Men Explain Things to Me

A collection of essays dealing with wide-spread misogyny. They track the slippery slope of lacking respect, so ingrained in our culture, that spans from “mansplaining” to rape and femicide. It's a saddening and maddening wake-up call when Solnit names numbers of how many documented and undocumented rapes happen on a daily basis. And how the typical response is to tell women how not to behave, what not to wear, when not to go out - instead of teaching men not to rape. Equally eye-opening is her pointing out that, without a few exceptions, most massmurderers and terrorists are men. A fact easy to overlooked, when all everyone cries about is nationalities and religion.

Solnit's voice is sharp and witty and I like her writing a lot. I can only imagine what essays she would have added in the last 2-3 years (since this edition was published). My only critique would be that some of the essays fit more while others fit less. And that there are slights repeats in content.