Wait, what is mansplaining?
If you're a man, you might have encountered a situation where someone has told you that you were mansplaining before.
Mansplaining?! What does that even mean?!
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Mansplaining is defined as a man explaining something to someone, typically a woman, in a condescending or patronizing manner. This can range from altering your vocabulary, changing your tone, smirking, or using terms of endearment like "honey," "darling," "sweetie," or "babe" while "explaining" something to a woman.
In my experience, mansplainers have taken the care to dumb subject matter down for me, even though I am college educated. My friends in college have often shared experiences of having a male classmate mansplain to them in front of an entire class.
If any of these descriptions look like you, you might have mansplained before!
So, what's the problem?
If it doesn't bother you, then what's the issue? You're just trying to help them understand something!
As it turns out, women don't really like to be mansplained to! It seems that they'd rather just be spoken to as equals instead of talked down to. Mansplaining can make women feel patronized, angry, and upset.
Women are a lot more educated now, since they are able to go to high school and even college! This means that they'll probably understand something, even if you talk to them about it without altering your vocabulary.
Where does mansplaining happen?
There are 3,477,829,638menin the world today. That's a lot! With that many men in the world, we can guess that a lot of mansplaining happens today. Women are allowed in a lot more places and fields than they were in the past, so that creates many new environments for possible mansplaining to happen. Here are some common situations where mansplaining could take place:
In the workplace: Because now women are allowed to work, too!
In a relationship: Mansplaining is really common in relationships!
In class: Because now, women can even go to college!
With family: Families also have women in them!
Why should we care?
The world is full of women! These women are your mothers, your sisters, your grandmothers, and sometimes even your girlfriends. As such, you should always treat them in a respectful manner, and speak to them as your equals!
Women will be more likely to listen to you!
If you speak to a woman as your equal instead of in a sarcastic or condescending tone, she will probably be more inclined to listen to what you have to say. Yes, it's that easy!
Maybe they will even share their opinions with you, too!
If a woman does choose to share her opinions with you, remember to be respectful and to listen instead of interrupting her with your opinions, even though you might not agree with them.
By listening to women and having respectful conversations, you will gain much more respect from your female peers! Score!
You might even gain respect for women and start to see them as equals! Who knows?
