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Men Explain Things To Me And Other Essays (2014)

by Rebecca Solnit(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Granta Books

review 1: Solnit's original essay stands out as excellent among the rest of this collection in its pithy yet affirmatively-warm recognition of the continuum of the violence of silenced women. The second-strongest essay I think is the one in which she compares the number of female corpses courtesy of men to the number of 9/11 American victims, and her remark like MacKinnon's that despite such wide-spread violence on a sex divide, the country does not recognize this war on women. Overall though, her own version of feminism is unenriched by an intersectional lens until one of the final essays, in which she links the Zapatistas and their interests in common with feminism. Her earlier location of light and possibility in darkness and obscurity, and her challenge of victim-blaming, are so... moremewhat weakened by her stated belief in the power of acting in the face of highly likely futility, without acknowledging the risk of insanity in isolation. Grouping the disproportionate number of male suicides together with homicides and "other violent crime" strikes me as no less than a crime itself. As well, her focus of the hijab in antiquity undermines her general argument for culture as non-static, neglecting to see how the meaning and use of the hijab varies with context. However, despite those major problems, not a bad few essays for a rainy night read: it's part of the discourse, after all, and "mansplaining" might not have come into being when it did without her feature essay.
review 2: A series of essays mostly on how the world does not see women as people. I found them a bit patronizing because I think I, like most of the people who will be picking up her book, already agree with what Rebecca Solnit is saying. I was not impressed or surprised by the statistics that she threw in my face - mainly I was saddened because I don't know what to do about it. I did not like her tone, which sounded like it was coming from a place of privilege, high above the potential readers - pointing out at their ignorance and laughing at men who, through the way we raise them in our society might not know any better. I don't think that getting on your soap box spewing facts solves anything right now. It alienates people! Statistics are nice yes, but only if used appropriately, not for shock value. Let's DO something. Or at least talk about what we can do...The saving essay in here was her one on darkness and embracing freedom and the joy in being "lost." less

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