I don’t buy it. “Mansplain” is a misandrous term. It is intended to deride men, as a group, by linking an undesirable characteristic (the tendency to “mansplain”) with a group — the group of “man” (men).

A more neutral and less hateful term would be “upstage” — a term that preceded the term “mansplain”. “Upstage” did not suit the intended stereotyping purpose, so a new term was needed, in order to link men as a group with this behavior. One could create similarly unfair terms that link groups with particular behaviors, such as “black-XYZ” or “Muslim-ABC” — but I think we would all (hopefully) reject such terms as unfair stereotypes.

And yet, as the author has pointed out, men are not the only ones who do this. It is, in fact, a behavioral trait that aggressive people — men or women — might exhibit.

On the other hand, I am sure that women as a group have been victims of “mansplaining” more than men have, and so I can see why the term was created: to shine a light on their plight.

But the author is right, that when men hear the term, it irks them, because a-lot of men don’t do those things. A-lot of men have only the best intentions, and so hearing that men as a group “mansplain” seems really unfair — like saying that all Austrians are Nazis because Hitler came from Austria and so did many other Nazis, and ignoring the fact that many Austrians (including my mother’s entire family) got the heck out of Austria before Germany marched in because they did not agree with those politics. (Did you see The Sound of Music?)

So “mansplain” is unfair, derisive, and misandrous — and is a hypocrisy for all who would call attention to misogyny— and as such it is divisive in the debate about what behavior is appropriate between men and women. I would suggest retiring the term, and using one that does not group all men with those who “mansplain”.