Any woman, any place, has been on the receiving end of mansplaining. Without fail, we stand there, looking off into the distance, as a man s-l-o-w-l-y explains something we already know more about it. 

We’ve seen it happen on social media and we saw it happen to Hillary Clinton throughout her 2016 presidential campaign. 

So, when Kim Goodwin, a researcher, author and designer based in America, was asked by two colleagues to explain the term, she decided to go above and beyond the call of duty.

“I have had more than one male colleague sincerely ask whether a certain behaviour is mansplaining. Since apparently this is hard to figure out, I made one of them a chart,” Goodwin wrote on Twitter. 

Yeah, that’s right, she’s made a colourful (and very detailed) mansplaining flow chart – and it has already received over 120,000 likes and 50,000 retweets.

Why? Well, because, quite frankly, it’s hilarious. Men can figure out if they have unwittingly become a mansplainer by answering questions such as, ‘Did she ask you to explain it?’ and ‘Did you ask if she needed it explained?’

If yes, then they’re golden, If not, though, then they will receive the following answer: JUST STOP TALKING NOW.

Many people have applauded Goodwin’s skills and shared their own ways of dealing with the issue. 

“Like pretty much any time I’m with a client, colleague, or even student and I’m about to explain something, I say ‘Do you know X?I don’t want to explain it if you know it, but I’m happy to give you the details if you need.’ THIS IS SO EASY, [IT MAKES] PEOPLE AND EVERYONE FEEL BETTER!,” one user wrote. 

“I do this all the time as well. People seem to appreciate it,” another user wrote.

The term is now so widespread that it has been given a space in the urban dictionary. By definition, mansplaining is “when a man explains something to someone (especially a woman) in a patronising way, with the assumption that he knows better”.

Of course, many men were having none of it. 

“Why make this a gendered issue? What you are basically defining here is condescending behaviour that can happen in any human interaction, regardless of gender. I take offence at the sexist implication that this is a male oriented behaviour,” one user posted.

“Based on this chart, girls explain things to me without me asking… So maybe we should start accusing women of #womansplaining,” another user wrote. 

Go on, print it. Frame it. Share it.

Images: Twitter / Getty