Just a quick classification: my earlier post was NOT a criticism of Joe Biden, who remains my favorite living American politician. Instead my point was that I think the term “mansplain” is vastly over-applied. As Joe “Chompers” Biden so amply demonstrated last night, lots of men are more than willing to be pedantic and condescending to other men. Lots of people of all different genders frequently talk down to lots of other people if all different genders.
This should not be taken to discount the very real phenomenon of mansplaining: I’m sure it happens frequently, and I’m sure it’s enraging. I just think that any social situation which drives it’s foundation from information asymmetry (real or imagined) almost invariably generates some level of negative emotions on the part of one or all parties.
With that in mind it’s important to carefully assess the patterns at work before we decide that a given behaviour is rooted in gender bias. Some people are just dicks regardless of who they’re talking to.