Current Events > Do you think the term "Mansplaining" is sexist

(+) Yeah! (+)

gunplagirl posted...

_ShinnoK_ posted...

gunplagirl posted...

The23rdMagus posted...

It's not, but it can be easily abused to be. It's not difficult to twist it, especially in radfem spaces, so that any man with an opinion on a topic can be dismissed as mansplaining and silenced.

Ironic, really.

Why are men in female spaces? That's totally the guys fault for not staying in his lane.

"Feminism is for men too! Feminism doesn't care about only women!"

I hate you to your core.

Magus specified female spaces. Men don't belong in women's spaces. Yes, men can be feminists. But they should never be the ones who act as leaders in any capacity. They will never experience misogyny but will benefit from it, and therefore are not supposed to speak on certain experiences because there's zero way they can have an actual understanding of what's going on from the perspective of having endured such things.

I specified radfem spaces. Oftentimes they can be confused with feminist spaces, where both men and women are encouraged to share their perspectives and work towards the same goal.

If patriarchal society "hurts men too", men should be encouraged to offer input into how the experience affects men. However, mansplaining comes into play when men try to tell women how the experience affects women.

In ruder and radfem spaces (of which I make little distinction these days), this difference is irrelevant and men are frequently silenced. This is unfortunately expected, but it happens far too often that men wanting to offer input or perspective do not realize the nature of the space they have inadvertently intruded upon. They may have confused it with a feminist space and assumed they have a voice about their own experiences.

As you can probably tell, I have a low opinion of radfems and utter loathing for TERFs. I am, however, thankful that there does seem to be somewhat of an answer for mens' perspectives without going full-on MRA (which too often runs counter to feminism and equality). I find places like /r/menslib and The Good Men Project mildly interesting and overall positive. If I'm to take feminism at face value for its stated goals, I consider it a good thing that men can have their own space to fight the same battle on a different front. Too often we're excluded despite being supposed victims as well.

Please don't confuse me for some sort of crusader or activist. I just like to read and have an opinion every now and again, which I usually keep to myself.

I wouldn't be surprised if some smart-aleck considered this post to be mansplaining.
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You actually explained yourself quite well. I might not agree, but yours is an open minded and reasonable conclusion to draw with respect to yourself and others.
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you definitely manplained, bro. that's borderline racist and possibly homophobic in some way that I can't be bothered to explain.

sarcasm aside though, people gotta stop being so emotionally attached to buzzwords that they disregard entire arguments based on their presence alone. context, intent and framing should all be considered in every conversation.
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I suppose agreeing to disagree is fair. Better response than I'm used to getting.
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