{"id":29173,"date":"2016-03-08T22:54:36","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T02:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=29173"},"modified":"2016-03-08T22:54:36","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T02:54:36","slug":"review-of-men-explain-things-to-me-by-rebecca-solnit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=29173","title":{"rendered":"Review of Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"men_explain_things_to_me_large\"<\/a>Men Explain Things to Me<\/em><\/p>\n

by Rebecca Solnit<\/p>\n

Dispatch Books, Haymarket Books, Chicago, Illinois, 2014. 130 pages.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid most intelligent women need to hear nothing more than the title of this book to give a knowing smile. Rebecca Solnit starts the essay with a particularly stunning example of a man who knew nothing about a topic Rebecca had written a book about, trying to explain things to her. He even mentioned an \u201cimportant book\u201d she should have read, which it turned out he had not actually read but had read about in the New York Times Book Review.<\/em> This was the book she had written.<\/p>\n

I like incidents of that sort, when forces that are usually so sneaky and hard to point out slither out of the grass and are as obvious as, say, an anaconda that\u2019s eaten a cow or an elephant turd on the carpet.<\/p>\n

Yes, people of both genders pop up at events and hold forth on irrelevant things and conspiracy theories, but the out-and-out confrontational confidence of the totally ignorant is, in my experience, gendered. Men explain things to me, and other women, whether or not they know what they\u2019re talking about. Some men.<\/p>\n

Every woman knows what I\u2019m talking about. It\u2019s the presumption that makes it hard, at times, for any woman in any field; that keeps women from speaking up and from being heard when they dare; that crushes young women into silence by indicating, the way harassment on the street does, that this is not their world. It trains us in self-doubt and self-limitation just as it exercises men\u2019s unsupported overconfidence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, she does make clear that she\u2019s not talking about all men, nor even the majority of men. But there are men out there who don\u2019t respect women\u2019s knowledge or opinions and feel they automatically have more important things to say. My first Master\u2019s degree was in mathematics, and I always felt like I had to prove myself. And always, I must admit, took great delight in getting higher scores than my male classmates on math tests \u2013 which was more about me than about them. But where did I get the idea I had to prove myself?<\/p>\n

The rest of the essays in this book talk about other ways women are silenced and marginalized. There\u2019s also some discussion about marriage equality in that context.<\/p>\n

The phrase [\u201cmarriage equality\u201d] is ordinarily employed to mean that same-sex couples will have the rights different-sexed couples do. But it could also mean that marriage is between equals. That\u2019s not what traditional marriage was. Throughout much of its history in the West, the laws defining marriage made the husband essentially an owner and the wife a possession. Or the man a boss and the woman a servant or slave.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another essay is about a powerful international figure who raped a hotel maid in his luxury suite \u2013 and how that can be a metaphor for many things.<\/p>\n

The opening essay begins with what is really a humorous scene. But this is not a humorous book. Overall, it\u2019s about feminism and how we\u2019ve made progress, but there is still progress that needs to be made.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Solnit will make you think and consider and speak.<\/p>\n

rebeccasolnit.net<\/a>
\nTomDispatch.com<\/a>
\nhaymarketbooks.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/men_explain_things_to_me.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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