To point out that the word "mansplaining" is sexist?

[gordonsbennnet]

Just that really. It may be funny here on Mumsnet, but if you use the term in a professional environment you should expect to be called out for it. Anyone offended by it would be justified in raising it with their HR department.

Is this in relation to a recent thread?
It can definitely be used inappropriately, especially when people don’t actually seem to know what it means.

It’s not the very same meaning. Mansplaining is patronising with added sexism.

Do you consider all portmanteau words to be puerile?

are you a bloke? or a handmaid?

You are wrong on mansplaining. Just get over it.
Plenty of us experience it - and we handle it in various ways. In the example above i merely pointed out that since of the two of us i was the one most likely to know how to hurt someone with my bare hands he might like to fuck off telling me things i already knew. It worked.

Other people have other strategies, as i do, according to the circs.

Mansplaining is patronising with added sexism.

This !!!

Says Random Man

Mate. I was in a meeting this morning where a well-meaning gentleman carefully explained the symptoms of menopause to me. If he wishes to raise a grievance about my unprofessional use of the word "mansplain" in that context he is welcome to do so and I look forward to the HR meeting.

Did anyone ask for the definition of mansplaining?

I'm guessing not, making this thread in and of itself, mansplaining.

No, Karen is referencing a particular behaviour as well.

Karen is an ageist misogynistic term, often flung at any woman who dares to have boundaries.

I know I'm missing the point of the thread (this is for you OP )

But I only ever see 'Karens' on social media (insta and TikTok mainly) and I have never once seen it used in the situation you describe. It's 99% a woman screaming at people in customer service or being racist to someone. How that is 'daring to have boundaries' is beyond me

Assuming someone doesn't know what they are talking about because of their sex goes both ways.

We only have one term for it, which implies it only happens to women.

Ergo, it's a sexist term.

Yes OP, it performs much the same role as "Karen" which by all accounts is more heavily used inappropriately in the workplace. Mansplain generally refers to behaviour, whereas Karen refers to a certain stereotype.

Haha!

I have to admit that my "favourite" type of mansplaining is when men attempt to tell women which men they should be attracted to and go on dates with.

I hate the word altogether.

Clearly invented by a woman with a massive chip on her shoulder simply because a man put her in her place

As someone not white and not a man I am very tired of BOTH Karens and mansplainers and they can take all the offence they want. Very very funny how a certain middle-aged demographic here can tell when they are being spoken down to by men and yet deny the victimhood complex of their peers with the same confidence (and victimhood) that men including OP do. Not funny haha funny weird.

....said Gordon The Mansplainer.

It's not the same thing at all.

Where did he go ….?

🤷‍♀️

He's in a well, actually.

So what term would be more acceptable?

Patronising women in a way that creates a hostile working environment?

Assuming superior knowledge and experience compared to that of women, based on sex, and shibboleths rooted in misogyny?

You're mansplaining why mansplaining is sexist? Hilarious.

But I only ever see 'Karens' on social media (insta and TikTok mainly) and I have never once seen it used in the situation you describe. It's 99% a woman screaming at people in customer service or being racist to someone. How that is 'daring to have boundaries' is beyond me

it gets used a lot (even on MN) when a woman, particularly middle aged and usually white, sets boundaries. We have countless posts on here, for eg, of teenage sons calling their mum a Karen if she dares to tell him to do his agreed chores etc. It has spread way way beyond screaming "i want to speak to the manager". It even gets used to describe women who have perfectely legitimate complaints which they articulate politely (witnessed by me once in a Costa when a woman - probably late 50s - said "excuse me you have given me the wrong change" to shouts of "STFU and move on, Karen" from a young fellow behind me and general sniggering. Thankfully the cashier said, "oh yes, sorry, you gave me a 10" or something. It was awful)

Clearly invented by a woman with a massive chip on her shoulder simply because a man put her in her place

so much to say about this heap of foetid dingo's kidneys:
a) women, any women whatever they are doing, don'T need to be "put in their place" by men.

b) it was indeed coined as a result of a book of essays by Rebecca Solnit
"The eponymous essay focuses on the silencing of women, with specific attention to the idea that men seemingly believe that no matter what a woman says, a man always knows better."

many many many many women, many of them here on this website, have had this happen to them. And while Solnit doesn't like the term, i am happy to call a mansplainer a mansplainer when it happens to me. So bite me.
^^
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Explain_Things_to_Me

I'd lump 'mansplaining' under the same 'sexist' umbrella as 'nagging' tbh.

Neither should ever be used in any workplace.

No. Because you are generalising some behaviour to an assessment of the woman’s whole character and being when you refer to her as ‘a Karen’. Or Karen. You are saying they are the problem.

if you complain that someone is mansplaining you are identifying the behaviour - the thing they are doing - as the problem. We don’t turn that into a persona which we project onto their whole being - oh. You’re such a Barry!