mansplaining

men speaking down to women

TRANSLATION

mansplain = herablassendes, gönnerhaftes oder bevormundendes Erklärverhalten von Männern gegenüber Frauen (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

Did Warren Buffett Just MANSPLAIN Politics to Senator Elizabeth Warren?

(Time magazine)

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Since the dawn of creation, women have been victims of MANSPLAINING.

(Inc. magazine)

Did you
know?

mansplain
verb

- (of a man) to explain something to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing

(Oxford Dictionary)

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Mansplain, a blend of man and explain, was nominated by the Oxford Dictionary for its word of the year in 2014. Although it did not win (the winner was vape, a verb that describes the use of e-cigarettes), the nomination helped draw further attention to the term.

The origin of the expression apparently lies in an essay by Rebecca Solnit called "Men Explain Things to Me," which opens with a story about the time a man explained to her a book she had just written. It goes without saying, the explanation was not necessary and came across as if a parent just explained something to a child. That is the essence of mansplaining.

Apart from mansplaining, other "man" terms have developed such as manspreading (when men sit in public transportation and spread their legs to take up more than one seat) and manterrupting, which is when a man interrupts a woman who is trying to speak.

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Practice OWAD in a conversation

"She was visibly annoyed with his MANSPLAINING during the meeting."

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