Seeing as it’s extremely well cited and only says exactly what the actual concept is as defined by the experts on the subject, I believe that says more about you than it does about the article.
There’s some crap on Rational Wiki, but there’s nothing remotely controversial in that article. Of course a black woman is itself a separate identity and not just black + woman. There are stereotypes that apply to black women that do not apply to black people or to women.
I try not to use it unless it’s really, really warranted.
It’s really amusing when some guy mansplains how all those nice men aren’t mansplaining, they’re being helpful!, and all us women are overreacting when we use this word.
And that’s exactly what mansplaining is. Like if you told the little lady how to balance her checkbook.
How could they? I’d need to be on a stool or something.
I think it is especially apt when it’s about women’s issues-like when a male pundit gives a list of hints on how not to get raped, and it’s shit like "don’t get in a car with a strange man named ‘Billy the Rapist’ ". Or suggestions for how to deal with secism in the workplace that show no understanding.
Bingo.
(On a related note, have you seen that ridiculous “warning” on FaceBook telling women not to wear overalls, because rapists will grab the straps to catch and rape you? Can you think of a less sexual-assault-friendly* garb than frakkin’ overalls?)
**Not that a woman’s clothing should have anything to do with sexual assault, I know. But I wore overalls during the early-90s trend for them, and it was a major productions to get the damned things off to pee.
*
A male friend of mine was explaining yesterday how I should react to and feel about street harassment.
The important thing is - how did you feel and react to him telling you that?
Black men had the right to vote before white women did, … just saying …
Someone had to get it after the other [realistically speaking], so we were pretty much fucked either way. No way American society could have walked out of that one looking good.
Exactly. I think this current OP from GQ kind of illustrates the emotional issues with “mansplaining” with the gender issues removed:
This is a perfectly innocent question asked in dead earnest by a person who is certainly reasonably intelligent. But if you are a planetary astronomer, this is going to make you roll your eyes. Has anyone ever measured to see exactly where the center of gravity is? Has anyone ever considered the possibility of a binary system?
You can’t really jump someone’s shit for asking something like this. It’s not their fault they aren’t an expert and that they don’t realize how incredibly basic of a question they are asking, or the insult implied by the idea that something so fundamental wouldn’t have even occurred to you. But there is something incredibly annoying about the fact that they seem to think they can wander into your field–a field you’ve spent a great deal of time and effort to become an expert in–and make some amazing, revolutionary suggestion you just never thought of.
And when it comes to men on women’s issues, it happens all the time. All kinds of well-meaning advice and suggestions that are about like asking if the person suffering from a complete server melt-down has thought about trying to reboot it. And it’s hard to respond to this, because the polite thing to do when you are offered advice is to smile and act like it’s useful, even if it’s stupid. But that means we have developed an entire set of institutions that are basically stupid advice men think women need to hear (think every pamphlet ever) because no one can say “No, that’s stupid, that doesn’t work and doesn’t begin to address the problem”.
Do you work with any other short/assertive guys? Because people tell me how they have LMS all the time.
I’ll just start using the term “womansplain” for when someone is more concerned for how a discussion makes them feel than the substance of the discussion itself.
I don’t notice any real correlation. I work with lots of people, some short, some tall, some assertive, some not. I used to work on a trading floor, and pretty much everyone had some kind of complex.
Maybe I just work with a bunch of assholes.
The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe
I do to. Along with women being mentally equal in tech fields they often have the advantage of their hands being smaller and thus able to work in tighter spaces like inside a computer cabinet. They also seem to be better at handling delicate and small parts.
I find women in my tech field are about 1 in 20 but they are usually the best ones.
This example is far too courteous and respectful compared to most mansplaining cases. The most important thing is, the person asking knows that they do not have superior knowledge on the subject, vs in the mansplainer cases, they think they do.
Brightsunshine, MandaJO, and I obviously shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about this stuff, and should just go get a nice cup of coffee for the men who are talking. The rest of you ladies can come along too, maybe we’ll bake cookies and get pedicures.
That will be truly handy. People will be able to see right away that you are missing the point.
Ok. So anyone whose career has ever been hindered by sexism is just doing it wrong?