Mansplaining, explained in one simple chart

[GeoWilliam750]

From the BBC.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180727-mansplaining-explained-in-one-chart

"Two male colleagues recently asked me, unprompted, “How do I know if I’m mansplaining?” Both are experts who are often asked to explain concepts to colleagues outside their fields. Both were concerned about those explanations being taken the wrong way. I wondered: Is it really so hard to tell the difference between condescending or simply explaining-while-male?

When people (almost always men) explain the product design methods in my own book to me, I say I’m well-acquainted with them, mentally roll my eyes, and move on. I hadn’t developed a succinct explanation for what distinguishes mansplaining, so I spent a few minutes drafting a diagram, as I often do to examine or explain ideas in my work. I realised the “-splaining” part comes down to three factors:

Do they want the explanation? If someone asks you a question, explain away! Unsolicited explanations may be fine (within reason) if you’re someone’s teacher or manager. Explaining after they’ve declined your help is almost always disrespectful. Conversation is a good place to start building the habit of consent.

Are you making bad assumptions about competence? Explaining things to knowledgeable people isn’t just wasting everyone’s time. You may, regardless of your intent, undermine them by implying you don’t trust their competence or intelligence. You also run the risk of undermining yourself by looking like you have an inflated opinion of your own knowledge.

How does bias affect your interpretation of the above? Both questions are complicated by sexism and other kinds of bias. We’re all taught gender bias in behavior and communication from an early age, with boys and girls being criticised and praised for different behaviors in school. We all like to think we treat people fairly, but men often assume women are less competent, and white people are likely to assume darker skin equals lower intelligence."

[tonedevil]

1. That chart is brilliant. /nt

[lapucelle]

2. If you've never read it, here's the story behind the origin of the expression.

One evening over dinner, I began to joke, as I often had before, about writing an essay called “Men Explain Things to Me.” Every writer has a stable of ideas that never make it to the racetrack, and I’d been trotting this pony out recreationally every once in a while. My houseguest, the brilliant theorist and activist Marina Sitrin, insisted that I had to write it down because people like her younger sister Sam needed to read it. Young women needed to know that being belittled wasn’t the result of their own secret failings; it was the boring old gender wars...

https://www.guernicamag.com/rebecca-solnit-men-explain-things-to-me/

[hughee99]

3. So based on the chart, anyway, mansplaining is about consent.

If she did not ask you to explain it, and you did not ask her if she wanted you to explain it (and she said yes), it's mansplaining. It doesn't really matter who has more experience, whether it's information she'd be expected to know or anything else, if she didn't ask for it, it's mansplaining.

[msongs]

4. it's like womansplaining only men are doing it nt

[central scrutinizer]

5. Where do mansplainers get their water?

From a well, ... actually