Woman Shares A "Mansplaining" Story As A Great Example Of How Men Should Behave
She was waiting at the airport when a random man began lecturing her about her area of expertise.
For those who are not familiar with this term, mansplaining describes a situation in which a man talks down to a woman while explaining something, assuming that she knows nothing about it. This is extremely irritating, even from a man’s point of view. To be honest, they do not just prey on women – “mansplainers” often try to engage with men in the same way but typically back down after a short period, unless they perceive that the man in front of them is willing to tolerate their behavior.
Mansplaining has different levels of annoyance, and the worst is probably when a woman has to endure a man explaining something from her area of expertise while he is an absolute layman in that field and knows about the subject only superficially.
Hilary Jerome Scarsella is a Ph.D. candidate in Theological Studies at Vanderbilt University. Her work focuses on the connection between traumatic experiences, religious belief, and liberation theology. She shared her airport mansplaining experience on Facebook:
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She was nicer than most people would be, listening to the man carefully and respectfully, and making some remarks about his points. Still, he was not interested in a productive conversation – he just wanted to say what he wanted and leave. In most cases, the story would end there.
FacebookHer new friend pointed out this man’s blunder, noting that it was too late for him to fix it. He had a great opportunity—a subject matter authority right in front of him—but he didn’t want to listen and learn. Instead, he simply spewed out his beliefs and thoughts without asking a single question.
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When her new friend spoke up, he created a safe space, but he was not a savior—he was just doing what every decent man should do when he witnesses racism and sexism in action.
