A tweet from a UK author has gone viral after she posted a chart about mansplaining. Photo / Getty Images

Are you mansplaining? This chart will give you the answer

Lifestyle

Author: NZ Herald ,
Publish Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2018, 7:20AM

A tweet from a UK author has gone viral after she posted a chart about mansplaining.

Kim Goodwin shared her chart after male colleagues approached her asking her when is it obvious when a man is mansplaining.

"Both are experts who are often asked to explain concepts to colleagues outside their fields. Both were concerned about those explanations being taken the wrong way. I wondered: Is it really so hard to tell the difference between condescending or simply explaining-while-male," Goodwin wrote on the BBC.

After being constantly approached by male colleagues, she decided make a diagram and share it on Twitter.

I have had more than one male colleague sincerely ask whether a certain behavior is mansplaining. Since apparently this is hard to figure out, I made one of them a chart. pic.twitter.com/7DZ1RTrB3R
— Kim Goodwin (@kimgoodwin) July 19, 2018

The chart starts off asking "Did she ask you to explain it?" and varies off to other questions including "Do you have more relevant experience?", "Would most men with her education and experience already know this?" and finally "Did you ask if she needed it explained?" The chart ends with the four options "Not mansplaining', "Probably mansplaining", "Definitely mansplaining" and "Just stop talking now."

Since going viral and receiving 50,564 retweets and 121,358 likes, Goodwin published an article on the BBC, explaining how people reacted to the chart.

"Thousands of female-appearing Twitter users started sharing the post, asking to print it on business cards or staple it to the foreheads of men," she wrote.

"Responses from male-appearing Tweeters were more mixed. Some responded with mansplaining, either explaining sexism to women or asking how women would learn if men didn't share their knowledge. Many said the diagram was helpful. Others wondered whether this is really a gendered behaviour; a few argued (fairly, I think) that fathers are frequently mum-splained."

How people reacted

Why make this a gendered issue? What you are basically defining here is condescending behaviour that can happen in any human interaction, regardless of gender. I take offence at the sexist implication that this is a male oriented behaviour. #shesexist #notallmen #genderequity
— Derek Nankivell (@Derek_Nankivell) July 20, 2018

So a man needs to ask “Would you like me to explain this to you?” Or a woman needs to ask for an explanation? Doesn’t work in the real-world. Knowledge is not shared in this manner. Also, it’s not about being ‘experienced’ but about competency, even if one is your junior.
— JayEye07 (@Jayeye07) July 19, 2018

We have this framed in our office for ease of reference. pic.twitter.com/dNaXrrCm19
— Geoff (@geoffbills) July 26, 2018

This is 🔥. Shared it with my colleagues at @womenjournos where the topic comes up in conversation quite a lot. Thank you for doing this. Now I've gotta go laminate it, along with the @justinemusk hilarious one about "25 Badass Ways to Say 'No.'" https://t.co/A0n9A5WlIM
— Lily Casura 👩🏻‍💻 📚☕️ (@lilygc) July 22, 2018

Gosh why are men offended by this. If you don't think women in general are less aware about certain subjects because they are female then this is probably not talking to you. When I read something about white people being racist I don't get fussy about it cause I know I am not
— innerlich, (@bittersweetmanu) July 21, 2018

Lol at all the mansplaining in the mentions of your tweet about mansplaining 😳🤦🏽‍♀️😂I admire your patient replies @kimgoodwin & your commitment to not just throwing a cartoon anvil at them & being done with it 👏🏽 .Followed 😊.
— Natasha Guttenbeil (@tashinja) July 21, 2018

Based on this chart girls explain things to me without me asking... So maybe we should start accusing women of #womansplaining
— Shane Guymon 🦄 (@shaneguymon) July 20, 2018