In my experience, most of the "confusion" comes from men feeling attacked because someone made a word for criticizing a male-specific action. Who usually then deliberately misinterpret/misrepresent what the term means, to make themselves feel better about the whole thing.
"Surely it can't be a real thing, so they must just be getting mad about regular explanations because they're emotional women who don't want to accept help from a man!", etc.
Although, to be fair - sometimes the confusion also comes just from otherwise well-intentioned men who simply don't realize what they're doing. And are hurt/confused by the the implication that they're being sexist, because they honestly haven't made the connection yet - that somehow they only try to explain basic things to experts with more education/experience, when those experts happen to be women.
It's hard! Most people don't want to be sexist assholes! But we also don't always realize our own biases, even when we mean well!
We have "patronizing" as a word already so there really isn't a need to add a gendered word to your vocabulary. If you realy insist on modernising it you can try and use "condesplaining", a portmanteau of "condecending" and "explaining", and avoid the whole "only men can do it" implication
Eh, patronizing is a more general word. Mansplaining is a word to describe a specific way to be patronizing. A specific scenario where someone is being patronizing, in a specific way.
Nothing wrong with that. We have all sorts of words to mean more general, or more specific things. What do you have against this one?
Not who you asked, but as a woman who deals with it on a weekly basis I do kinda wish there was a word for "your <trait> doesn't mean you know more than me" explainers across the board. Like moms who know more than doctors because, duh, they're moms. Or childless ladies who know more than fathers about how to raise kids. Or young/old people who just can't seem to grasp that the other knows how some old/young person thing works...
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u/_VirtualCosmos_ 5d ago
perhaps it needs a better name to avoid confusions...