Faith Salie has her say on "mansplaining"

For all the talk about greater gender equality, it's still a Man's World -- or so says our Faith Salie: 

If you don't know what mansplaining is, or manterrupting, or manspread, then you're probably a guy.

Here's mansplaining, when a dude explains something in a condescending manner, usually to a woman who might even know more than he does:

Here's manterrupting, which speaks for itself (or tries to):

And manspread?  

It's gotten so bad that cities like New York and Madrid have resorted to campaigns that actually ask men to stop behaving as if each of their knees needs its own seat, and their genitalia deserve another.

Manspread, mansplaining, manterrupting -- all of it, whether conscious or not, diminishes women's voices, minds and bodies.

Now let's be clear: not every man who interrupts is a manterrupter. And women explain, women interrupt.

BUT, I'm just gonna womenumerate a few stats for you:

• Women on the Supreme Court get interrupted three times more than their male colleagues -- that's not just.
  
• In the first 2016 Presidential debate, Hillary Clinton interrupted Donald Trump 11 times, and Trump interrupted her 55 times. 
  

But who's counting? 

Mansplaining may be a newish term, but it's not a new phenomenon.

But here's why these recently-birthed words are a good thing: because they name something. And when you name something, you raise consciousness. The conversation is now on the cultural table, and it cannot be interrupted, explained away, or squished to the side.

We're seeing this now with pop star Taylor Swift appearing in court to assert unapologetically and unequivocally that she was sexually assaulted. 

She's come a long way from this:  

And if none of this resonates, then I was the wrong messenger. Ask a man to explain what I mean.

      
For more info:

• "Approval Junkie: Adventures in Caring Too Much" by Faith Salie (Crown Archtype); Also available in eBook and Digital Audio Download formats
• faithsalie.com