Coping With Wilderness Mansplaining
According to the internet one of the most common forms of mansplaining is being mansplained on a topic in your own area of expertise. you have no doubt encountered this in your everyday lives (my pct partner and good friend is an engineer. woah does she have some stories.) but ladies, you’re not out of the woods just because you’re in the woods. once you become a thru-hiker, and thus a very keen expert in all things wilderness backpacking related, you’ll have to learn how to cope with various men – especially day hikers and random men in town- telling you about various outdoorsy things they don’t know very much about. men will want mansplain some wilderness crap to you because they will assume they know more about it than you since you are not a man. men: tarzan, you: jane. and golly, what would we janes do without tarzan?
mansplaining on a bike. oh this one seems to get me every time. whether i’m on my mountain bike, on my road bike which i maintain and repair by myself, or on the commuter bike i built with my own two hands, a friendly generous bro-brah will usually make sure to give me tips on how to fix my such and such doohickey, or let me know what gear mistakes i’ve already made, or let me know about a new FKT record on strava they’ve just set…a good approach to take in this situation is to crop dust this dude-bro as you overtake him on the flats because he hit his VO2 max trying to impress you on the uphill.
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Comments 19
It’s not wilderness mansplaining, but I think it’s the most hilarious example of mainsplaining ever.. Once at a dinner party a man explained to me how my period works! He was not a doctor or any kind of health professional.. At the end I had to interject that since I had been menstruating every month for the past 12 years I was pretty sure not only how it worked but also what the frequency was and furthermore I REALLY needed him to shut the f..k up already. I mean really… !?
that’s outrageous! thank you for sharing. hope he reacted with humility and that he’ll take the lesson to heart.
I know I’m a guy, but don’t discredit what I have to say hear. I totally get what you are saying. Condescension in all forms sucks, especially if it seems like it’s because of your gender. But this idea of “mansplaining” isn’t just something that happens to women. People explain things to me that I already understand in a condescending way all the time. And yeah it’s unpleasant, but it’s no travesty. Just because someone suggests that cutting your Toothbrush in half would save weight doesn’t mean they think you are less intelligent because you are a woman… just take it with a grain of salt. And I’m not saying that there aren’t tons of totally legitimate ways that women get discriminated against. And I support feminism. But really. This is not a big deal.
Tear into me, I don’t care
Did you just mansplain mansplaining?
I believe so. It’ll take a few decades, I reckon, for men (really white men) to stop assuming that everyone wants to hear what they have to say.
thank you for your comment jack henry. i don’t discredit your input simply because you’re a guy. i do think it’s unfortunate and misguided (and a perfect example of this problem) that you think it’s your role to tell me, or any woman, what is or isn’t a big deal with respect to how we are treated by men…
Thank you. Do you need a new best friend? I’ve worked in natural resources and as a farrier for 40 years. I am so over the mansplaining thing. And the constant daily having to prove yourself. Playing stupid games that cost the agency you are working for just to put one over on the girl. The bullying is exhausting. I had one supervisor send me to a store in Wichita for a board stretcher. I knew there was no such thing, but went to town anyway. Treated myself to a haircut, went to the outdoor store for hiking boots, the western store and bought a new saddle. Made it back to work just before quitting time and told them I looked in every hardware store and couldn’t find a board stretcher. Asshats. I have access locally to several trails, a lake, and some abandoned federal parks. I use them for training by biking, walking, running, and hiking. I bring my dog. 14 years later, a guy in a white panel van cruised by, stopped and told me that it is dangerous for women to be alone in the park b/c there is wildlife. (Wildlife don’t attack men, just women?). I told him that wildlife isn’t scary but that old men in vans are and as such, I use them for target practice. He left. Seriously, if you do any mentoring or training let me know. I am on FB as Cheryl Swayne with a Kansas address. I do a lot of outdoors ‘stuff’ as an amateur and could use help training for my AT trip in 2019.
Cheryl, you’re a total badass! Thanks for sharing your stories. I’d be happy to chat with you sometime about your upcoming AT thru-hike. Sounds like you have some time to plan it out… 😉
Hi Cheryl – Thank you for your comment! I can’t imagine the amount of mansplaining you must have to absorb working in a science/outdoor field. Thanks for sharing this story. I’d be happy to talk to you about your thru-hike. My email address is abigailking at gmail dot com.
Happened to me just last night. I was hiking into an AT shelter near to a small residential area and encountered an older guy out walking his dog on the trail. He said I looked like a “serious” hiker in a very patronizing way. I dumped off my pack at the shelter and then proceeded to gather firewood. As he passed by me again a few minutes later he explained to me that it was going to be very cold that night, “down in the teens you know!” and asked me if I was going to be okay.
What I actually said: “yes, I have the right gear and I’m going to build a fire.” What I really meant: “NO F**KING S**T, SHERLOCK!”
Of course! My pretty little head is full of fluffy bunnies and kittens, there’s no space for trip planning or looking at forecasts or bringing the right gear or knowing how to build a campfire or generally stay warm and safe… I guarantee he would not have said this to a lone male hiker. Earlier the same day I had another guy (again, older) explain an alternative route to my intended destination as if it hadn’t occurred to me to look at a map at some point. Likewise, I doubt he would have said this stuff if I had been male.
Most of the mansplaining I encounter on the trail comes from a kind place I think. They are just trying to help.
But for any men reading this, lemme femsplain something to you: WE DO NOT NEED TO BE RESCUED. WE CAN RESCUE OURSELVES, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Thanks for your comment Cath. I totally agree that for most men, the mansplaining comes from a kind place. I guess that’s what makes me wonder how best to respond! I don’t want to be rude to the guys because they’re not exactly being outwardly rude/discourteous to me, but it’s a larger problem and I want them to know they’re perpetuating stereotypes. It’s a fine line to walk, I guess.
You all stop worrying your pretty little heads! Just trying to be nice! LOL!
right…
All I have to say is… THANK YOU.
We laugh about it, but it can seriously be annoying… and sometimes just downright disrespectful.
yeah i agree! i try to laugh about it but it does get exhausting after a while..
I think the instances where men were saying things like “be careful” to experienced wilderness women are definitely microaggressions, however talking about gear, weather, or other little facts is just how men are conditioned to communicate. Society has conditioned men to mostly share information in conversation, and as a guy I can tell you that every time I go outside I will hear lots of info about gear, snow safety, weather etc. and be explained things I already know well.
I find it extremely frustrating that men’s lives are constantly filled with subliminal “man-offs” where what may appear to be a friendly conversation is really two dudes jocking for the most “man points”. Generally, any outdoor activity is ripe ground for scoring man points, and most men guide their behavior in the outdoors around what might give them the most man points, which often means sharing your knowledge no matter how little it may be. I thank you for bringing this issue to light and I don’t want to undermine your experience and frustrations but from a guy’s perspective, men who are acting this way are just on “man-off” auto-pilot and are sharing information with women (minus the “be careful” stuff) they way they would with other men. Thank you for writing about this since it is one step towards a culture where men don’t feel the pressure to constantly affirm their masculinity.
thank you very much for your comment bob. important to remember that men are “stuck” in this cycle/way of thought too.
I am a few years late to the party but I just want to say that you’re article is great and articulates feelings I’ve had for a while. I notice it mostly in older white men in their 50s and 60s who think they’ve arrived at an age whereby outdoors-related conversation means “let me tell you things I know (or think I know) and you can listen.” It doesn’t affect all older men, just a disproportionate # of them, as far as I can tell. As a guy I hear it from time to time… as a woman, I can’t imagine what it must be like to hear it all the time. Thank you for speaking out Abby!