Meanings
present singular third person straightsplains · participle present straightsplaining · participle past straightsplained · past straightsplained · alternative straight-splain
- InternetcolloquialderogatoryTo explain LGBT issues, people or behavior to someone who is not of a heterosexual orientation (i.e. an LGBT individual) in a condescending manner, presuming the listener's inferior understanding.
And now, the plebiscite is dead. And hopefully so is the straightsplaining.
2016 November 9, Rebecca Shaw, “The plebiscite is dead, hopefully it takes all the straightsplaining with it”, in SBS Comedy, retrieved 21 Apr 20172 more examples
There are several different degrees of straightsplaining. That word, inspired by the increasingly common "mansplaining," describes the practice of straight people explaining how gay people are, or what gay people do, or how gay people do what they do, or why.
2014 July 2, Rich Juzwiak, “A Field Guide to Straightsplaining”, in Gawker, retrieved 19 Oct 2016What both Longhurst and Hartley-Brewer failed to notice was that, by trying to universalise the incident as an attack on, as they said, “the freedom of all people”, they were attempting to both whitewash and "straight-splain" Orlando.
2016 June 23, Alim Kheraj, “"Let LGBT People Of Colour Speak For Themselves"”, in Refinery29, retrieved 19 Oct 2016
Origin
From straight + -splain, after mansplain.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
straightsplain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straightsplain
“straightsplain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straightsplain. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “straightsplain,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straightsplain.
Source: straightsplain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.