LogFAQs > #967441394

ParanoidObsessive posted...

To be fair, the sort of people who use the term "mansplaining" unironically are generally terrible people whose opinions are pretty meaningless anyway. It's why you hear it pop up in places like Twitter or Tumblr more than anywhere else.

It's effectively an ad hominem attack that boils down to "I can't actually argue against your point logically or rationally, so I'm going to resort to personal attacks." It's the adult equivalent of going "Oh yeah? Well, you're a poopy head."

That's not actual mansplaining, though. That's just people falling back on the term any time they don't want to listen to what a dude is saying. By definition, mansplaining is condescending and patronizing, rooted in the assumption that the woman doesn't know anything about the subject, in which case it's less "I don't need to listen to you because ad hominem" and more "listening to you is a miserable experience so please stop being such an asshole."

Kyuubi4269 posted...

That brings up the same issue, people get offended when asked what they know as it questions their knowledge on the subject.

In 33 years of being smarter than pretty much everyone I've ever interacted with, I've never had a single person become offended or annoyed by me checking what understanding they have of a concept before I answer their question or try to explain something to them. If you have, I'm completely confident saying that it's because you were condescending or derisive in asking and that that is the reason people didn't like it. Meanwhile, I've had plenty of people get annoyed by having me tell them a bunch of things they already know, which is pretty understandable because that's a complete waste of their time.

Kyuubi4269 posted...

people who complain about mansplaining have a weak ego.

Again, that's those that are falling back on the term to avoid having to confront being wrong. Actual mansplaining entails assuming that a woman doesn't know anything and needs it all explained to her, which is nothing to do with her ego. That's just an annoying waste of time that could be completely avoided by the guy being less wrapped up in his own ego and taking a moment to figure out whether or not she's actually as ignorant as he assumed.

People don't get offended by having their knowledge questioned. They get offended by having their knowledge dismissed under the assumption that whatever they have is of no value.