23 Women Share The Most Frustrating Mansplaining They've Endured In Daily Life
By Mustafa GatollariNov. 18 2019, Updated 2:29 p.m. ET
A few years ago, after I got dumped by my ex, I went through all the reasons why I wasn't a good enough boyfriend. One of the biggest takeaways was that I didn't listen enough and went on silly, meaningless tangents when I spoke.
So, everytime I had a conversation with someone after that, I tried my best to keep my mouth shut and just listen. I tried to become super cognizant of interrupting them, because that's hella annoying.
After practicing this for a while, I noticed that I got a lot more out of conversations, and it didn't just become an endless monologue from my end of meaningless drivel. I learned something about the other person I was talking to, and, (cue the Lifetime inspirational music), I learned something about myself in the process, too. Now when I look back at the interactions I've had with people, especially women, I came off as hyperactively annoying, but I also had a tendency to mansplain a lot of things, too.
Which is pretty much the absolute worst and sadly, all too common of an occurrence.
women, what's the most infuriating thing you've had mansplained to you?
— Tracy Clayton (@brokeymcpoverty) March 21, 2017
So when Tracy Claton went on Twitter to ask people what the most infuriating thing they ever had mansplained to them was, there were tons of responses.
But first, in case you're wondering what the definition of mansplaining is:
The responses started off bad and got worse as more and more females chimed in. One Twitter user wrote, "One time a guy explained to me how prescriptions work. like...'first the doctor decides which medication.'"
Her reply to this condescending male? "'I'm gonna stop you right there, I am an adult who has been to a doctor, so we can skip some of the basics."
Read more eye roll-worthy tales below:
@lizzieohreally @biocuriosity @brokeymcpoverty once a man tried to explain an article to me. An article I wrote.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty The number of men who have explained to me how the television and movie businesses work is literally too large to count.
— Linda Holmes (@nprmonkeysee) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty dude in workshop tried to tell me my description of orgasm was "gratuitous" because women's orgasms don't work like that 🙃
— Rachel Charlene (@RachelCharleneL) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty True story. I was WH waiting meet w/Pres. Obama. Man explains to me: "If you want to succeed you sd learn abt sports.
— Angela Blanchard (@CajunAngela) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty I'm a grown ass woman waitin to meet w POTUS because of my work & this knucklehead is giving me "how to get ahead" advice
— Angela Blanchard (@CajunAngela) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty what makes story better is we are both standing next to Magic J. Who was giving me a big hug at that moment.
— Angela Blanchard (@CajunAngela) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty I once had a friend mansplain to my roommate how to ~correctly~ pronounce her own name bc he thought she was doing it wrong
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty the election, by a white boy who's younger than me (a sophomore, i'm a junior) & started w/ "let me explain this to you" 🙄🙄
— burake (@its_burake) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty he continued to call michelle obama a gorilla, & tell me that hillary clinton is incompetent 😐
— burake (@its_burake) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty 1) Man1 hears my ideas; Man1 speaks to Man2 & shares my phrasing/ideas. Man2 writes up memo crediting my words to Man1...
— Amy O'Leary (@amyoleary) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty 2) Man3 holds a meeting, reads off memo, quoting me back to me to explain how I should do my new job.
— Amy O'Leary (@amyoleary) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty 4) my phrasing was so exact and specific, at least Man4 in the meeting recognized with horror what was happening.
— Amy O'Leary (@amyoleary) March 21, 2017
@lisacthomson @brokeymcpoverty he gave me this look, but didn't say anything. pic.twitter.com/P1hmusKKfh
— Amy O'Leary (@amyoleary) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty in college my friends and i ran an indie mag out of our editors apartment and a guy said i was using the word "indie" wrong
— Anna Fitzpatrick (@bananafitz) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty my taxes are higher now than when I lived in Canada, but someone once tried to mansplain to me that that's not true.
— Kaleigh Rogers (@KaleighRogers) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty oh! and any time I make a joke on Twitter, a man will, without fail, explain the joke back to me.
— Kaleigh Rogers (@KaleighRogers) March 21, 2017
.@brokeymcpoverty Recently? Office dude came in to move my phone, mocking me bc he thought I didn't know how. I said the cable's too short..
— ⚾ MHarvey ⚾ (@mharvey816) March 21, 2017
.@brokeymcpoverty But as he's unplugging it to move, he stops and hollers "who puts in a cable this short?" I just smiled & sipped my cocoa.
— ⚾ MHarvey ⚾ (@mharvey816) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty what "real comedy" is and why women "just don't get it".
— Tora Shae (@BlackMajiik) March 21, 2017
(They're usually just making excuses for racism/sexism/etc)
@brokeymcpoverty the pronunciation of my own name
— Gillian Brockell (@gbrockell) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty Obstetrician disagreed that my baby was about to come. Mansplained & left for soda. 3 mins later: Baby born, no doc in room
— Amy Duncan (@amydunc) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty I get the entertainment industry explained to me all. the. time. by dudes.
— Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) March 21, 2017
...I am an entertainment writer in L.A.
@brokeymcpoverty I should clarify, not by colleagues but by, say, a 20-year-old kid in Ohio who has a blog & fancies himself a pro.
— Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) March 21, 2017
@Emma_Cueto @joeyfixit @brokeymcpoverty I watched a female friend ask a female friend "what's mansplaining?" & when she explained it...
— Simon Cox (@SimonFRCox) March 22, 2017
@Emma_Cueto @joeyfixit @brokeymcpoverty the man with us said "no, that's not it" and mansplained it.
— Simon Cox (@SimonFRCox) March 22, 2017
Not.
Ironically.
@knottyyarn @brokeymcpoverty Also had a man mainsplain Indiana Jones while I was wearing an Indiana Jones shirt.
— rachel leishman (@RachelLeishman) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty how a computer works, since I’ve built and maintained them since I was about 12
— Worth Wild Li'l Tree (@karengeier) March 21, 2017
.@brokeymcpoverty had a journalism student take over my lecture to explain to the class why the math I was doing was wrong. He was wrong.
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) March 22, 2017
@allegorycave @brokeymcpoverty Let him finish speaking, then redid the work in front of him and had another student explain why he was wrong
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) March 22, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty at the racetrack—where I've worked for 14 years—men regularly try to explain to me how gambling works as I take their bets.
— Elizabeth Minkel (@elizabethminkel) March 21, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty 1. Two nights ago at dinner, a man told me 'ssshh' because I was talking excitedly. He told me 'be noisy in noisy places'.
— Yasmin A. Choudhury (@yasminisyasmin) March 22, 2017
@brokeymcpoverty All things fitness-related. Infuriating, I guess, because I’m a fitness editor…?
— Sally Tamarkin (@sallyt) March 21, 2017
But that's a whole other can of worms.
@sallyt @brokeymcpoverty Gym mansplaining with a dose of broscience deserves its own separate thread.
— Natalie Danford (@NatalieDanford) March 21, 2017
Cringeworthy, right?
