What a man does when he assumes that most of the women he talks to need to hear his explanations. The problem is not the explanation itself but the underlying and often unconscious belief in inequality, the systematic assumption that women are not very intelligent, knowledgeable or competent. Mansplaining is always talking down, a form of condescension. It can be
done with contempt and scorn or with benevolence and generosity, the
way a
father may explain something to a
child.
Someone is mansplaining if they:
–When a man who knows
little about something explains it to a woman who knows a lot about it, like when a
lawyer attempts to explain how the
brain works to a female neurosurgeon.
– When a man doesn’t attempt to find out how much a woman knows about something before explaining it to her.
– When a man ignores the fact that the woman is competent in her own right, and has an
opinion worthy of consideration
– When he interrupts a woman to continue explaining himself to her
-When he attempts to tell her what she thinks, what she feels some, or why she behaves a certain way.
-When the explanations weren't asked for, the man just assumes the woman needs to hear them.
My
boyfriend keeps trying to tell me how I should fix my
computer. I
work for Apple and he's a chef, and he wouldn't listen to me when I corrected him. I wish he'd stop mansplaining to me.
