simonalkenmayer:

True, but “mansplain” is a term that is meant to be gender specific. It refers to the specific type of condescension a man levels at a woman because he maintains a gender bias. Nobody ever said “mansplaining” was inaccurate. It is usually correct in the information it presents. The issue at hand is that this is done with a specific intent, i.e. To undermine a woman WHETHER OR NOT she asked for correct information, and WHETHER OR NOT she was intentionally being humorous. In other words, the man assumes the woman is wrong because she is inherently incapable of knowing things, and ignores all cues to intellect, like a subtle sense of humor, rhetoric, more extensive education, emotional terminology and so on. The man assumes that she requires him to enlighten her. The man assumes that he is ENTITLED to enlighten her. The man assumes a socially superior position, whether or not it is warranted.

I pay attention to these things, and I am sorry to say that this absolutely happens, without men even realizing they are doing it. And you cannot argue that “Women do it too”, because they do not do it with as much frequency. Nor are they allowed to “womansplain” to men, because men do not tolerate it and usually speak over top of them.

So, why use it? Why fight for equality by using gender-encoded terms? Because it is a negative gender-encoded behavior and it absolutely should be pointed out AS A NEGATIVE. We call a murderer a murderer and a rapist a rapist. A sexist is a sexist, meaning they are prejudiced against someone for their sex. Pointing out a gender bias with a humorous term is not sexist. Think about it. Do men have any funny and not inherently cruel and dehumanizing language for women? No. If they think a woman is unfair, they call her a bitch, a cunt, a whore, etcetera. There is no equivalent to “mansplain” except “feminazi” and that is of itself, a term designed to delegitimize and degrade. “Mansplaining” points to the negative behavior, and does not in any way deride the speaker. It merely elicidates the gender bias.

I saw something on this site a few days ago, and it is absolutely true: “When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like prejudice”.

Men are accustomed to being taken seriously with no more credibility than their genitals, endowed with authority, socialized to speak whenever or wherever they wish, and learn to treat women as unequal in subtle but hurtful ways, from gender bias in the work place to social interactions. When this negative bias is pointed out to them and highlighted, when the privilege of doing this with impunity is revoked, suddenly they feel as if they are being mistreated.

Too bad.