to thibk there's a lot of mansplaining going on at the moment?

[StealthPolarBear]

On mn I mean. Just something I seem to be spotting more and more.
happy to be told I'm wrong in words of one syllable

Agree with OP. Just happened on a thread I was on about sanitary towels. As if men who never use sanitary protection have any idea about sanitary towels!!

Ohhhh, I gotta go check that thread out! I was avoiding it as I actually thought scented sanitary towels are quite nice

I have found, in many years working in schools, that male teachers (notably more than female ones) are guilty of this. Drives me crackers. I've been teaching since many of these men were in nappies (not an exaggeration!) - they get short shrift when they start telling me how education works.

Anyone who thinks women don't do this, should go and AS the 'benefits of breastfeeding threads'

I made a joke about switching the stock market on and off again, which resulted in a explanation of how monitors work, complete with analogy regarding car headlights, to ensure I fully understood that switching a screen off won't switch off the stock market itself.

I almost fell for it, but everyone knows the imps that make the computers go live inside the monitor. Otherwise how would they be able to paint the pictures inside the screen so fast? They'd have to be constantly running from the power box thingy to the screen, and then I'd be able to see them and the magic would stop working.

the elderly male philosopher beside me proceeded to tell me at length all about my subject, on the basis that he had once, years ago, seen a play related to the topic

I have to admit, I snorted with laughter. But in fellow feeling. It would be funny, if it wasn't evidence of so many really backwards (and sometimes unconscious) assumptions about authority, that are still having an impact in terms of hiring, grant awards, recognition etc.

I also find that as a woman, I am easily pigeonholed. I'm a feminist and a member of an academic reading group in which I am the only woman. I have written on gender, but my interest in the subject under scrutiny is not especially gendered in this case. It annoys me that whenever a gendered topic comes up, they all look at me, part for comment part for approval that they are so right-on as to consider my views. I am 'marked' by my gender in a way they are not. And I think that deep down there is an assumption that I am less able to deal with the gender-neutral philosophical arguments as a result, or that somehow my perspective is particular while theirs is more universal. It's not mansplaining, as such, but it's an interesting corollary.

I'm just chuffed I 'got it'! It took me until the second page and saying it aloud to realises the play on words.

I personally find most no it alls do this. Whenever people ask where my parents are from. The conversations goes like this:

No it all: where are your parents from?
Peyia: Dominica
No it all: oh you mean the Dominican Republic?
Peyia: No, the common wealth
No it all: Peyia, you're confused.

Now I just answer with Dominica, not the Republic!

Some people just can't fathom they know less

"
Today 10:39DaddyDr

Thank youstealthpolarbearit's only the 2001 nappy I've done, can you please tell me how to do it....."

It's really very simple

1. Pick up infant
2. Adopt confused expression
3. Hand to nearest passing woman

Border terrier, hamsters dear hamsters

I find teachersplaning is rife by both men and women.

In my case it's normally telling me children should be at school etc about attendance and exam results. I just internally go inside as if I don't known and as if my child doesn't go in as much as they can. chronic uncured untreatable health conditions My whole family has the condition, we are self motivated people with high IQ's and managed very well in exams considering.

I teach adult students, I get attempted mansplaining from my students all the time (it is almost always men). They try to explain my subject, that I'm supposed to be teaching them, to me. Post-retirement men are the worst.
I have noticed it on MN. There have been a couple of threads where men turn up and start an "I'm an expert, ask me anything" thread. That surely is the epitome of mansplaining.

It doesn't really need a name, or a gender specific one. Just "fucking gobshite know it all" usually suffices

This.

You really can't blame a recognised character defect only on men. Men do it. Women do it. Gender is irrelevant.

I over explain things and frequently get pulled up for it. It is because I am a teacher and have been for 30 years. (I know not all teachers do this - but I do). In an attempt to be clear I start with the basics and give examples.

I am aware that it makes me a patronising cow and accept being pulled up with good grace. I try not to do it but when someone asks me a question I cannot help starting with "First you need to understand....." Sorry.

(I truly don't think I know more than anyone else - I am just an explainer!)

stealthbypolar

you are forgetting the absolute best

which is

1)open nappy
2) gag so much, irritated wife takes over and never asks you again

I've seen a bit stealth, but actually, I thought there wasn't so much as at some times. Different threads, maybe.

Anyway. My favourite example of mansplaining was watching a (male) colleague explain to a (female, queer) colleague that it was hard to be a lesbian in our workplace because the men tended to do all the talking. Her face was interesting to see.

My brothers are excellent at it, too. They mean well, but between them, they have mansplained to me such issues as renting a house (he's done it all of once), buying a bra (!), the tampon tax, the role of women in academia, and the female anatomy during labour (according to big brother, baby can't get stuck because 'the body is shaped to prevent that'. Oh, it is, is it? ).

Last Christmas I was having an argument with my little brother about the history of women's work, and he eventually said, seriously 'well, we can't really say for certain, can we? We'd need to ask an academic who works on gender studies'.

Ooh, that was calming. Sorry, didn't really help your thread but it was soothing.

TWat magnet how do you know gender is irrelevant?

This is what our family know as "world expert syndrome". My father was (genuinely) a world expert on a couple of very esoteric academic subjects. That also made him an "expert" in all sorts of other subjects that he's read about watched a tv programme about or watched someone else do. My mother remembers him being present when someone asked her a question about patchwork. Before she could open her mouth he'd butted in and had provided a short answer to the specific question plus a longer explanation of how to make a patchwork cushion cover. She said he was mostly accurate, but that wasn't the point!

In my experience it certainly used to be more common in middle aged middle class men of some seniority but I've also observed it in women, particularly academics, teachers or managers, and these days I reckon the gender distribution is heading for equal...

This is what our family know as "world expert syndrome". My father was (genuinely) a world expert on a couple of very esoteric academic subjects. That also made him an "expert" in all sorts of other subjects that he's read about watched a tv programme about or watched someone else do. My mother remembers him being present when someone asked her a question about patchwork. Before she could open her mouth he'd butted in and had provided a short answer to the specific question plus a longer explanation of how to make a patchwork cushion cover. She said he was mostly accurate, but that wasn't the point!

In my experience it certainly used to be more common in middle aged middle class men of some seniority but I've also observed it in women, particularly academics, teachers or managers, and these days I reckon the gender distribution is heading for equal...

A colleague of mine tries to mansplain things to us all the time. He gets a lot of faces pointed in his direction. He has just joined our department, having had 1 year of experience in a similar but different environment, and his job is junior to all of us. If anyone complains about their laptop being temperamental he tries to sort it out for us, despite most of us knowing far more than he does about said laptops, and being completely capable of sorting the problem, just annoyed at the time it takes. He also tries to give advice about how to structure lessons and explain key topics to teachers with at least 10years experience, he isn't a teacher!

That's brilliant, merlin. And I imagine him being mostly right actually made your mum more irritated.

I don't think gender distribution will equalise any time soon, though. I just read a piece about how differently students rate male and female peers - it did show that society is still very keen to think men are just better than women at this sort of thing. And I don't think it should be surprising that, if you keep getting unwonted credit for something you're actually no better at than your female peers, you start to trade on it a bit.

I think some men want to show off / flirt with women, and they think what they know is really impressive! Sort of like boys riding their bikes past girls with no hands - they think the girls will be impressed. I don't think women do it to men because they know men don't, on the whole, like it if women know more than them on a particular subject. But I'm not keen on the way it's presented as something 'men' do. It's always sexist if we make statements about all members of a sex. I also get a bit irritated with the way new words or statements become en vogue. This is individual men who are patronising, isn't it?

I see my explanation has fallen on some deaf ears. Have I turned into a man?

Patronising used to be the term for mansplaining in old money?
I loathe this trend of morphing words - moobs, manbag, etc.

But yes, OP yanbu.

I don't think it is individual men, slow.

And I don't see how you can say that it's something 'men' do, and 'women' tend not to do, but then say it shouldn't be presented as something 'men' do.

What do you mean, we should all admit we know it happens, but never speak about it because it sounds a bit rude?

I agree with TwatMagnet in that gender isn't relevant in this behaviour.

Someone mentioned academics. I've worked (and still do) with lots of them and the mansplaining pretty much depends on their personality, rather than whether they have a penis or a vagina.

I sooo wish I had known what mansplaining was so I could have given a patronising definition to those already in the know

I typed a reply out doing just that, including a detailed definition of 'condescending', then lost my nerve and deleted it.

I have a feeling I've been guilty of it in the past (in 'real life'), and I've witnessed some terrific examples (man explaining to a woman economics graduate what supply and demand is, for example - she put him firmly in his place).

With regard to on here, I can't say I've noticed a huge amount, and I like to think that apart from where I reference it you can't tell my sex without checking my profile. MN has given me a huge amount of help over the last few years and I'd like to think I've contributed positively too. A lot of my views and opinions have been challenged and changed by what I've read and I've definitely modified behaviour and attitudes as a result.

The guy on the working from home thread is an arsehole. "Not all men..." etc. ;) - but it reminds me of a fantastic thread on here a while ago where a man offered to help the little ladies with any computer questions they might have. Carnage, with the memorable line:

Back when my job involved working on these machines all day, I just bashed them with my tits and hoped for the best.