The exact definition of Mansplaining, a word coined by American writer Rebecca Solnit is: ( a man) explaining (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing. The said explanation, according to Merriam Webster, is about ‘something he has incomplete knowledge of, with the mistaken assumption that he knows more about it than the person he’s talking to does.’
Sounds familiar, right?
Mansplaining, much like manspreading, manterrupting, manslamming, manderstanding, bropriating have made it to our vocabulary in the 21st century, thanks to the feminist revolution. Misogynistic behavioral tendencies we tend to treat as normal, because we have been conditioned to, are now being identified, categories, named and brutally shamed.
This Quora thread has questioned the existence, need and legitimacy of these terms however. Titled: Are feminist-coined terms like mansplaining, innately bigoted against men? Why no female-worded terms for bad behaviour? this thread questions the disparity shown towards men.
Trigger warning: the thread is totally infuriating if you identify as Feminist.
Check out this Quora user, who justified how it mansplaining may not be hateful and directed only towards women:
“MANSPLAINING” is not hateful it is in fact not even sexism — it is men treating women the same way they treat men. All you need to do is look for NON-feminist studies on the matter as they tend to include all the facts instead of just those that support the “sexism and misogyny” answer feminists always look for. So the fact is that men are treating women in exactly the same way they treat other men and it turns out that some women and especially feminists are not particularly keen on getting equal treatment.
This one wants to talk about ‘feminazis’ which he apparently believes is the same as ‘bit**ing.
Oh, there are some. I’m sure you’ve heard of “bitching” and “feminazis.” But using any term for bad behavior that ascribes the behavior to the person’s gender rather than to their character is what’s called gender-shaming, and should be avoided.
This man who .. said some things:
I think they’re badly coined expressions to describe real and observable phenomena. I partially agree with Elliott Mason’s take on this. As much as I despise terms such as “manspreading” or “mansplaining,” especially owing to their susceptibility to misuse and overuse, the underlying phenomenon, to characterize which they are employed are very much real.
And then there was lone ray of hope:
To find out if a term that contains a gender, race, etc., is bigoted, try replacing the gender, race, etc., with others. See if you then think the term would still be acceptable and appropriate to use. If not, then yes, it is bigoted.
Let’s try here. Would you consider it acceptable to dismiss what women say because they are “womansplaining”? I suspect most who use that term would not find that acceptable.
If it is not acceptable to dismiss what women say because of their gender (and I assert that this is certainly not acceptable), it’s not okay to do to men, either. If we’re supporting equality here, there shouldn’t even be a need to say that.
Also Read: Gender discrimination isn’t real you say? Let this astronomer rip the delusion to bits
So, tl;dr:
Turns out most people cannot differentiate between explaining something to a woman and mansplaining by talking over her point on a topic they might NOT even have more knowledge about.
Two VERY different things, guys.
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