35+ Women Share the Most Infuriating Things That Have Ever Been Mansplained to Them

The problem here is obvious. It also demonstrates the main problem that is behind mansplaining in general. The basic assumption here is wrong from top to bottom. For one, this guy was wrong, as most mansplained concepts often are.

To start off, he explained what he was saying wrong and, secondly, he didn’t know he was talking to the person about to give the lecture. In fact, he already assumed the speaker wasn’t even a woman.

There are times it seems like no matter what you say to a man, they’ll still find a way to make sure their point is mansplained to death.

When someone starts explaining something you already know to you, of course, you’re going to try and convey that to them. It’s not like listening to the person they’re talking to is part of mansplaining, though. Nothing was going to stop the men that this woman worked with it seemed.

Sometimes, you can’t help but wonder if there’s anything that some men can’t find a way to mansplain. There are moments when it seems like there’s no self-awareness whatsoever.

When this woman introduced the term mansplaining to one man, he wasn’t about to let the term really sink in. Instead, he decided that the term was just what he was looking for — something new to mansplain. Did he even hear himself say what he was saying?

When you hear about something new, of course, you might want to share it with people who haven’t heard about it. That last part is pretty important.

When this guy found out that this woman worked in the audio, he could have struck up a conversation where he learned something about his interests. Instead, he took the chance and mansplained his way through the conversation, leaving this woman expectedly disappointed.

On a date, there’s a lot that could happen. You could meet the love of your life or you might go home wondering how you could possibly get those few hours of your life back.

This woman was left wondering the latter when they were subjected to a long and mansplained tirade about what a mall is. If he stopped talking and started listening to this woman, he’d probably learn that, like most people, she was familiar with the concept.

As we’ve already seen, men don’t always care about your title or expertise when they’re feeling ready to mansplain something to the women around them.

As a librarian, this woman was quite literally an expert on how to use a card catalog. In fact, she has a degree in the subject! We’re sure that these were facts that this man just flew past to explain this concept to her.

The bad news is that you can find misogyny and chauvinism just about anywhere. That includes when you’re just trying to have fun and play music with your friends.

The idea that women can’t play bass guitar because their hands are too weak is already a completely ignorant thought. Of course, there are plenty of women who play base guitar. Even worse, that’s what this person was doing when these guys decided to put in their wildly incorrect thesis here.

As a good rule, all men should pay equal attention to the women around them as they do to the men. However, there are some positions that you wonder how he got if he acts like this.

It’s an obstetrician’s job to make sure that the women they’re treating are listened to and cared for. This doctor failed on two counts. Apparently, he knew just a little too much about labor to listen to his patient in labor. As a result, he wasn’t around when he was supposed to be.

There are some terms about psychology that are pretty well-known. However, recognizing the name of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs isn’t the same as being an expert in the subject.

To start, it was quite an assumption that this boyfriend made that he needed to or even could explain a basic concept like this given his girlfriend’s credentials. As if that wasn’t annoying enough, she was forced to listen to an incorrect explanation on top of everything.

There are some things that men try to mansplain that you wonder how they possibly think they’re an authority on the subject. It takes a lot of self-control to not just scream when they get started.

This guy really needs to reassess what he thinks is appropriate to correct someone on. After all, once you get basic literacy down, everyone is the authority on how to spell their own name. How would he possibly know her name better than her?

Have you ever been asked a question that someone just doesn’t seem to really care about your answer to? That’s how mansplaining starts sometimes. This guy was about to mansplain this topic to this woman no matter what she said.

Even after she confirmed that, naturally, she knew this basic fact as a professional clothing designer. Still, he pressed on with an explanation that she didn’t want or need.

Some of the situations we’ve seen here are so shocking that you can’t believe they happened. Who would think to have mansplained something like this?

Apparently, there was more than one man who felt so entitled as to think they could explain a woman’s name to her. We’ll repeat this one more time — if someone tells you how to spell or pronounce their name, you have no right to correct them. There’s no possible way that you know better.

There are some things that there is no way that someone knows better than you. If you make something up yourself, you’re obviously the expert on the subject.

For instance, if you see a piece of art, the meaning is down to the artist that created it, right? Even if you interpret it in a different way, there’s no contradicting the person who made it. Someone should have filled this guy in on that apparently.

When you go out to eat, do you call the chef out to let her know that she’s doing her job incorrectly before you even try the food? Honestly, we’re afraid that these people might.

It seems like this person had run into plenty of men who weren’t about to recognize her authority — even if they were there to place bets with her. We’re going to guess that after 14 years, she has the system down better than most of these men.

If you specialize in skin cancer as a profession, there are some things you probably really live by. For example, how important it is to protect your skin with sunscreen every day.

Not to mention, it’s often just more comfortable to sit in the shade. This woman just wanted to enjoy a meal when she heard probably the worst take of all time. We can’t believe we have to say this but sunscreen will definitely protect your skin.

There are some things that you pick up as you grow up. For instance, you probably know your home country’s national anthem and, well, the language. After all, you lived there and grew up there.

That already makes you an expert of sorts. You definitely have more hands-on experience than someone with a passing interest. There’s absolutely nothing here that this woman wanted to be mansplained to her.

What would you want to do at the end of a 200-mile kayak paddle? Well, most of us don’t know because it’s a pretty impressive feat that not all of us can do.

We can only imagine that one thing that you wouldn’t want is that accomplishment immediately undermined by some random guy who thinks that you need the concept of what you’re doing mansplained to you. We’re going to guess that he wasn’t there finishing his own athletic feat like this.

It’s interesting to see how men react when they’re called out for whatever they’ve mansplained to someone who wasn’t interested in listening. This guy got more than he bargained for.

When a man is mansplaining, they often don’t listen to the woman they’re mansplaining to. This guy clearly didn’t expect to have someone counter him with proof. Suddenly, it didn’t really matter who was right, did it? Let’s just let it go, right?

Odds are, sadly enough, that if you ask most women, they’ve probably experienced some form of street harassment or worse. Sometimes, men seem absolutely blind to this. This mansplained concept wasn’t just an annoyance, it was rather out-of-touch too.

While the warning is great, it really shows that this guy was blind to it until someone pointed it out to him. It’s definitely been a thing for a while and we’re sure that most women are already aware.

It’s not uncommon for different people to be called in to consult on rehearsals when a new play is working through the initial learning curves of moving from the page to the stage.

This person was the ultimate expert on the playwright’s intent as the playwright herself. Either this guy didn’t pay attention to who wrote the play or didn’t even bother to ask this woman her name before jumping in to correct her on her own intentions for the scene.

There are some claims that people spout to everyone who will hear them that just aren’t true. Still, that doesn’t mean that they’ll listen to reason if you try to right them.

This woman had a Ph.D. in medieval women’s writing. So, if anyone was going to have the right answer on this topic, she probably would. This guy seemed to refuse to believe that there was a basis for her degree at all.

It’s not easy to be a woman in STEM. This is largely because it’s a male-dominated field and that often leaves you dealing with a lot of misogyny. That’s one thing that this woman definitely had a story or two about.

The man talking to them obviously wasn’t really listening to what he was saying. At the very least, he had no self-reflection as to some of the behavior that makes being a woman in STEM so hard.

When you head to a lecture, the idea is to learn from the professor. You can’t do that if you never let her finish her idea or flat-out refuse to believe she knows something you don’t. The fact of the matter here was that this guy was incorrect.

In most cases, that might mean asking the professor to clarify or even explaining where your misunderstanding came from for clarification. If you’re going to challenge her this hard, you had better at least be right.

There are some parts of your everyday life that you obviously know because, well, it’s your life. That doesn’t stop some men from deciding they know better based on absolutely nothing.

We’re absolutely certain that a woman who is a natural redhead with a lighter skin tone knows to use sunscreen to keep from burning easily. Still, it seems that every man and his brother was there to give her the same advice every time the sun came out.

If you don’t work with code, it can really look like it’s written in a different language. When you get down to brass tacks, it is. Still, this means that you’re not the only one that speaks that language either.

If a coworker asks for an explanation of something, that’s one thing. This guy clearly just assumed that this person didn’t know because if they’d bothered to ask, they’d have learned it was her code in the first place.

No one is born knowing how to ride a bike — you have to learn at some point. There are a few clear signs that someone already learned to do that, though.

For starters, if they’re riding a bike down the road without a problem, there’s a good chance that this person knows how to ride a bike. Not to mention, what is this man thinking lecturing a woman about how to ride a bike as he calls out of the window of the SUV he’s driving beside her?

It seems like this woman wasn’t having luck with dates where a chessboard was handy. On the other hand, it’s a great litmus test to see if they’re going to give her a fair shot.

The first red flag here is automatically assuming that she doesn’t know the rules of a popular game and not even bothering to ask before launching into a long explanation. Not letting it go when they were starting to lose is even worse.

There seem to be a lot of men who’ve never experienced a period but have somehow decided that they’re experts on it. This has led to some interesting assumptions.

While some are borderline hilarious, this one is often used to invalidate women’s pain. It varies from person to person but some people deal with cramps that are absolutely debilitating. We’d like to see the men who belittle it try to experience this pain just once, not even monthly.

It seems that men who are determined to mansplain something will jump to any conclusion to get there. This guy couldn’t help but speak out with his oh-so-crucial opinion here.

As a matter of fact, he was willing to point out some of the things from this article that he was sure she just didn’t understand. As it turned out, if he’d checked the source he was critiquing, he’d know that she wrote it.

There are too many people who are more than happy to try to argue with someone about the best treatment for the other person’s disease. Usually, that’s best left to a doctor.

Who needs a medical degree when you have the confidence of a man explaining something that he knows nothing about? Alright, maybe not every man but this guy mansplained himself into a corner here by not really knowing what birth control is.

Someone recommending themselves as an expert on something can either turn out really helpful or it can come off really cocky. This guy wasn’t an expert.

If he was, he would have at least done the basic research to realize whose case he was talking about. All he did was send her a resource about her own case. While reviewing your work is always helpful, it’s clear that this guy wasn’t as much of an “expert” as he wanted people to think.

There are some things that you can’t really become an expert on as a third party. Sure, you might know the facts of something and all of the numbers and statistics you can find.

Even if you do all that, someone who lived in the country you’re talking about is going to have first-hand experience that no textbook can compare to. You’re definitely not going to know more than them after reading one magazine article.

If you had to boil down the concept of mansplaining to a single image, what would you choose? This person had an image they wanted to add to the running. We’re sure that there’s a good way to do a lecture for women in math.

However, you might want to spotlight actual women in math. As for this lecture, you had the very common chance to explain a bunch of women’s obstacles to them. Sounds like great fun, doesn’t it?

When you write an article and post it online, there’s bound to be dissent. Sometimes, it can seem like some people just want to argue for the sake of disagreeing.

If you’re going to dissent from an article, don’t be surprised if you’re called upon to argue your point. Finding an expert that supports your idea is a great way to argue unless you’re incorrectly quoting the expert you’re arguing with.

When you have a baby, you have a few options when it comes to feeding them. Some new moms stick to breastfeeding while other parents might decide formula is the better option for their family.

When this family was talking about breastfeeding, it seemed to this person like their husband thought they knew more than not only her but the woman who breastfed him too! This is one subject that these two are probably already familiar with.

Speaking of breastfeeding, it seems like there are some basic misconceptions about it from people who don’t experience it. This guy was way off base. For most people, lactation isn’t a chronic situation.

Your body does it when it warrants it necessary like right after you have a baby. In other words, this woman was completely fine and didn’t need this guy making a comment like this which isn’t only wrong but rather creepy.

There are some things that are always, quite literally, a pain to deal with. No one wants to deal with a headache. Luckily, there are some things you can do about it.

This woman had the right idea looking for something she could take for her head. Her boss had another idea. We have no clue where he got this idea from but it’s not how any headache anyone else has ever experienced has gone away.

We can’t believe we have to highlight this again but it seems like too many men don’t get the fact that mansplaining a woman’s existence to her is really not a great idea.

If this woman had a birthmark on her face that’s, by definition, been there all her life, she knows what it is. How would she not? It seems like at least one man was absolutely sure that he knew her life story better than her.

There are a few different things that you can’t really forget after you experience them. For one, childbirth is pretty memorable to anyone who’s given birth.

After giving birth, you probably want a bit of a break to recover. Of course, there was at least one man there to explain what this woman had just been through to her. We’re going to guess he got some things wrong, too.

What’s the first thing that you do when you go to a restaurant? If you’re like most people, you probably sit down and open the menu to take a look.

When this woman opened her menu to scan it, this guy just couldn’t trust her to do it on her own. How could she possibly wrap her mind around it? We’re going to guess the way that most people do and read it. If she’s not asking, it’s safe to guess she’s got this one down.

An editor is there to help make sure that what you send out into the world isn’t full of typos and grammar mistakes. A fresh set of eyes definitely helps.

Given how much we all read online every day, editors have a pretty in-demand job. This guy didn’t seem to see it that way. Interestingly enough, this guy could have used an editor for the paragraphs she detailed here.

There are some things that you probably should know if you’re going to become an environmental consultant. We’re sure using a pH strip wasn’t the most complicated topic this woman learned.

Still, it seems like this man wasn’t about to recognize that she had even the most basic knowledge from her background. That is if he even bothered to learn a thing about her before assuming that the concept of pH was too complicated for her. As it turned out, it was a little too complicated for him.

Breaking up with someone is always hard. On the other hand, there are some things that your soon-to-be ex can do that will make the decision a lot easier.

If we were this woman, we’d probably have made the breakup much less polite too. Not only is it weird to talk about “calculating” a woman’s period but using it as an excuse for her feelings is invalidating and ignorant. We’re happy to hear the breakup went through.

The thing about mansplaining is that it really disregards what a woman already knows. There’s never a time for it but some men manage to find the worst time possible.

When you’re in the delivery room, your job is to support the person giving birth. The last thing you’re there to do is mansplain to your wife how “little” contractions hurt. That’s easy to say when you never have to give birth!

It seems that if there’s one thing that men just can’t stop mansplaining, it’s women’s bodies when they’ve never experienced being in one.

Just about anyone can tell you that childbirth is painful, especially if you don’t have an epidural. This guy thought he could compare it to a more everyday activity that it really has no comparison to. There’s no extensive healing process from the average trip to the bathroom.