Mansplaining

There was an amusing piece about 'mansplaining' on the radio today. In case you don't know, 'mansplaining' is when a man condescendingly explains something to a woman who probably knows more about the subject than he does. This last sentence is a very good example of 'mansplaining' in itself.

I know that men are getting it in the neck from women a lot right now, but we can take it. We are men, after all.

Of course, women can give lectures to experienced initiates as well, but it is true that men do it more than them.

I know that when I am given a lecture on how to do the job I have been doing for 50 years by someone who has only just heard of the process, I pisses me right off. Someone the same age as me who is never wrong, once talked me through the process of bronze-casting.

"What they do," he confidently asserted, "is make the thing out of wax, put it in the mould, then pour the molten bronze over it which melts the wax and the bronze takes the shape."

I suggested he tried doing it himself if he was so sure about it, then come back to me with the finished article if he survives the inevitable explosion. A little knowledge really is a dangerous thing in many cases.

What makes me even more furious than 'mansplaining' are the people who suddenly turn into qualified doctors at the merest mention of some ailment you might be suffering from, having answered the formal greeting of 'how are you?' honestly for once.

Usually, after the in-depth diagnosis and prescribed course of treatment offered within about 30 seconds of the initial assessment, the guerrilla medic will go on to explain that he has had just such a malady himself, only his case was 10 times worse than yours.

This happened to me in the pub a few weeks ago, when a boring drunk noticed my twisted fingers and didn't bother to wait to be told the real reason for my malformed hands. He actually reached over and tried to manipulate my fingers with his own clumsy, untrained hands, but I withdrew them out of reach before he had the chance of causing any more pain and damage. He is a stone mason by day.

Eventually I told him to fuck off and leave me alone. Realising I was pretty serious about this request - or order - he fucked off and left me alone.