The first essay in Men Explain Things to Me, also called Men Explain Things to Me, has been floating around the internet for quite some time, and it's quite possible that you've seen/read/heard of it before. If not, here is a link to the essay, complete with a wee prologue. Just scroll down a bit and voila: essay. It's an excellent read.
Men Explain Things to Me eases you into the collection of essays with wit and cleverness, but just you wait because the second essay is going to punch you in the gut, and could feasibly be subtitled "violence against women, by the numbers". But first we read about the silencing of women by non-violent means, which often takes the form of men explaining something to women that the women A) did not ask about, B) already know about, C) understand better than the man does, or, D) wrote a book about as is the case with Solnit.
Men-explaining-things (I don't really like the word "mansplaining") is something that happens to me, and it is always weird and uncomfortable. It is so, so good to know that this isn't just my experience, but happens to everyone from Rebecca Solnit who has written several books, to the friend who recommended this to me who has a Fine Arts degree. They are by no means ignorant people, and still they get pompous and patronizing lectures. Solnit points out, and I'd like to as well, that she loves gaining new knowledge, and loves having things she wants to know about taught and explained to her. I've told friends before that I am "interested in everything" when they say they think they're boring me. I want to know about others' lives, work, reading, pastimes, projects, and who knows what else. What I don't want is to be condescended to, belittled, or silenced. I don't think any of us want or appreciate that.
It's a bit difficult to write a cohesive post about a book of essays, so let me just say that this slim volume (seriously, an afternoon or two's worth of pages) is well worth your time, and could function as a Feminism 101 for those who haven't done any sort of gender-studies reading or research. Solnit talks about some very important things, which you can't afford to ignore.
I'll issue a warning here, that this book deals frankly with both non-violent and violent aggression against women, including sexual assault. If that is going to be triggering for you, consider skipping this book.
As a bonus, this book falls under one of my book-related resolutions for this year, which is to read twelve books that other people recommend. One down, eleven to go.
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