Happy & Healthy
WHAT’S UP WITH MANSPLAINING
Yes, mister at the garage, you know more about cars than I do. No, mister at the garage, you don’t need to talk louder, slower, or whatever. I understand perfectly how to check my oil level, because I have been doing it independently for twelve years and stop talking over me. That tone happens to me sometimes. And there’s a word for that: mansplaining.
Sounds like a delightful combo between my last name and plaining, but it means just a little something different (I could picture it too, you know: Mans goes plaining). If you didn’t immediately think of my name (that’s okay, that’s okay) but thought of a man and explaining, then you’re warm. The meaning of the word is that a man explains something to (usually) a woman, but in a condescending or patronizing tone. Nine out of ten times it’s about something she already understands perfectly well. Men who do this are quite in my irritation zone (see the mister from the garage and my oil level).
By the way, I’ve been experiencing this since kindergarten, only then with teachers. They also master the art of that tone. It makes sense, right? Not all of them, not all of them, I know. Nowadays I have an army of teachers in my inner circle (no, I don’t know how that happened), so I love them. But mansplaining, we’re not alone it turns out. The prime minister of our overseas neighbors, Theresa May, is completely, but really COMPLETELY, fed up with the condescending behavior of unnamed diplomats at 10 Downing Street. Sir Mark Lyall Grant and Andrew Parker (ha, still).
“Men who do this are quite in my irritation zone”
Look, for a man to explain in syllables how to check the oil level is already condescending enough. But the prime minister of the f-ing UK? Come on, that lady is there because she can do it better than you, otherwise you would have been sitting in that chair yourself. And Theresa May proves that, because no gentleman or mister at Downing Street is getting away with this anymore. Every man who steps into her office is on his toes. Hallelujah, finally justice. It took a while, but then you have something. Hats off to Prime Minister May (sounds good, right, Prime Minister May?).
By the way, Donald Trump already proved that men don’t let you finish speaking in the debate with Hillary. And now they are mansplaining to the prime minister of the UK. So far, I have little to complain about my technical debacle, but I am glad we are talking about it. A good start is half the work. And if you encounter such a guy, just tell a nice anecdote about ‘once upon a time there was a prime minister in the UK’.
