He’s Not Great At Icebreakers

I was in an Internet chat group. I’m a woman, with an obviously female username, and my profile picture is of me, very definitely female. This Internet Guy (likewise as obviously male) was notorious in the group for mansplaining things to female members, often ridiculously wrong.

Once, he claimed that the process of giving birth broke women’s hips. He said he was a nurse and knew it for a fact. He got blasted by a female nurse who had also given birth twice. She pointed out that she was up and walking a few days after giving birth, which she wouldn’t have been able to do if she had broken her hip.

For reasons no one could figure out, the moderators wouldn’t kick him out.

Then, one night, we got into a discussion about whether or not oceans could freeze over.

Internet Guy: “No. Oceans cannot freeze over.”

Me: “Actually, they can and do.”

He posted several links to articles that — I assume — claimed that oceans could not freeze.

Me: “I don’t need to read them. I know they’re wrong.”

Internet Guy: “Why won’t you even bother to read them?”

Me: “Because I live in Alaska, in [Small Town], on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. The frozen ocean is ten feet from my front door, and I have literally walked on it. That beats any article you can come up with. Here’s a photograph to back my claim.”

The chat pretty much devolved into most members razzing the guy. Apparently, he rage quit the group that night, as he couldn’t be found on the member list later.

The group was much more pleasant after that.