How To Stay Married (SO FAR) Mark Takes HUGE OFFENCE Being Accused of MANSPLAINING!How To Stay Married (SO FAR) Mark Takes HUGE OFFENCE Being Accused of MANSPLAINING!
How To Stay Married (So Far)
Nadia Sawalha and Mark Adderley argue, laugh and reflect their way through what mansplaining is, how it shows up in their marriage and why the label can both help and hurt. They share real-life examples from home and work, questioning where the line sits between helpful explanation and patronising put-down.
32:29•3 Jul 2026
Mansplaining, Marriage Bants and Hurt Feelings: Nadia and Mark Get Honest
Episode Overview
- Mansplaining combines unsolicited advice, ignored expertise, a condescending tone and frequent interruptions, especially towards women.
- Accusing someone of mansplaining can be useful when it exposes real put-downs, but overusing it can feel like a way to shut down valid concerns.
- Small, constant comments that frame a partner as incompetent or silly can slowly erode their confidence, even when said as "just banter".
- Raising patronising behaviour early in a relationship helps prevent it becoming the default way of speaking to each other.
- Recognising where each partner genuinely has more experience (and deferring respectfully) can reduce power struggles and resentment.
“"Try being a bloody woman. And all the things that are thrown at us the whole fucking time. You've got a little word and you don't like it."”
Curious about how others handle those small but maddening frictions in long-term relationships? This chat between Nadia Sawalha and Mark Adderley gets straight into one of the prickliest: mansplaining. Kicked off by Nadia springing the topic on Mark without warning, the conversation quickly turns into a funny, feisty back-and-forth about what mansplaining actually is and how it shows up at home and at work.
Nadia brings receipts, sharing the Rebecca Solnit story that inspired the term and a "map of a mansplainer" graphic, while Mark offers his own careful definition and admits he feels deeply stung when accused of it. You’ll hear them unpack everyday examples: advice about carrying hot plates, gardening arguments over tomatoes and cucumbers, and a near-row about a dodgy phone charger that Mark insists was about safety and Nadia heard as "classic mansplaining".
Nadia points out how constant low-level put-downs can chip away at self-esteem, and how the word can be a useful way to call that out. Mark worries it can sometimes be used as a "cheap trick to silence" men who are just trying to help.
They also widen the lens to talk about workplace dynamics, the legacy of women being expected to defer to men on finances and decisions, and how old stereotypes like the "nagging wife" and the modern "Karen" label mirror each other. There’s lots of humour, some sharp honesty, and a fair bit of self-awareness as they admit the ways they both slip into patronising tones.
For anyone in recovery or rebuilding life after addiction, this kind of raw, domestic conversation about respect, equality and communication might sound very familiar. It’s less about winning the argument and more about asking: how do we talk to each other without slowly wearing each other down?
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