to think men seem to have taken to MN in their droves recently......and I don't like it

[LadyBlaBlah]

Every thread I go on, there are men putting forward their opinion

I have enough of men in RL. AIBU thinking they should bog off to DN or go play the X Box or something?

oh FGS it's not about YOU

Well, it is about me, isn't it? 1. you made it so by personalising my 'opinion being more worthy than yours' in a rather churlish manner, and 2. yes I am a bloke, so would be caught up in this daft generalisation. By the same token that it can be argued that belittling any woman is an attack in kind on all women. As I said much further up, a lazy stereo-type and a rubbish cut-and-shunt of a word.
I relayed the women in my life ( sisters, friends, colleagues) and if I mentioned this word they would no doubt snigger a bit and then move on. That's about the effect it would have.

Mansplaining is an excellent, descriptive term with is now a part of my vocabulary, and several other posters I see.

The very fact that it draws attention to this phenomenon and men find it uncomfortable (the uncomfortable truth?) highlights its effectiveness.

Congratulations MNers!

It's really arrogant to adjudicate on what words we're allowed to use. If men didn't mansplain there'd be no need for it, so if you hate the word so much how about joining in the fight against the arbitrary privileging of one gender over another that enables mansplaining to be meaningful in the first place? That's a much better solution imho

Ooh, really Pan?

I know Coley, mansplaining is just so annoying. Mansplainers also seem to think that they dont need to back up their mansplaining with any facts (or knowledge or experience) so it is a real problem in many ways. Perhaps it even contributed to the financial crisis.

Hence, reducing or eradicating mansplaining will make the world a better place for everyone.

don't play the innocent with me, NR.

I would also argue that 'mansplaining' is nowhere near as self-evident as you say.

It clearly means 'explaining like a man', but there are lots of different ways to explain something in a stereotypically annoying man-way, and the condescension is not the first one that would come to mind at all.

I object if people talk about man-looking, where you open a drawer and say 'the scissors aren't there' without looking under the ladle, and I will object to calling this 'mansplaining'. The majority of men do not do this. Some women do it. No-one at all should do it.

From a blog about mansplaining:

Mansplaining isn't just the act of explaining while male, of course; many men manage to explain things every day without in the least insulting their listeners.
Mansplaining is when a man tells you, a woman, how to do something you already know how to do, or how you are wrong about something you are actually right about, or miscellaneous and inaccurate "facts" about something you know a hell of a lot more about than he does.

Bonus points if he is explaining how you are wrong about something being sexist!

So then you need 3 more words BoF, because men can do that to men, women can do that to men, and women can do that to women.

Keep it to that very narrow definition if you must but it is very inefficient.

And some more:

Gender-neutral words for ?mansplanation?-type behavior include great terms like ?rule-crapping? and ?info-dumping.? As much as I like these concepts, though, they remove reference to the male privilege that makes mansplaining what it is. Mansplaining is not just holding forth; it?s holding forth by someone who has the force of society behind him. A girl or woman can be a tiresome know-it-all, but she won?t be praised and supported in her efforts while those around her are discouraged from showing her up.

As was said earlier, it's simply a lazy stereotype. Inefficient and misleading and generally just a bad thing if gender equality is the true aspiration of us as women.

You don't get even by knocking the other party. You get even by behaving in a way that commands respect while refusing to accept this sort of dodgy generalisation from the other side.

But it may never happen, inequality of gender may never take place. I just don't think that using words like this furthers the cause in any way whatsoever.

Sorry, my error, the abolition of inequality of gender may never take place.

Well, I think you're wrong.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=fishbowl.pastiche.org/archives/pictures/xkcd_duty_calls.png&imgrefurl=fishbowl.pastiche.org/2008/02/&usg=__C9xf1qidG1gpaz8e_mQz7sHDvxE=&h=330&w=300&sz=14&hl=en&start=0&sig2=0RB3Hk5MPm07IfdD-QPjvA&zoom=1&tbnid=guDUWeTuSdf6gM:&tbnh=175&tbnw=159&ei=fCUzTay1BYiAhQfhkZybCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsomebody%2Bis%2Bwrong%2Bon%2Bthe%2Binternet%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1C1SKPC_enGB337%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D651%26tbs%3Disch:1%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=146&vpy=77&dur=2116&hovh=235&hovw=214&tx=99&ty=92&oei=fCUzTay1BYiAhQfhkZybCw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">But I have spent too long on this thread already to go into (again) why

Honestly, do you consider that using a word like this will convert any bloke to feminism?

Do you think it will convert women to feminism?

In what way does it further the cause of gender equality?

But cabbage, didn't you say upthread that you're not a feminist? If that's the case, how do you know what furthers the cause and what doesn't since it's a cause you don't subscribe to and are not involved in?

Mansplaining is hardly a concept central to the women's movement anyway. It's a slightly facetious term to describe a behaviour that feminists recognise (the second quote from BoF describes it well).

Oh, Okay bof (link didn't show up btw)

Eh? I'm not a feminist so I don't know anything about feminism? That follows...

Well whether or not she is a feminist I have seen (and I am sure you have) many people who are feminist's say that changes need to be made by men, if this is so then how is putting their backs up going to help?

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.seabreeze.com.au/images/misc/someone_is_wrong_on_the_internet.jpg&imgrefurl=www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/ForumPolicy.asp&usg=__NLQClfwr8DQrkHPJlftL7ROAJlY=&h=330&w=300&sz=26&hl=en&start=0&sig2=M152PKga9wgPcdOcA8gk0Q&zoom=1&tbnid=qKuD-rFTfdHm0M:&tbnh=175&tbnw=159&ei=fCUzTay1BYiAhQfhkZybCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsomebody%2Bis%2Bwrong%2Bon%2Bthe%2Binternet%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1C1SKPC_enGB337%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D651%26tbs%3Disch:1%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=696&vpy=77&dur=1731&hovh=235&hovw=214&tx=157&ty=150&oei=fCUzTay1BYiAhQfhkZybCw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Is this better?

Oh I hovered.

I like that pic.