'Mansplaining'

[Mierin]

I just wanted to be sure.  To be clear, are all men guilty of this?

Have all men done it at least once in their lives? Maybe. All women have probably done the same thing to a man at least once in their lives.

If you're asking if all men are regularly guilty of this, it should be obvious from reading through the posts that no one posting in this topic thinks that.

Knapp...you just got "womansplained" about mansplaining...
 

Did not. Heh. But I edited it like 5 times so no one would make that damn joke.

 

[teachercd]

I feel like this doesn't need a name because it already has one.  It is called being sarcastic.  Everyone does it when they are explaining something that think someone should already know.

Like explaining blackjack to a guy friend...

"You have 19...so you want to stay."

"why?"

"Oh My Gosh...because you are close to 21, Einstein (not a jewish slam, relax)"

"Yeah, but if the next card is a two I can't lose"

"Fine...hit...you are soooo much smarter than all of us, Magellan"  

Then of course the idiot hits...they have to call a pit boss over to allow the hit...the moron gets a 2...everyone shakes their head while he grins and you have a great vegas story. 

 

[knapplc]

Then perhaps a reasonable objection to the term "mansplaining" is that it broad-brushes men in the same way the term "woman's work" broad-brushes women.

 

[Mierin]

I feel like this doesn't need a name because it already has one.  It is called being sarcastic.  Everyone does it when they are explaining something that think someone should already know.

Like explaining blackjack to a guy friend...

"You have 19...so you want to stay."

"why?"

"Oh My Gosh...because you are close to 21, Einstein (not a jewish slam, relax)"

"Yeah, but if the next card is a two I can't lose"

"Fine...hit...you are soooo much smarter than all of us, Magellan"  

Then of course the idiot hits...they have to call a pit boss over to allow the hit...the moron gets a 2...everyone shakes their head while he grins and you have a great vegas story. 

That's not what people who use it use it to describe.

 

[knapplc]

Are there specific examples of "mainsplaining" in this thread, like real-world things that have actually happened to people that are different than what teach described?

I have to admit that I've always been baffled by this term.  It seems like, as teach said, men just being sarcastic jerks, which they are to everyone. Men seem to take that behavior differently than women, thus the coining of this term.

Unless there's something I'm missing...?

 

[Mierin]

Then perhaps a reasonable objection to the term "mansplaining" is that it broad-brushes men in the same way the term "woman's work" broad-brushes women.

I don't think it does it in the same way. "Women's work" applies to all women.

"Mansplaining" applies to a man who is doing a specific thing at a specific time. It explains one event that one man is doing.

Like I said in the OP, there are women who do the same thing. At the baby shower for my brother's wife I remember the women making fun of how hard it would he to deal with it and how he'd be so surprised, etc., because he's a man and I kept thinking to myself they must not know my brother at all. And also how my sister in law had no more experience with babies than he had. (This isn't directly the same because he wasn't there, but it's related).

I think the reason the word "mansplaining" has become popular is because it happens to women quite a bit.

The problem with it is it's used way too often and inappropriately. 

 

[knapplc]

"Mansplaining" applies to a man who is doing a specific thing at a specific time. It explains one event that one man is doing.

Like I said in the OP, there are women who do the same thing.

Then it is poorly named, and would probably be best left to the trash heap of time.

 

[Mierin]

Are there specific examples of "mainsplaining" in this thread, like real-world things that have actually happened to people that are different than what teach described?

I have to admit that I've always been baffled by this term.  It seems like, as teach said, men just being sarcastic jerks, which they are to everyone. Men seem to take that behavior differently than women, thus the coining of this term.

Unless there's something I'm missing...?

I am going to "womansplain" now but I'll probably reply more thoroughly later.

I think what you're missing is that it's not something you've dealt with, and it's not something you do to women.

I think most women would say they've experienced it multiple times. The reverse is much more rare.

 

[Kiyoat Husker]

I think "patronizing" would be a better synonym than "sarcastic".

 

[knapplc]

I am going to "womansplain" now but I'll probably reply more thoroughly later.

I think what you're missing is that it's not something you've dealt with, and it's not something you do to women.

I think most women would say they've experienced it multiple times. The reverse is much more rare.

I think what you're missing is a term encompassing "man" is offensive to men, because not all of us do this, and we do not deserve to be labeled thusly. 

 

[Mierin]

Are you saying you think the term exists because women take sarcasm differently?

That really has nothing to do with the term. It's not about sarcasm or joking at all.

An example: a random dude explaining something he read in a magazine about brains in order to "correct" what a woman has just said to him, and she happens to be a brain surgeon.

The biggest problem with the term imo is that you can't know that this person isn't like this to everyone he meets unless he flat out says something sexist while explaining.

 

[Kiyoat Husker]

This should make it more clear:

 

[Mierin]

I think what you're missing is a term encompassing "man" is offensive to men, because not all of us do this, and we do not deserve to be labeled thusly. 

I'm not missing that argument.

Let's say "gendersplaining" means a person thinks someone of the opposite gender doesn't understand something because they're the opposite gender.

Is that broadbrushing the entire human population or is it used to describe specific people doing a specific thing?

 

[Landlord]

I think what you're missing is a term encompassing "man" is offensive to men, because not all of us do this, and we do not deserve to be labeled thusly. 

#NotALLMen right

 

[knapplc]

Are you saying you think the term exists because women take sarcasm differently?

That really has nothing to do with the term. It's not about sarcasm or joking at all.

An example: a random dude explaining something he read in a magazine about brains in order to "correct" what a woman has just said to him, and she happens to be a brain surgeon.

The biggest problem with the term imo is that you can't know that this person isn't like this to everyone he meets unless he flat out says something sexist while explaining.

Change your example to a guy doing this to a male brain surgeon.  This happens all the time.  What do you call it then?