Mansplaining: another subway form of cultural machismo?

A common statistical tendency for men to try to dominate conversations.

Although it is most likely not primarily due to Biological differences, it is clear that men and women behave differently in many ways today. Some of these differences, moreover, allow one of the two sexes to dominate the other and make it easier for them to impose their views and purposes.

Mansplaining, as a psychological phenomenon of domination, is an example of how men and women are different.is an example of how men, statistically speaking, tend to try to take the lead in dialogues with women, regardless of the topic being discussed.

Let's see what it consists of and what it has to do with sexism and cultural machismo..

What is mansplaining?

The term "mansplaining" is a neologism coming from English which in its original language is composed of the words "man" and "explain". It is usually used to refer to the statistical tendency (and the action through which that tendency is expressed) of men to explain things to women in a paternalistic and condescending manner, as if their female interlocutorsas if their interlocutors were particularly bad at understanding, even if what they are talking about is a subject that the woman knows more about than the man.

For example, a man with no university education explaining to a biologist what hybridization between dog breeds consists of without even letting her speak is a relatively clear case of mansplaining.

The concept of mansplaining has come into use relatively recently, and it is believed that not even a decade has passed since it appeared, although its origin is little known.

It has been enthusiastically embraced by associations and organizations linked to feminism and gender studies for obvious reasons: it can be interpreted as micromachismo, a subtle form of expression of patriarchy and cultural machismo. which from this perspective would reproduce a system of male domination over women.

The above is the interpretation of mansplaining based on the idea that this is one of the consequences of a system of macho domination. However, there is also another possible interpretation of this phenomenon. An interpretation based on a fact that may come as a surprise considering what we have seen before: men also engage in mansplaining when interacting with other men. also engage in mansplaining when interacting with other men..

This is the conclusion reached by a research conducted by Elizabeth Aries. After analyzing more than 40 hours of conversations, Aries found that men and women adopted very different styles when relating to other people.

Men tended to compete more to dominate conversations regardless of who was in front of them, while women demonstrated a greater willingness to connect with others through sympathetic relationships. with others through symmetrical relationships and did not try to control the direction of the conversation.

For them, conversations about the most banal topics were also a stage on which to gain power and influence, and they tried to climb up the ladder little by little through their interventions, struggling to gain the attention of others.

Thus, in the all-male groups there were also a number of individuals who, after a while, became invisible in front of a minority of the group's members, were invisible to a minority that ended up capitalizing on the conversations, which was much less the case in the all-male groups.This was much less the case in the women's groups.

A much more aggressive style of interaction

These conclusions fit very well with findings found through other research in psychology that are not basically focused on dialogue: men tend to be more competitive in many more types of interactions, even if there is apparently no concrete or recognizable reward to be gained by doing so.

Thus, mansplaining would not so much be a way in which men try to overrule women, but rather a reflection of their style of relating to everyone in the world. a reflection of their style of relating to everyone in the world..

Of course, these results always focus on statistical trends. A man doesn't have to constantly engage in mansplaining, and a woman doesn't have to always appear submissive or avoid struggling to extend her power in conversations. Simply put, mansplaining is much more pervasive in one of the two sexes and stands out more and more often when the people talking to each other are of opposite sexes.