Women Sharing The Dumbest Things That Have Ever Been Mansplained To Them

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Unsolicited patronising explanations from men who are neither your teacher nor your manager are all too common. But to see the level of absurdity and obviousness of the things women have had mansplained to them, we have to look at the actual instances that happened to them in real life…

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.”

When a man explained to me that childbirth was no different than pooping.

Husband told me the correct place to sign a contract. He's not a lawyer. I am. With a degree from Harvard Law.

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

My name. A colleague literally told me I had spelt my own name wrong.

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.

Menstrual pain is psychosomatic, and childbirth doesn't hurt as much as being kicked in the balls.

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?

A co-worker mansplained at length how some code worked. After I told him that I was the one who wrote it.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.)

How to put on a bra

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.

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.

A guy who has never published a book mansplained the publishing industry to me. I've had 25 books published.

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.

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.

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.

Have you experienced mansplaining in your life? Let us know in the comments!

83 thoughts on “Women Sharing The Dumbest Things That Have Ever Been Mansplained To Them”

  2. Seriously, you men can’t – for one moment – put yourself in the poster’s shoes and ask, “How would I feel if another man said this to me”? Why should a woman just accept being insulted and belittled?

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  3. It’s not that women don’t engage in unjustified condescending unsolicited advice too, it’s just far less common than the daily mansplaining many of us face Anecdotally, women are also more likely to apologize and back off once objective qualifications are established, like “I have a degree in this field,” “I just watched it happen,” or “I encounter mansplaining daily.”

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  5. I was talking in a webinar meeting about an electrical design issue and it’s solution when I was interrupted by the architect who said my solution wouldn’t work and why. We all had to wait while he mansplained it. There was silence after he finished. … and then I continued with my solution because I’m an electrical engineer and he was wrong.

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  6. I was thinking about my job — how I was not fully respected for my 30 years of experience; not empowered to make the decisions I knew to be right; how the legion of white, female 20-somethings in HR browbeat the company regarding “diversity;” how career mobility was always limited by being the breadwinner and having to keep the needs or my wife and kids at the forefront — above my own advancement, career fulfillment, or happiness; and the internet mansplained to me how I should just shut up because I never had cramps. On the bright side, my life expectancy is shorter than that of women.

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  7. I commented that I was cold. I was told by my husband, genious that he is, maybe if I were to wear a jacket or something I’d probably warm up. Mind you, I was already wearing a hoodie. Needless to say – I stopped speaking to him for a couple of days. I don’t see why I should waste my time speaking if it’s going to get mansplained.

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  9. Down with men! We need to find a way to asexually reproduce, and then kill off every single man on the planet, old or young! Men entirely deserve this! Kill all men! Yada yada blah blah… ( not to be taken seriously)

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  10. My Brother telling my sister-in-law she was breastfeeding incorrectly and my nephew ‘probably’ wasn’t getting anything, it was their 3rd baby and she’d breastfed the other two.

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  11. Guy couldn’t understand a filing system, I explained a couple filing rules including ‘a, an and the are ignored’. He said I was wrong. I’m a trained secretary, with 8 years of librarian training.

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  12. READ YOU LOUD AND CLEAR WOMEN – WE WONT WORK, TALK, HELP, PROTECT, OR ENGAGE YOU.

    It’s what you want, so you’re on your own now. I promise to make sure all men are safe and have the tools they need to succeed at work, school, and life and to avoid women entirely.

    You win.

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  13. Someone at work tried to explain to me what antibiotic resistance was. I have a masters degree in microbiology, specifically bacteriology, and also the job was in a hospital so I’d be worried if anyone didn’t know what antibiotic resistance was to be honest.

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  14. In Home Depot buying wood flooring that required gluing or nailing. Older guy sales associate asked if I knew what I was doing.

    I said yes and continued to load my cart.

    He then explained to me that the product I had selected needed to be glued down. I stared at him then simply blinked while holding up the third pail of adhesive I was taking.

    The final straw was him asking me if I was going to get “a man to help” me.

    I said, “No, because they weren’t much help when I laid the first 800 square feet.”

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  16. Reading the comments, it’s obvious this post should not exist. Please think of the poor men who stumble upon this. You know, they are really fragile little things

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  17. Trying on boots while wearing ankle socks, the salesman told me I would need to wear longer socks with boots. I told him I knew how socks worked and he was genuinely offended.

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  18. “i know a girl that couldn’t tell me how long it woul take to go 60 miles if we were driving at 60 miles an hour.
    there are idiots of every gender.
    don’t act like men are the only ones.”

    So? This isn’t about idiots, it’s about mansplaining, specifically, a man condescendingly explaining something to a woman that she has greater knowledge of or expertise in.

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  19. Wow. So many butt hurt men here. Guys, here’s a tip. If you’re offended by this article, then you’re the one it’s directed at. It’s painfully simple. Ask if the person, no matter the gender, needs any explanation and if they say no, shut up.

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  20. I went to go buy new wiper blades. The gentleman at the counter doesn’t engage the man that walked in with me, but instead asks me if I need any help. I just needed to know the aisle, which I was fine looking for on my own but didn’t want to be rude. Instead of letting me know the aisle or asking if I knew what I was looking for he says “come up to the counter honey, what kind of car do you drive?” I politely replied with I knew what I needed I just was looking for the aisle. When I went up to purchase my items he completely ignored me and didn’t respond when I said have a good day. Men aren’t bad, they just aren’t always aware that they just automatically assume if it’s a female she must be incapable. I will gladly take help if I don’t know what I’m doing, but at least treat me with enough respect to ask. We just ask that our intelligence not be insulted.

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  21. I’m a female manager at a large corporation. Anytime we have outside vendors come in for repairs or product they always bypass me and go straight to one of my male staff to discuss business. It used to bother me but now we get a kick out of it. There’s nothing better than the look on their face when they go for the signature and my staff kindly inform them it was nice chatting with them but they need to check out with the boss and they realize I’ve been standing next to them the entire time.

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  22. I married a woman with 2 Ph.D.s and I only have 1… Refreshingly I get woman-splained occasionally. Being a man, I can take it. :)) (We get along great.)

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  23. It’s quite easy to spot the fragile men in this comments section.

    In my experience, emotionally healthy people don’t get defensive in response to things they aren’t guilty of.

    They also don’t get defensive in response to things they are guilty of. Instead they listen, reflect on their behavior, and respond in a way that honors the other person’s experience.

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  24. I was at a shooting range with a bunch of friends and my husband. My husband was next to me and getting one hit per turn, I was hitting the target almost every time. The guy working there comes up to me and gives me a long winded explanation of how to aim, hold a gun, etc. I stopped listening because it was very clear that he didn’t come over because of how I was holding the gun, since I was already holding it correctly. My husband continued to miss almost every shot during this explanation.

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  25. Fact is: It’s an alpha-complex mixed with the neando-moron factor. I’ve been in very similar situations. Men telling me “You know the right way to do that. . .” and I’m a guy. At first I used to get all kind of pent up defensive, I’ve since found a better outlet. I just invoice it to them in time. So now I profit from their stupidity. I get paid naps with my eyes open as they go on with their drivel. If we’re approaching the top of the hour and they seem to be winding down I even ask them ‘Can you explain that again in different terms?’ and milk another ‘hour or part there-of’ from them.
    Hire me for my expertise and then tell me how to do my job? Yup, I gotta a fee for that!

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  26. This is an unfair and sexist thing to happen and I really think that it is bad but I have never been mansplained luckily

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  27. Boy, I know this page was made a month ago, but why was I downvoted like 11+ times for trying to send a positive message! I don’t get it! How can people be offended by my comment which had no strong opinions on either side of this comment war, i kinda thought my comment would mend things, being neutral and, at least I thought, fair. I mean sexism shouldn’t be tolerated. Period.

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  28. This is an eternal fight that focuses on the pride of both sexes, I would like you to list the most intelligent explanations then. do not be offended.

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  30. Father tried to mansplain to me what Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder was. He never had it. I had it my entire childhood life. Dad works on computers. Not in medicine, let alone psychiatry. I explained to him a professional already told me about it and I knew how it worked. He continued to explain it. He got it wrong.

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  32. Oh silly men! They’re so fragile! *becomes easily triggered when experiencing a man explaining something*
    Glad we have morons on both sides. Thanks for making us look good in front of the ‘knuckle-dragging Neanderthals’ ladies.

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