it's like, definitely still mansplaining if the man is dominating the conversation unintentionally and he would totally stop if you asked him to, actually. like, the term exists to describe a phenomenon that arises from the implicit bias that women are expected to simply be less knowledgeable about things. it doesn't matter if he's doing it on purpose or not. he does it cause he expects women to not know things or to not have any input. maybe don't fucking expect women to stand up for themselves every single time they have to have a conversation with a man because that shit happens like daily for a lot of women
genuinely, sincerely, if you are a man you need to learn to shut up when you're talking to women
one of the most classic antifeminist tricks is to go "well it's not fair to get mad at him for (sexist behavior) if he didn't know" which is not only yet another tired attempt to reject the political frame in favor of the personal, it's a direct tee-up to the next idea, which is "because [as established] i can't be responsible for sexist behavior if i don't know it's sexist, trying to tell me about feminist ideas is an attempt to guilt me and possibly even a form of attack." do not entertain this bullshit.
if we're only allowed to be mad at being mistreated if the mistreatment is deliberate, not structural & baked in to the normal way of things, then feminism is worthless. do not ever concede this point. we are multiple thousands of years into patriarchy and it's a worldwide antifeminist backlash out there right now; if he "didn't know" then he should've, and he better catch up quick.



















