Since mansplaining (aka the explanation of something by a man, typically to a woman, that's considered condescending) is still a thing, I thought I would share this r/AskWomen Reddit thread by user u/cooked-carrot where they asked: "What is the dumbest thing that has been mansplained to you?" Here's what they had to say below:
1. "My brother-in-law tried to explain to me how the pain of being kicked in the balls is way worse than childbirth or any other pain a woman could go through. His mom told him to STFU."
2. "I sent an ex to the store to buy me tampons, and I sent him a photo of the exact ones I needed. He did not buy the right ones but said it was 'ok,' because 'all tampons are the same and do the exact same thing.' For context, I wanted U by Kotex Click REGULAR, and he got me the OB Applicator Free SUPER PLUS."
3. "‘Maybe you don’t know what good sex is.' Well, I know what it isn’t."
4. "One time I commented that a particular movie was terrible because the female lead was really dumb and made bad decisions. Some dude replied, 'It's not bad writing; you just don't understand female psychology.' And then proceeded to explain why the behavior was normal or common or whatever. The movie was My Father the Hero, for the curious. The lead was a teenage girl who lied and said her father was her lover because she was interested in another older man, and she thought it would make her seem sophisticated. Yeah, it was that terrible."
5. "Also, an ex confidently informed me that I masturbate 'wrong' while also explaining that there's obviously something wrong with my vagina because other girls cum from penetration, and I did not."
6. "This guy tried to tell me that ALL women LACTATE when they’re near a baby. I said that’s not true. He began to 'explain' to me how I don’t understand biology."
7. "Before a concert, I was chatting with people next to me, and a man asked what my favorite song by the band is. I told him 'All Come True,' to which he said, 'They don’t have a song called 'All Come True.' I told him the name of the album it’s on. He gave me a skeptical look. 'Are you thinking of a different band?' No. 'Do you go to concerts much?' Yes, twice a week, and 'All Come True' is the eighth song on the set for this tour. Right before I pushed to the front of the crowd, at the opening chord of the eighth song, I tapped him and yelled, 'THIS IS "ALL COME TRUE."' When I got back to my spot, they weren’t there anymore."
8. "I was once mansplained as to what mansplaining is."
"Did it start with 'Well, actually...'"
9. "My brother-in-law tried explaining to me that I didn’t know what it was like to be poor. The man has never been really poor. Even when he was unemployed, his father was sending him money so he didn’t have to change his lifestyle. I hit him back with, 'Yeah, I know what it’s like to be poor. I was living out of my car in 2013.' He then proceeded to explain why I have poor financial literacy."
10. "My dad trying to explain to me that my fear of men is sexist and I shouldn't have been worried. I was 16 and had been followed on the street, catcalled, chased, had creeps [contact me] on my Instagram, and there were weird teachers at school. Also, he tried telling me that my period pain couldn't have been as bad as it was because he knows about it. I've been having them for six years and have a condition."
11. "I heard a guy trying to explain what PayPal is...to a woman who worked at PayPal."
12. "One time I was looking at my phone while standing near a gas pump about to put gas in my car because I was transferring money over in my bank account. This random guy walked up to me and started explaining how to put gas in my car. He was rightfully embarrassed when I was like, 'I'm just transferring money to my checking account...' I was 24. I swear I don't look SO young that it would be reasonable to assume I don't know how to put gas in my car. I also know I didn't have a 'confused' expression or anything. It was honestly too funny for me to even feel insulted."
13. "I once had a primary physician tell me that he knew how painful childbirth was because he watched his wife give birth. Then, he asked me to rate my concussion pain on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being childbirth. I looked at him in disbelief and said, 'Well, in that case, I rate my concussion at .002.' He didn’t like my answer and tried to explain that he was trying to judge my pain level. I told him I was in labor for 14 hours. And this is why women don’t get the right pain meds."
14. "The hymen. We had a guy living with us for a while; he used to be a friend, but after living with him, I would realize what a mistake that was. LOL. Anyways, we were watching the movie Taken, and spoiler alert: The main character's daughter gets kidnapped and sold into a sex slavery operation. At the very end, the guy who purchased her because she was 'pure' is taken out by the dad. The dude who lived with me said, out loud, 'Ironic, her being a virgin saved her life!' When I tell you I threw him shade! He was genuinely confused. I told him there was no way to prove virginity, and that virginity itself is a construct. 'The hymen is real!'"
"I had to explain to a man, in his 30s, that hymens come in all different shapes, sizes, and thicknesses. I had to explain to him that it doesn't cover the vaginal opening totally because, if it did, how would we lose our menstrual blood. Again, to an adult man, [I told him] a hymen can rupture for many many reasons.
He argued with me! I am a CIS woman. I have five children. He argued with me about the female reproductive system and the term 'loose women.' I had to look him in the face and tell him that that term described loose morals, not a loose vagina. That's not a thing. No wonder he's still single."
15. "A male coworker tried to tell me what a certain computer program did. I interrupted with, 'I’m very familiar with that program, considering that I wrote it.'"
16. "How to start a car. It was my car. I drove there."
17. "I was eating lunch at a cafe when I was told I shouldn't be eating salad because when you're pregnant, you don't have an immune system and that it could kill me. He was a doctor. And when I asked if he meant to warn me about food-borne illness, he laughed and said, 'No, it was the ranch dressing bacteria.'"
18. "The female orgasm. He said he watched a lot of porn."
19. "On a first date, he asked if I knew what a urinal was. I took it as a one-off thing. The next date, he asked if I knew what a multi-tool was, and then said, 'Really?' when I said yes."
