Miscellaneous June 28, 2017
If only a man could explain this to me.
The term “mansplaining” has taken a lot of criticism in the past few months. The confusion is understandable, since most examples of mansplaining come in the form of memes, videos, and Tumblr threads. Some consider it a legitimate term, while others view it as a feminist “word weapon” to use when inappropriate. So what is it exactly?
Lily Rothman, a writer for the Atlantic, defined mansplaining as “explaining without regard to the fact that the explainee knows more than the explainer, often done by a man to a woman.” It’s essentially the act of being patronizing, which any gender is capable of.
But regardless of its exact definition, the internet has had its fun with the term. Twitter has a lot to say on the subject, and as always, it does not disappoint.
When a new word is introduced into the English language, hilarity always ensues. However, using a similar sounding word might not be the best alternative.
For those who are more comfortable using the “mansplain” term politically, watching hearings can be especially entertaining. Although anyone can be interrupted in Senate, this list takes a different spin on a common political occurrence.
The legacy of the mansplain lives on. This Twitter takes the term and runs with it, documenting an age-old family tradition.
Now this one takes effort. Twitter user @blogdiva assembled several top-rate gifs of women reacting to a particularly harsh mansplain. To provide context, the man pictured to the right claimed: “there is nothing more that a woman loves to hear [than] how pretty she is.” So yes, the reactions were gold.
As gifs become more and more prevalent in news articles, gif keyboards do not fail to deliver. The accuracy of their suggestions is so perfect that sometimes no caption is required.
The best thing about language is that it is constantly evolving — and the second best thing is to watch the internet’s reaction to new words. And who knows — maybe “mansplaining” will one day have its place in the almighty Webster’s dictionary.
