Job well done on writing an article about mansplaining that didn't mansplain the concept of mansplaining!
One quote struck me in particular – "Could it be that most men just don’t adjust well to a lifestyle which requires less of them?" Not only is this a particularly profound insight, but I think it's universally applicable. Why do people brag about accomplishments, boast designer clothes and accessories, catalogue every moment of their luxurious vacation, or talk over each other in conversation? I think there's a very human response of self-assertion that's not exclusive to men, and it's something our culture tends to value and praise. Lately I've been thinking a lot about how to reel in these tendencies I have to make the last point in an argument, to always have an anecdote or story to add on to someone else's, and even to track an unrealistic chronicle of my life on social media. I want to know my own worth without feeling the need to prove it to anybody, to be satisfied enough with my accomplishments that I have no problem keeping them silent. It's a difficult exercise in humility, but perhaps the antidote to pomp and pride, the seed and soil of bragging or mansplaining.
Job well done on writing an article about mansplaining that didn't mansplain the concept of mansplaining!
One quote struck me in particular – "Could it be that most men just don’t adjust well to a lifestyle which requires less of them?" Not only is this a particularly profound insight, but I think it's universally applicable. Why do people brag about accomplishments, boast designer clothes and accessories, catalogue every moment of their luxurious vacation, or talk over each other in conversation? I think there's a very human response of self-assertion that's not exclusive to men, and it's something our culture tends to value and praise. Lately I've been thinking a lot about how to reel in these tendencies I have to make the last point in an argument, to always have an anecdote or story to add on to someone else's, and even to track an unrealistic chronicle of my life on social media. I want to know my own worth without feeling the need to prove it to anybody, to be satisfied enough with my accomplishments that I have no problem keeping them silent. It's a difficult exercise in humility, but perhaps the antidote to pomp and pride, the seed and soil of bragging or mansplaining.
Thank you for sharing!
Haha, thank you! Yes, I think you're nailing some nuance that this essay missed--mansplaining is a male symptom of a human problem: pride.