In 2008, American writer Rebecca Solnit wrote the essay 'Men Explain Things To Me'.

In it she chartered the dangerous phenomenon of men effectively silencing women through the assumption that they know better. The experience has since come to be known as 'mansplaining', finally giving women a specific word that adequately explains how they are often spoken down to by men.

On Wednesday, PHD student Nicole Froio from York, UK sent out a request to the women of Twitter asking them to explain the worst case of mansplaining that had happened to them.

xView full post on X

Thankfully (or tragically, depending on how you look at things), Froio's curiosity was rewarded with women responding in droves to give their hilarious and somewhat depressing accounts of 'mansplaining'.

There was the deeply ironic:

There were a lot of examples of women being explained how to do their job:

There were some good ones about explaining languages and countries to native/proficient speakers:

Then there were ones that make you question how men think woman can actually function as humans in the world:

Then there explanations about stuff us women probably have reason to be a little more clued up about than men:

Bizarrely, there were also ones referring to Irish heritage:

Oh, and then there were experiences of women being underestimated when it comes to D.I.Y and enginering:

If we're not laughing we might as well weep because this is depressing as hell.

Headshot of Daisy Murray
Daisy Murray
Digital Fashion Editor

Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.