I get weird curls. If I brush it out after it has dried, I get "beach hair" - wavy, curly here and there. I call it "hair by nature".
I have also had a friend explain the costs of higher education to me. She has never worked in the field. I am an admin with 25 years of experience, which includes pricing and grants. It is a common problem with her. She also claimed to know more about reproductive health than a Dr I had specializing in the field from Columbia University. He was internationally ranked, but she had researched fertility and knew more than that Dr. I could go on and on and on with that one.
How to brush my teeth.
A new (to me) dental hygienist, after a routine cleaning with no concerns, at a dentist office I have gone to for years (my records are right on the screen) felt the need to explain how to brush my teeth. He can clearly see that I have no cavities, gum disease, etc. I am a woman in my mind-thirties who hasn't had a cavity in close to a decade. Just, why? I finally asked him "what part of my routine cleaning has led you to believe that I don't know how to brush my teeth?" I did not schedule my next cleaning with him.
Nah, that’s normal, they remind you how to do it right every time.
I must say I was thankful when my dentist's assistant explained to me the step by step cleaning routine that was best for MY teeth, after I neglected oral hygiene for a while due to depression. Last time I went they praised me for my good maintanance and even asked me what kind of products I use to get such good results. That made me really happy 💖
Load More Replies...Err, this just seems to be someone trying to do their job. Yes, I don't like the hygienist explaining stuff to me, whether I agree with them or not, cos it make me feel like a naughty child, but that is exactly what they're being paid to do. Are you suggesting that he would not have done the same with a male patient?
I am a woman with a CADD certificate had a man try and explain to me what triangles are when we were doing a project to make a bridge model to show that we knew how to support weight so that we could apply it to a larger scale project to make a couch with unconventional materials.
Same guy didn't listen to our (female) teacher and made a couch even though the word "bridge" was said at least 7 times before he was allowed to touch the materials. Even I said couch at least 5 times during the building process. I would easily call that mansplaining.
There’s a retired lady in our historic vehicle club. New members often try to mansplain basic vehicle technology to her. She was formerly head of technical development for a major car racing team. It’s hilarious to watch
The number of guys who have never rebuilt an engine but think they can do it by reading directions.........
Load More Replies...Gotta love the men getting all defensive in the comments! Don't offer your Superior Manly Knowledge unasked. It's that simple.
The comments here are enlightening on both sides of the argument. One reply nailed it, IMHO: would the man in question explain it the same way to another man? If not, it's mansplaining. If so, it's just someone trying to be helpful.
Please don't mention I said this one, but my own son actually once attempted to mansplain periods to me and then got upset because he didn't like the word "mansplain" when I got irritated and demanded why I was annoyed
My favourite is from a former corporate life. I was in a meeting with the exec team and one of the VPs tried to explain a company policy to me. I'll admit to being a bit cheeky because I let him go on and on and waited until he triumphantly asked if I understood it now before explaining I'd written said policy. In my experience there's something about being the youngest person in a room and also being a woman that brings out the mansplainers.
There’s nothing wrong in your reaction. I let a male colleague explain to me that if I just read “this report” I would understand so much better. I let him finish, then silently pointed to my name badge and the name on the report. Followed up with I defined the policies, procedures and reports that gauge how well you perform against the metrics I set up.
Load More Replies...As a man I can safely say not all cases of mansplining are because the other person is a woman. I have been trapped many times by men who just like to explain everything. I think it comes from being hyperfocused in their own lives that it is literally the only way they know how to communicate. And then there are the patriarchal Aholes.
I witnessed this, at a bar ... male patron mansplaining to female bartender the recipe for a Jack & Coke.
There’s a retired lady in our historic vehicle club. New members often try to mansplain basic vehicle technology to her. She was formerly head of technical development for a major car racing team. It’s hilarious to watch
The number of guys who have never rebuilt an engine but think they can do it by reading directions.........
Load More Replies...Gotta love the men getting all defensive in the comments! Don't offer your Superior Manly Knowledge unasked. It's that simple.
The comments here are enlightening on both sides of the argument. One reply nailed it, IMHO: would the man in question explain it the same way to another man? If not, it's mansplaining. If so, it's just someone trying to be helpful.
Please don't mention I said this one, but my own son actually once attempted to mansplain periods to me and then got upset because he didn't like the word "mansplain" when I got irritated and demanded why I was annoyed
My favourite is from a former corporate life. I was in a meeting with the exec team and one of the VPs tried to explain a company policy to me. I'll admit to being a bit cheeky because I let him go on and on and waited until he triumphantly asked if I understood it now before explaining I'd written said policy. In my experience there's something about being the youngest person in a room and also being a woman that brings out the mansplainers.
There’s nothing wrong in your reaction. I let a male colleague explain to me that if I just read “this report” I would understand so much better. I let him finish, then silently pointed to my name badge and the name on the report. Followed up with I defined the policies, procedures and reports that gauge how well you perform against the metrics I set up.
Load More Replies...As a man I can safely say not all cases of mansplining are because the other person is a woman. I have been trapped many times by men who just like to explain everything. I think it comes from being hyperfocused in their own lives that it is literally the only way they know how to communicate. And then there are the patriarchal Aholes.
I witnessed this, at a bar ... male patron mansplaining to female bartender the recipe for a Jack & Coke.
