Men Explain Things to Me

Book, 2014

Premise - A collection of feminist essays by prolific feminist writer Rebecca Solnit.The titular essay "Men Explain Things to Me" comedically recounts the number of times men have assumed she lacked certain knowledge because of her gender. However, she uses these merely frustrating, but not dangerous, events as an entry point to talk about the systemic connection to much more sinister silencings of women and girls on a global scale.

Review - This is not an official "Our Shared Shelf" pick, but an honorary one, as Nov/Dec 2019 (the last recommendations from Emma Watson) was dedicated to Rebecca Solnit. Two of her books were the official assignments, and this one was just highly recommended. I think the reason this was not an official assignment is because it is honestly assumed that most people engaged in feminist literature have already read it.

I often think about what I consider to be the best entry level feminist text. Like, if someone was thinking "I want to read about feminism, but I don't know where to start" what would I recommend? And I think I've found THE book. Maybe - or at least I've found THE essays. Some of the essays in this book are not necessarily what I would consider entry-level reading for the masses. For example, some of her essays cross the line of feminism over into literary criticism (such as her essay on the writing style of Virginia Woolf) that I found incredibly valuable but does not necessarily appeal to the majority of people. I could say the same about Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, although her literary criticism more often discusses contemporary pop culture that is more likely to have been consumed by this generation.

The first two or three essays, however, are brilliant entry-level feminist readings. "Men Explain Things to Me" very clearly breaks down relatable scenarios of being undercut by men, particularly older men. But then the following essay, "The Longest War," launches into how these experiences are not as trivial as they may seem. She talks about the effects of patriarchy on a global scale, from trivial to deadly consequences. Most notably, she discusses gender-based violence and the silencing of women who discuss their experiences. I think she provided a statistic in there about how more women have died at the hands of gender-based violence than men have died in all the wars, which is the same statistic that I had read in Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, the other global feminist text that I think is absolutely fundamental and everyone should read regardless of what country they live in or what gender they identify with.

My one big gripe that persisted throughout this entire book was how often Solnit apologizes to subgroups of men. I couldn't count the number of times she said something along the lines of "Not all men..." or "a lot of men are nice" etc. Which, don't get me wrong, is 100% true. Some men do truly get it. But there's a much larger subset of men, in between those who get it and those who are intentionally misogynistic, who think they are nice guys but are a little bit disconnected from women's experiences. And I feel like by saying "Not all men..." it's telling that large bucket of ignorant men that they are doing just fine, and they are not contributing to the problem. When, systemically, they likely are. The same with racism, homophobia, etc., I think it's more valuable to say that everyone, regardless of race, gender, etc., should push themselves to be more equitable.(94/100)

Quote - “The worst criticism seeks to have the last word and leave the rest of us in silence; the best opens up an exchange that need never end.” I'm saving this for my quote list!!

What to read for - I believe the most important essay is "The Longest War"

If you liked this book, I'd recommend Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide!

Written by Rebecca Solnit
Published by Haymarket Books