When New York-based writer Lara B Sharp settled in for an afternoon by the pool with a good book, she had no idea that it would turn out to be content gold.
With her head buried in Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things To Me, Sharp found herself interrupted by a man who was about to indulge in a serious case of mansplaining. More than that, he tried to mansplain mansplaining,
Oh, the irony.
Setting the scene, in a post on Facebook, Sharp describes sitting by the pool when a “balding man, maybe 65 or 70 years old, with blue, bloodshot eyes, drinking from a bottle of Ensure, wearing designer swim trunks, which are half hidden under a huge, extremely brown, beer belly” approaches her to ask what she’s reading.
When she reels off the title, “John” feels the need to clarify the subject matter before he quickly interjects, claiming it is about men “mentoring” women.
As Sharp attempts to correct him, he cuts her off once more as he seeks to find out whether she works or has children.
Sharp patiently explains that she is a freelance writer and makes the point that she is 47 and not in fact the young lady that he keeps calling her.
Naturally, the man immediately offers up his mentoring services, proclaiming that he can help to grow her “book” – despite acknowledging that he has no experience whatsoever in writing or publishing.
And so it continues, as Sharp whips out her phone to take notes, keen to make sure that she doesn’t forget anything “important” as she expertly trolls the guilty party to hilarious effect.
Luckily for you, you can enjoy the whole conversation below as Sharp shared the delightful experience online (that is, after she ordered some noise cancelling headphones and threw herself into the pool.)
We’re not sure what terrifies us more: that men like this really exist, or that it seems to have resonated with thousands of people around the word (at the time of writing, the post has received over 50,000 likes and been shared over 18,000 times).
All we can say is, well played Sharp.
Image: iStock
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