August 22, 2013

What is mansplaining? Is it sexist? Can only men mansplain? “Mansplain” and “mansplaining” have become much more common in discussions of both femnism and online activism over the last few years. If you have ever been confused by these terms or seen them as an attack on you, read on.


The exact etymology of the term are a bit hard to trace. The most cited piece when talking about origins is a 2008 op-ed by Rebecca Solnit. This piece clearly outlines the underlying concepts and issues, however the first actual use I could find is a blog comment by phosfate a month after the op-ed was published. Given the context it is used, it sounds like others understood her meaning, so I can only conjecture that it may have been in use elsewhere prior to this, or potentially it was so clear that it required no further explanation.


To summarize several popular definitions:

(v) To explain something in a demeaning or belittling fashion.

As shown above, this is commonly associated with a man speaking to a woman.


This leads to what I think is a source of consternation, “mansplaining” can refer to two very different things. In one case you have the simple act of talking down to someone while explaining something. In the other you have a broad cultural standard that is acceptable or even encouraged for a member of a privileged group to disrespect and dehumanize a member of a marginalized group or even the group as a whole. The frustration is often compounded when the explainer describes someones own maginalization to them, such a man explaining sexism to a woman.


A number of people have suggested changing the term to avoid the gendered language. GeekFeminism has settled on splaining, and reluctanthurricane has suggested downsplaining. Both of these changes help show that the first form is an interaction between two people and is about behavior, not social constructs.

The latter form is harder to clarify, it is often (but not exclusively) about men abusing their positions of power and their own certainty of their correctness, so reflecting this in the word itself seems important to me. As with any discussion of cultural standards and norms, I ask fellow men to appreciate that such a term is not an attack on you, it is a recognition of broken culture that affects everyone regardless of gender.

Can a woman mansplain?

Sometimes. An individual woman can be just as rude and obnoxious as any other person, but if we call this (down)splaining then it would by definition not be mansplaining. Most people belong to more than one group though, and a white woman disparagingly explaining racism to a black man could certainly be seen as mansplaining. In the end the answer is mostly up to your exact views and can easily lead to miscommunications.

Intersectionality bonus round

Allies for feminism come in all shapes and sizes, many of them on the male side of the spectrum. As I’ve made clear, I think the concept of mansplaining is important talk about, but there is a “but”. Specifically, but care should be taken to avoid reinforcing existing “us vs. them” mentalities. The use of gendered language to refer to gendered things is not wrong, but it can put people on the defensive. I hope this may serve to illuminate at least a few people, and continued education will only improve things over time.