This writer asked women to share their mansplaining experiences, and the results were hilariously sad
Talking about mansplaining with other women can be just the release you need sometimes. Because women get it. Men? Not so much. It’s hard to explain that feeling of being told something you know, like how to work a camera or do your job. BuzzFeed writer and co-host of the podcast Another Round Tracy Clayton asked women to share their mansplaining experiences on Twitter the other day — the ones that really got under their skin — and the results were hilariously sad.
If you identify as a woman anywhere in the world, you probably recognize at least half of the stories. What’s sad is the fact that men were not at all pleased. One man defensively tweeted that mansplaining apparently was any time a man opened his mouth. He literally (and incorrectly) mansplained mansplaining. Clayton tweeted on Wednesday morning that she woke up to her mentions full of men angry about the whole exercise.
lmao woke up to mad DMs from men over that mansplaining tweet. imagine being so fragile.
— tracy aka bhad bhonnet (@brokeymcpoverty) March 22, 2017
For reals. Men, you mansplain to women all the time. Just because you don’t know you’re doing it — hey, society’s trained you, too — doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You don’t even have to have a condescending tone of voice to do it. Interrupting us counts. The fact that you think we need an explanation in the first place is condescending. That you think a bunch of professional women (most of the responses were from people who work in media since that’s what Clayton does for a living) talking amongst themselves on Twitter is a bad thing is pretty sexist and lame.
women, what's the most infuriating thing you've had mansplained to you?
— tracy aka bhad bhonnet (@brokeymcpoverty) March 21, 2017
The most egregious forms of mansplaining are when men attempt to explain reproductive health, how women “feel” about certain political issues, or even what our orgasms feel like. Instead of telling us, asking us how we feel so we can tell you (since we are the authority on our own experience) is a better place to start.
But there are small ways to mansplain, too.
Here are some of the most painful examples.
a pharmacist (man) told me I was choosing the wrong kind of painkiller for cramps.
So I asked him what he takes for his.
— ryan (@ryanmchristen) March 21, 2017
How to pronounce "Gaelic".
I have a degree in Celtic studies. https://t.co/zdqilgIlYC— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) March 21, 2017
false
What women think about during sex.
— Rebecca Metz (@TheRebeccaMetz) March 21, 2017
false
I once had a friend mansplain to my roommate how to ~correctly~ pronounce her own name bc he thought she was doing it wrong
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) March 21, 2017
false
I get the entertainment industry explained to me all. the. time. by dudes.
…I am an entertainment writer in L.A.
— Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) March 21, 2017
at the racetrack—where I've worked for 14 years—men regularly try to explain to me how gambling works as I take their bets.
— Elizabeth Minkel (@elizabethminkel) March 21, 2017
honestly the worst thing for me is the men who defensively, aggressively yell "SORRY FOR MANSPLAINING" at me w/o me even bringing it up https://t.co/kDUUcpq7Xj
— Anna Menta (@annalikestweets) March 21, 2017
the difference between a screw and a nail in my own hardware store.
— sailor anxiety ✨ (@wuenopues) March 21, 2017
false false
We can only shake our heads. And hope no dude ever tries to tell us how to insert our tampons.
