Lucy, You Got Some ‘Splainin’ to Do By Jill Schinberg, MFA A friend and colleague of mine recently got curious about the
term “mansplaining.” I don’t know what sparked his curiosity, and frankly, at the time, I failed to ask. He reached out to me for an spearheaded at VenueConnect recently. Whatever his reason, feeling a bit insecure about my ability to give what felt like a delicate inquiry - lowing days was illuminating:
Tue, Oct 23, 10:44 PM Him: Afraid to read it.
Me: I think you’re going to be ok. And, actually, I think you’ll like this essay. Don’t be afraid. She (nor I) will laugh.
spotted in the comments section of a LiveJournal blog post shortly - - descendingly, esp. (typically when addressing a woman) in a manner thought to reveal a patronizing or chauvinistic attitude.” A quick Google search turns up related terms such as “cave- mansplaining,” which might give you some sense of how long we’ve perceived the behavior to be part of our culture, and culture is a central part of this discussion. We have been acculturated to accept throughout adulthood. Starting with parents and teachers, we learn to negotiate power dynamics in all of our relationships. Power comes - cisely why a power imbalance, as found between underrepresented identities and privileged classes, can be uncomfortable to acknowl- edge and understand for ourselves and with each other. But, it can also be seductive. Knowledge is, by nature, irresistible.
Him: Couldn’t help it: read it.
Me: I think she’s very smart--hard to resist.
Him: Arg. I was caught momentarily mansplaining the article about mans- plaining. I want to crawl under a rock.
-
amination and to, when needed, modify our behavior. We are asking ourselves what impact this might have in the workplace and how we might take responsibility for changing it. Revisiting power dynamics is scenarios. So, what can you do if you feel someone is ’splaining you
or someone else? You can intervene. Call it as you see it . . . gently. I know, this requires vulnerability. Will it be uncomfortable? Probably. Mansplaining has been easy to do and hard to resist since long be-
- patriarchal space. Conversely, so-called mansplainers do this on behalf - - Let me be clear. Men are not the only ones guilty of this practice.
Women do it, too. Further, while mansplaining illustrates a man’s perceived power, it’s not only the occasional cultural icon who is been white-splained? Straight-splained? Mom-splained? Disrupting one social norm can inadvertently cause instability of other norms, In her recent article Diversity is the New Denim Jacket, Kletra Newton
reveals,
I’ve lost count of the number of times that I have been spoken over or complete- ly disregarded in diverse settings, irrespective of my experience on the subject matter and still receive the inquisitive look from those trying to understand my presence at all (2018, 20).
From her words alone, we don’t know if she is referencing mans-
plaining, racesplaining, or otherwise. However, even without the full - behaviors is complicated, slow, and often painful. These sensations, however, are the learning pains of teaching ourselves how to do the thing we learn to do when our spouse, co-worker, or employee inter- In the words of social science researcher Brené Brown, vulnerability
with social changes which lead culture shifts. With a single action, my friend instigated one such shift that is likely to permeate his personal - comfort it caused him. Neither he, nor any of us, will ever have enough perspective to identify all of our biases. Sometimes, we will have to (hopefully gently) . . . even if it makes us feel like we want to “crawl under a rock.” FM
Acknowledgements: Lauren Hill, Margaret McGladrey, PhD, Jenn Fishman, PhD,
Jill Schinberg, MFA, is assistant professor in the Department of Arts Administra- tion at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
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