Mansplaining

[Grammarist]

Just had a discussion with the ever-lovely DH where I mentioned that a female friend of mine (an eminent Professor in her field) was a target of mansplaining via a live TV interview recently.

DH exploded at me. Mansplaining apparently isn't real and I shouldn't think that it is...

Hmmm.... I think he may be doing it to me. Dick

Mansplaning is not a thing. It does not exist.

It is a thing. I think the OP's example was a very good illustration: professor, an expert in her field, brought on to TV for a live interview, and then being corrected the subject of her expertise by a man interviewing her who wasn't an expert.

User

Maybe you mean you feel you have never experienced it?

“Whereas implying we can't handle a debate and that comments have gone over our heads ("whoosh") because "lol, women" is not at all weak.“

I didn’t imply that. I asked a question. You inferred it.

I'm afraid user it is a thing, it really is.
At a recently delivered lecture to a group of pharmacists a number of men tried to tell the woman who delivered the lecture that she could not possibly be autistic because she did not encompass the diagnostic criteria of being fully computer literate, mathematically inclined and had displayed humour in the lecture. The (few) women in the room tried to point out that it's a known fact that women present differently but were shouted down. So, having been fully diagnosed, said lecturer had her diagnosis mansplained. Wrongly. Again.

It is not a thing.
People talk down to others, men and women. People talk to others like there stupid.
People talk loud and slow to people all the time.
People dumb down the way they talk, men and woman all the time.
It is not mansplaning, it's being rude, ignorant and annoying at best.
It is not mansplaning.
Mansplaning is a buzz word for I don't like this conversation any more I'm done.

user

In your experience it might not be a thing. It definitely is in mine.

Mansplaning is a buzz word for I don't like this conversation any more I'm done

It’s not. You don’t understand the term.

Mansplaning is a buzz word for I don't like this conversation any more I'm done.

Mansplaining is a very specific form of patronising behaviour directed exclusively towards women by men as a means of asserting superiority. It absolutely does exist, saying it doesn't is like me saying wombats don't exist purely on the basis that I've never seen one.

It doesn't mean talking 'loud and slow' to people, User. It is a specific thing being referred to. Like in the OP's example.

There are definitely men who just talk to everybody this way. I had a colleague like that once, he was a nightmare. Difference was that when he did it to men they'd be shocked and furious and really really taken aback by it, because it wasn't a usual thing they were exposed to - when he did it to us women, we just rolled our eyes and ignored him because we were so used to that kind of behaviour.

(We probably should have taken a leaf out of the men's book there and kicked up hell, but he was both very senior and very vindictive... it didn't seem worth it.)

User, "mansplaining" is a word used to encapsulate when a man , who knows little about a subject, explains (often wrongly) to a woman who knows more about the specific subject.
How can you claim it is not a thing?
I also agree that both men and women can be patronising, and that's a thing, too.

Wait Ewits wombats are a thing? 😳

It is not a thing.
Just because a man says Something stupid, or disagrees or doesn't accept they are wrong
It in not man splaning. Woman do it all the time, worse in fact in my experience. What the heck do you call it then?
It's just arrogance, stupidity and rudeness.
Mansplaning is not a real thing, it is a buzz word with little to no real meaning that cannot already be defined by existing words.
It is not a thing

The more it is asserted that mansplaining isn’t “a thing”, the more it gains “thingness”, particularly if it’s a man arguing it. By analogy I don’t believe in God, but I won’t somehow attempt to stop everybody else from using the word or convince everyone I’m right...

None of the deleted posts by Sharedthismonth were contrary to the guidelines.
Is there anything you won’t question others on their ability to do?

Repeating that 'it is not a thing' and not addressing any of the specific points people are bringing up to you in response is not convincing anybody that it is not a thing.

User there is a big difference between disagreeing with someone and mansplaining, they're really not the same thing.

I certainly never heard the term 'mansplaining' until I came onto Mumsnet. It's apt, though, and it's something that often happens in churches I've attended.

"There is a big difference between disagreeing with someone and mansplaining, they're really not the same thing"

What's the difference?

That difference that has been pointed out numerous times on the thread, a man telling a woman who has vastly more experience how to do something, or how it should be. A man telling me I'm not autistic as I don't meet the criteria, despite the fact that I have been part of a diagnostic team. A man with absolutely zero experience telling me how to do my job properly. That's not stupidity because that's mansplaining. He wouldn't do the same to another man, stupidity would be doing it to another man.

What’s the difference?

You’ve literally just been told. Re read the posts above.

This is one of my favourite mansplains from Twitter:

What's the difference?

That has been explained countless times on the thread, not least directly to you.

As a lurker on this thread (which started off interesting), I'm just popping on to Womansplain to you all that you should be posting for the lurkers like me :). (I think it's datun who usually makes this point?).

It's interesting seeing mansplaining demonstrated without irony on this thread, but now I want more Examples.

How can you say he wouldn't do that to another man?
In his opinion you do not meet a criteria. Yes his criteria is wrong but that is his point of reference. So he is right. If he cannot be educated on that point being wrong he is stupid and arrogant.
Again. He feels you should do something X way and you say Y that's opinion. It could be either of you are wrong just because someone has more experience, they are not automatically right. Arogant and annoying.
Not mansplaning. Sorry.

Check out my example User, my direct experience.

He absolutely didn’t do it to a man. There was a man right next to me, who held the same opinion as me.

That’s mansplaining. A very different thing from “holding a different opinion” or patronising.