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Words are not their etymologies. Mansplaining is gender neutral if it is used in a gender neutral way.

A woman who understands the meaning of mansplaining will not believe that it is only bad to be patronizing[1] if you are a man because the word "mansplaining" exists, any more than she would believe she is not a human being because the word "mankind" exists.

Conversely, a woman who is already of the opinion that men can't understand how sewing machines work isn't going to be shamed into adopting a new opinion because somebody coined the word "condesplaining".

[1] Of course, "patronize" is a gendered term if we go by its etymology.

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I agree, I also think it unlikely that the adoption of the term 'mansplaining' encourages non-men to patronize more people.

On the other hand, what I understand from the criticism of the term is that it hurts some people to hear it used. We choose our language because we don't want to cause others pain; when someone tells me that calling someone a b*tch causes them pain I stop using the word around them. If I have reason to believe that using the word causes a lot of people pain then I stop using it in public. Similarly, lots of people (some reference below) are pained by words like 'mansplain' and 'manspread.' If someone tells me that they are pained by it, I don't go and try and convince them that the word is actually fine to use and they shouldn't be pained, I stop using the word.

REF:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/feb...

http://www.xojane.com/issues/why-you-ll-never-hear-me-use-te...

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/phoenixandolivebranch/2013/02/w...

http://halginsberg.com/lets-stop-using-terms-like-mansplain-...

>On the other hand, what I understand from the criticism of the term is that it hurts some people to hear it used.

It has a negative definition. It was chosen to be a gendered word, a tongue in cheek attack on the prevalence of accidentally gendered words like mankind and manslayer. When we are moving away from words that use the root word man to avoid accidental gendering, why would a new word be created that is gendered if it is not an attack on that gender?

"Words are not their etymologies. Mansplaining is gender neutral if it is used in a gender neutral way."

You make a valid point, but some words are just inappropriate for most contexts because the general lack of understanding of them causes unnecessary tension. To me this is a clear flaw in a communication model that I believe "mansplaining" falls under.

Another example would be the word "niggardly." These words pretty much only have use in an academic setting at best.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%...

Thats great for those enlightened enough to understand the phrase with some comprehension. Alas, all of humanity is not that wise - I've had to deal with 'mansplaining' too many times from women, as well as men, for it to make any sense for there to be any gender-form in the phrase. And justifying this just doesn't make any sense. Its a terrible phrase, and should be replaced with something that doesn't imply that the phenomenon has anything to do with ones sex.

Because it doesn't. And that is sexism.

> Mansplaining is gender neutral if it is used in a gender neutral way.

I'm just imagining the furor if someone said that about, say, "harpy" or "hysterical."

Have you seen people regularly use the word "mansplaining" to describe the actions of any women (while knowing that the person they were referring to was a woman)?

I don't believe that I have seen that.

The meaning of words is not their etymology, but it is how they are used and understood.

And, ime, people seem to use the word "mansplaining" to refer to actions of (people that they believe to be) men (or corporations?).

Perhaps your experience differs on this topic though?

To be honest, I have never seen the word "mansplain" used except as an example of a word that somebody didn't like. :)

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