You guys, nobody likes a mansplainer! You know those dudes who need to explain something to you that you already know? In Rebecca Solnit’s LA Times essay “Men Who Explain Things,” she recounts the time some pedantic schmo explained a book to her, not knowing that she was the author! This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Mansplainers”
Martha, I apologize for the last six years.
You do? Well, this is going to take a while.
Well, I try not to be a mansplainer. I do try, but sometimes I fail.
You know what a mansplainer is?
I definitely know what a mansplainer is.
Tell me what a mansplainer is.
Be nice, gentle, please.
Yeah, present company accepted, of course.
That’s not true.
But yeah, it’s a guy, especially a guy, right?
Yeah, always a guy.
Who explains something to you that you already know, especially if you’re a woman.
This term got popularized this year among the people I know by this essay by Rebecca Solnit, right?
Right, yeah.
About how she was at a party and this guy insisted on explaining something about this new book that was coming out that was going to be the big definitive book on a topic, and he kept going on and on, and it was the book that she had written.
Right. Classic example. I love that example.
And I’ve also seen variations of it, too, like Gay Splain and a couple other splains.
Well, if you’ve got a mansplainer in your life or you want to mansplain to us, email us words@waywordradio.org or call us on the phone, 877-929-9673.
