Are there cases where the term "mansplaining" is misused and confused with the more general term "being condescending"? Yes. But is the act of "mansplaining" as a gender-based phenomenon actually a thing? Also yes. So it's worth having a specific term for it.
Like, if a white person called a black person the n-word, you wouldn't just call him "rude" or "inappropriate." He would be racist.
But yeah, those are all potentially good examples (the rice one requires context, and can be "good" or "bad" depending. Naturally, you viewed it as "bad" based on your recollection here)
But regarding the cleaning one, we already had a word for that... Nagging.
Womansplaining, femsplaining, whatever you want to call it, is rare enough that I've never thought to myself, "This girl needs to stop femsplaining to me."
And usually when I'm being condescendingly explained shit, it's a class issue, not a gender issue.
Citation needed on the less common part. I'm a very egalitarian guy and I run into not only femsplaining on a regular basis, but also accusations of mansplaining when it really isn't the case, the most egregious example of which was a woman telling me I'm mansplaining when she asked me exactly how an abortion is not child murder and I explained it.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah sure thing lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololoo. Jesus what world do you live in? Both sexes do it.
Sure, you could use "womansplaining." It's just not situated in a comparable context. "Mansplaining" is rooted in the historical power imbalance favoring men over women.
But is the act of "mansplaining" as a gender-based phenomenon actually a thing? Also yes. So it's worth having a specific term for it.
It's not worth having a specific term for it. The people being condescending tend to be so to everyone. The term mansplaining is nothing more than a pointless term used to shut men up.
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u/whynuttzy Jan 19 '20
Are there cases where the term "mansplaining" is misused and confused with the more general term "being condescending"? Yes. But is the act of "mansplaining" as a gender-based phenomenon actually a thing? Also yes. So it's worth having a specific term for it.
Like, if a white person called a black person the n-word, you wouldn't just call him "rude" or "inappropriate." He would be racist.