The Bro Explaining meme is an exploitable image of a man speaking to a visibly uncomfortable woman with his hand on the back of her neck. It has come to represent the phenomenon where men will talk at length to women they find attractive, often explaining concepts they assume she doesn’t understand while ignoring the bored signals she’s sending out.
This then became associated with the 2010s concept of “mansplaining,” which describes an act by a man of explaining something to a woman who is already an expert in the subject because of an overt or subconscious assumption that she knows less due to her gender.
Meme basics:
- Meme Creator: JoeSportsFan.com
- Meme Type: Exploitable
- First Appearance: June 8, 2011
- Origin Source: FOX Sports Midwest
- Used to Convey: Mansplaining / Deep interest in a topic
- Peak Popularity: August 2022
What is the Bro Explaining meme?
The screenshot from a baseball game shows a man in an Astros shirt sitting next to a woman in a white t-shirt in stadium seats. He has one hand on the back of the woman’s neck and the other gesturing as he speaks with a smile. The woman, meanwhile, is frowning with her shoulders back in a tense posture as she looks into the distance.
Other women widely recognized this posture as one of discomfort with the man’s touch and closeness, and her gaze as perhaps searching for an escape that would not offend or enrage him. People tend to post the image alongside lengthy screeds on any topic, especially one that’s of interest to the user.
Meme template
Who are the people in the Bro Explaining meme?
There has been a lot of speculation about the identities of the pair in this meme, but nothing has been confirmed. People have noted the woman’s resemblance to singer Jessica Simpson as well as a model by the name of Joy Trimble, and some claim that the man looks like Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.
It’s unlikely that anyone this famous would be sitting in regular seats at any sports game. The truth is more likely to be that these were two random people who happened to end up on camera and understandably don’t want to forever be associated with the meme.
What game is the Bro Explaining meme from?
According to Know Your Meme, the image was taken from a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros that aired on FOX Sports Midwest on June 7, 2011.
It appears likely that one Matt Sebek of JoeSportsFan.com captured the screenshot, as he posted it to this website the following day with a joke caption reading “and it was at that point when she realized that his Dad’s oil money wasn’t worth the bro tales.” The meme spread from there to other sports sites and then to funny image sites and Reddit.
John Silver Explaining Anna Jay meme
A new version of the Bro Explaining meme appeared in 2021 following an episode of the reality show Being the Elite. The image from this meme is a more overt and clear example of men getting into a woman’s space bubble when she’s clearly not interested.
In the screenshot, professional wrestler John Silver is making a similar gesture to the man in the Bro Explaining meme while singer Anna Jay leans away from him, trapped in a corner, with an expression that says “This man cannot be serious.” Additional images show Jay trying to push him away from her.
Cultural context: Mansplaining and men ignoring boundaries
People often associate the word “mansplaining” with these memes, though the classic definition of this term requires that the woman is an expert in the field that a lesser-educated man is trying to explain to her. However, words like this often generalize as they become mainstream.
Images in the Bro Explaining and John Silver Explaining Anna Jay memes combined the phenomenon of mansplaining with the act of men entering the personal space of women and trying to control their bodies. This is not only a violation of implied boundaries that men rarely commit upon other men, but a specific tactic outlined in “pickup artist” manuals.
The hand on the back of the neck is particularly controlling and threatening due to it being a vulnerable area, increasing the feeling of vicarious discomfort many women experience upon viewing the Bro Explaining meme.
Meme examples
Related memes:
- People are celebrating their niche interests with this new ‘girlsplaining’ meme
- This woman made the best mansplaining chart of all time
- Lily Lang: The latest frat bro harassment victim
- The ‘Me Explaining Makeup To Men’ TikTok trend helps you understand stuff you don’t care about
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