Readers React: Is it ‘lady lecturing’ or ‘femsplaining’?

To the editor: Meghan Daum’s column has one saving grace: While discussing “mansplaining� and totally missing the point of it, she requests better terms than her own “lady lecture� for women. (“Mansplaining? Windbags come in both genders,� Op-Ed, Jan. 7)

First of all, we as women eschew the term “ladies� these days. “Act like a lady� is the opposite of “boys will be boys.� The term “lady� comes loaded with attendant baggage. A lady does this. A lady does that. A lady is not found in the top of a fig tree. Ladies don’t play in mud.

Next, “lady lecture� sounds like something with tea and little watercress sandwiches that stain your lady gloves. And possibly Chardonnay.

Finally, if Daum wants the pairing for mansplain, it’s “femsplain.� Don’t try to reinvent what the Internet has already done.

Did I femsplain it sufficiently?

Barbara Graham, San Diego

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To the editor: Talking too much and too authoritatively is not based on gender but is a symptom of a personality that needs a lot of attention. A person who takes it upon herself or himself to lecture a random bystander is clearly on a quest for an audience, regardless of the value of the “message.�

We, the recipient of this, can choose to cooperate or politely decline.

Mona Gerecht, Los Angeles

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