Mansplaining is when a man explains something to a woman in a way that assumes she doesn’t understand it, even if she already does. It can happen when the man thinks he knows more because of his gender, and it often comes across as condescending or patronizing. For example, if a woman is talking about cars and a man interrupts to explain how an engine works, assuming she doesn’t already know. Mansplaining can make women feel belittled or frustrated because it disregards their knowledge and expertise.
1.
![what’s the dumbest thing that’s ever been mansplained to you? mine is one time I was driving and my husband let me know our home was “up ahead on the left.”](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining1.png)
2.
![When a man explained to me that childbirth was no different than pooping.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining4.png)
3.
![Husband told me the correct place to sign a contract. He's not a lawyer. I am. With a degree from Harvard Law.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining5.png)
4.
![I was mansplained about prestressed and post-tensioned concrete design By a student in my class The class I was teaching On concrete design Which was a prereq to prestressed and post-tensioned concrete design Which I also taught And also he was wrong](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining6.png)
5.
![My name. A colleague literally told me I had spelt my own name wrong.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining7.png)
6.
![Visiting rehearsals for a new play, I suggested a particular bit of dialogue be delivered in a light and humorous way. The actor told me this was a “pivotal moment in the character’s emotional arc” and I was “misinterpreting the playwright’s intent.” It was me. I wrote the play.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining8.png)
7.
![Menstrual pain is psychosomatic, and childbirth doesn't hurt as much as being kicked in the balls.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining9.png)
8.
![My birthmark. On my face. Insisted it couldn't be a birthmark; it had to be a scar. I mean, it's my face, but what would I know about it?](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining10.png)
9.
![A co-worker mansplained at length how some code worked. After I told him that I was the one who wrote it.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining11.png)
10.
![I literally had a guy I went on a date with explain how malls work, like what the food court was and how there are stores](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining12.png)
11.
![I used to be a health insurance lawyer. Multiple older men have explained health insurance to me. I’d stop them to remind them what I did for a living and then...they’d finish their explanation.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining13.png)
12.
![A boyfriend who didn’t speak my native language took a cursory look at something I was translating from my native language and told me I had translated it wrong. From my native language. Which he did not speak.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining14.png)
13.
![A guy tried to painstakingly explain to me that my diagnosed epilepsy was a “mental health problem” and it was “all in my head” and I could “be cured if I wanted to”. I have two masters degrees in mental and physical health disciplines.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining15.png)
14.
![Two hours ago, left ikea, holding a small ficus Random man said: "you should water that, else it'll die" To which I replied: "I was planning on burning it anyway, so I'm good" That shut him up](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining16.png)
15.
![I’d arrived at a venue where I was scheduled to perform and a man saw me with my guitar, explained about how to tune it and then offered to show me.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining17.png)
16.
![One time a restaurant manager incorrectly explained my own food allergy to me WHILE I was mid-anaphylactic shock and struggling to breathe. (The culprit was pecans; the manager tried to argue with me that it was pine nuts when pine nuts aren’t nuts at all — they’re seeds.)](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining18.png)
17.
![How to put on a bra](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining19.png)
18.
![Bunch of old guys mansplaining how to tie down an airplane after watching me push it back into the hangar on my own. My airplane.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining20.png)
19.
![An ex (who was an engineer) tried to explain Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to me.... I’m a PhD student in Psychology and have worked in this field for almost 15 years. Also, he got it wrong.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining22.png)
20.
![A guy who has never published a book mansplained the publishing industry to me. I've had 25 books published.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining23.png)
21.
![That my baby son was crying because he was hungry. I explained that actually SHE was just tired but stranger insisted no, he was hungry.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining21.png)
22.
![I was politely breaking up with a BF & he told me that I should really wait & think about it. He’d calculated that my period would start in a few days & I was probably just overly emotional. He proceeded to explain PMS to me. The breakup became less polite & much easier.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining3.png)
23.
![I was politely breaking up with a BF & he told me that I should really wait & think about it. He’d calculated that my period would start in a few days & I was probably just overly emotional. He proceeded to explain PMS to me. The breakup became less polite & much easier.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining3.png)
24.
![I was telling my ex-husband that there was this emerging term called 'mansplaining'. He'd never heard it so I told him what it meant. He then proceeded to argue about what it really meant. Having literally just heard the term for the first time. He mainsplained mainsplaining.](https://sadanduseless.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mansplaining2.png)