'Mansplaining'

[teachercd]

What if one jewish guy does it to another jewish guy?

 

 

That show, Kids say the darndest things...where sometimes the kids would explain something and of course be super dramatic...was that kidsplaining?  

[Landlord]

It's almost like we've gone 4 pages and people still don't realize that the entire point of the term existing is to speak towards the power dynamics of our society where women aren't given an equal voice/space at the table.

[knapplc]

3 minutes ago, Landlord said:

It's almost like we've gone 4 pages and people still don't realize that the entire point of the term existing is to speak towards the power dynamics of our society where women aren't given an equal voice/space at the table.

 

Yes, Landlord, you're cluing us adults in on things we don't understand.

 

Please, tell me more things I don't understand.  'splain them to me. 

 

 

I mean, unless that was intended to prove my point, that was an incredibly odd thing to type.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[teachercd]

If a parent...talks down to their child...Parentsplaining?  

[Moiraine]

11 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

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

 

 

In this whole conversation we've been talking about a term where the definition is explaining something condescendingly to a woman because she's a woman. The main reason I'd never use the term is you can rarely ever know the bolded.

 

 

I'd say a man is less likely to assume another man is wrong about a statement on the human brain due solely to the fact he's a man. However they might due to the fact he's a human.

 

That was just one example. It could be anything that people have stereotypes about.

 

I've had plenty of football plays explained to me uninvited.

 

As a joke my fiancé likes to inform me that the yellow line on the field is created digitally and not really on the field. 'Cause girls don't understand football. It's an exaggeration of real life.

[teachercd]

This isn't a gender thing...this is just "a thing"

 

If you think it is just a gender thing you either don't hang out with girls, don't hang out with guys or don't hang out with anyone.  This is what everyone does, it is called having a sense of humor.    This isn't some power thing...

 

I suppose if you do "it" to a complete stranger then it might be something.

[knapplc]

I have things splained to me all the time. Frequently by Landlord, who for some reason presumes things are over everyone's head but his, but not infrequently by other people. 

 

I've never felt the need to label that.  It's just silly behavior to presume you're in the right.  People don't do it because they're male or because I'm male, they do it because that's what people do. 

 

I even googled "splain" and turns out it's a commonly used term for this kind of thing.  There's even an entry for it on Dictionary.com. 

[Moiraine]

I don't like the term and don't use it, but now people people are actually talking like they think there is an equal likelihood of men talking down to other men because they assume they're ignorant as there is of men talking down to women because they assume they're ignorant.

 

And women doing the reverse to men.

 

That just isn't the case.

[Landlord]

I can occasionally patronize to people about football. Doesn't matter who it is, if they use incorrect terminology or don't understand what's happening, whether it's my buddy Tyler or a drunk man at a bar or my mom, I'll often correct them.

 

At the same time, I 100% of the time assume that any women I'm around don't know as much about football as me, and I enjoy teaching them (if they're interested). But let's pretend I just enjoy telling them what's what like an a-hole.

 

 

It's patronizing because it's patronizing. It's mansplaining because of the patronizing combined specifically with my assumptions about women. If there wasn't the context of man explaining to woman, it wouldn't be mansplaining. Why are you guys trying so hard to only talk about the patronizing element, when that's not even the point?

[knapplc]

But it's only "mansplaining" if it's done from a man to a woman.

 

If the exact same thing is done in any of these combinations, it's something else:

 

Man to man

Woman to man

Woman to woman

 

So the term itself isn't useful.  Either we need four terms for the exact same thing, one for each of those situations, or we need one term that encompasses that behavior from everyone to everyone. 

 

 

[Kiyoat Husker]

26 minutes ago, Landlord said:

It's mansplaining because of the patronizing combined specifically with my assumptions about women. 

 

I think this is the salient point.

 

I remember when I was working on landscape crews, my co-workers were often Guatemalan, or Salvadoran men that often did not speak English or only a little.  I speak some limited Spanish, and would sometimes use it.  Every once in a while I would speak Spanish to a new worker and they would answer me in perfect English.  Then I felt like a patronizing ass.  I suppose you could call that "English'splaining"?

 

Patronizing based on stereotypical assumptions.

[Moiraine]

3 minutes ago, knapplc said:

But it's only "mansplaining" if it's done from a man to a woman.

 

If the exact same thing is done in any of these combinations, it's something else:

 

Man to man

Woman to man

Woman to woman

 

So the term itself isn't useful.  Either we need four terms for the exact same thing, one for each of those situations, or we need one term that encompasses that behavior from everyone to everyone. 

 

 

 

 

 

One of them is far more prevalent.

[knapplc]

From whose point of view?

[Landlord]

5 minutes ago, knapplc said:

So the term itself isn't useful. 

 

From whose point of view?

[teachercd]

I work with 95% women...so I am guessing I would get womensplained more often then I mansplain just because of the %.