Perhaps you gals don't know what mansplaining is...

Hey Goddess - have a good new year!
Shana Tovah

Same to you, Ben David!

P.S. Crid, I met my best friend via a post on mansplaining, "Rebecca Solnit Is A Sniveling Idiot," that Instapundit linked.

Men who instruct you on something in a bar are trying to sound like they know something and trying to have something to say.

If you, as a woman, have something to say, well, then speak the fuck up. I always do.

"Mansplaining" is not a thing. I've never been accused of it myself, but every time I see it used, without fail, a man is trying to explain something to a woman (usually, because she actually asked to have something explained to her) and the man is trying to provide a thorough explanation, the same as he might do for another man, the woman, perhaps somewhat embarrassed that she needs something explained to her, accuses him of "mansplaining."

And ironically, the only I can see adopting a condescending attitude that is supposed to be the defining characteristic of mansplaining is the woman who's accusing him of mansplaining. "I'm loving the mansplaining going on," she might say, with a slightly smug, condescending smile going on.

So...

Mansplaining: something that a woman accuses of man of when she's embarrassed by the need to have something explained to her.

"Perhaps you gals don't know what mansplaining is..."

An example of "mansplaining" when said by a man.

If said by a woman it's an honest frank discussion of male privilege that's invaluable to a man.

(It really is invaluable to men. Just not in the way women mean it.)

See! I've got it! (Sounds good in a British or a Scottish accent.)

I thought Crid was having a little joke this morning; some light teasig. Not that I'm mansplaining or anything.

> I thought Crid was having a
> little joke this morning

It's a tough room... But the crickets love that shit.

Hah -- thanks, Canvasback.

I think it's a sign that I'm truly with Diana on this.

I wasn't the least bit offended -- didn't even notice reason to be.

Differences of Opinion: They aren't about the fact that you have a vagina.

How about "womansplaining"?

That is when a women just will NOT shut up about HER feelings.

I have just such a co-worker and she goes on and on about HER feelings as if the university centers around her. She just does NOT shut up.

Men like to explain things to each other. Like how Oracle works, or what is a credit default swap, or what the best gun is for shooting moose. It is called conversation. If my friend can explain something to me that I am interested in, I have learned something, he has gotten to show off, and we are having a good time.
I would note that on the airplane I am very likely to see men reading the Wall Street Journal or some serious book, but almost never see a woman with heavy reading. I fly a lot. Women don't like non-fiction that much (Amy excepted). Women in general also don't find the "how" of things (how they work) to be that interesting. Even women with serious jobs do not talk about technical things at a party. So the only time you get "woman-splaining" is when they try to explain who is related to who, who did what, etc. If you don't want a man to bore you with explaining how something works, don't ask him.

Egads, 'some guy'! I'm in IT while my husband and his buddies are all sales/business types. Get me in earshot of someone who actually understands what the heck I'm talking about, and I will happily go on and on about leveraging cloud platforms for Big Data analytics and the features of the latest BigQuery release. And I can actually manage to wrap my pretty little head around plenty of technical and leadership books. I don't know much about shooting moose, but we can chat handguns if you'd like.

> I have just such a co-worker
> and she goes on and on about
> HER feelings as if the university
> centers around her. She just
> does NOT shut up.

Rerun comment: Prager once said the chief hazard for feminine nature was "a woman's presumption that her feelings or the feelings of her loved ones are of paramount importance."

I think it's true, though of course that formulation applies to many males as well. In all cases, exemplars may be described as "assholes."

Any Kliph Nesterhoff fans in the house? In this podcast, he points out that the recent convulsions of campus political correctness may soon be popularly regarded as an improvement in mutual respect. It's not impossible to imagine that incoming waves of immigration might be gently absorbed if people are more patient with each other than we are today.

I think men and women have distinct demons to challenge their virtue, especially in styles (and purposes) of communication.

It's worth a lot of deep consideration and thoughtful wording to describe those demons correctly.

It goes back to the old saying: women babble, men ramble.

" I'm in IT..."

And you're the exception. Wanna hear about it?
Of course not - I'm grinning at subtle irony. In an airplane full of women, you know you'll probably will be the only programmer. You'll surprise everybody on first contact, and the good people will like having their socks knocked off, and I admire your choice of profession.

Meanwhile: I am amazed that Glock can have such a pretty barrel in such a nasty grip. The feel is more of a deterrent to shooting than having to clean up after the felon.

I'm sure it's safe to say, at the least, that when it comes to being patronizing, per se, white people are more likely to do that with black people than the other way around.

And so are adults when talking to anyone young enough to be their offspring, even if the latter is middle-aged. Maybe I should even say "when talking to anyone at least ten years younger."

I have no idea whether, when it comes to those subjects that many people already know the details of (and a woman's previously private feelings clearly don't count as such - not that anyone necessarily WANTS to hear the details), men are more likely to be patronizing than women.

However, I know a Polish psychologist in his late 80s who owns at least 5,000 books (I help him organize them, sometimes), and he's known me for years, so he knows I don't have a degree in psychology. Yet, if he wants to talk about, say, B.F. Skinner, he will ALWAYS ask first "what do you know about Skinner" before assuming that I don't know what he's about to tell me. Same goes for any other subject, psychology-related or not.

There's nothing noble about this; it's just a common courtesy that everyone should practice. Just as people who ASK for an explanation of something should be polite and humble enough to listen at least up to the point where they've heard everything they didn't already know - and say "thank you."

I will continue to "Mansplain" until you "Womunderstand."

@Radwaste: Yes, I am in the minority, and that's quite obvious in the office. However, I don't think my gender gets in the way of being heard and especially not in the way of me voicing my opinion. Although it has happened with male business partners who don't know me yet.

But women with "softer", more "girly" professions can still have a rich wealth of knowledge and be able to 'splain that knowledge. Take the woman who owns my children's daycare for example. She can tell you all about running a small business, related legal stuff, leading competent staff, child development and psychology, etc. She has a masters degree and is making bank (as my checkbook can attest). But she says she's pretty much though of as a glorified babysitter. It doesn't seem fair.

And my Glock is nice, but my Kimber is my favorite. Might be an ego thing. It's probably named after me.