Men Explain Things to Me

Prolific author and essayist Rebecca Solnit’s bold, witty feminist book, now a classic, highlights crucial issues with quick sketches of actual events and women’s responses to them, focusing on violence both subtle and horrific. Yes, writes Solnit, women can be violent, but men perpetrate violence far more. About rape, she says, instead of telling women to stay indoors at night, maybe authorities should tell men not to rape. Solnit’s stance in this book’s seven essays may inspire vehement backlash, and she addresses that, too. She embraces being political and controversial with rare insight and righteous anger while capturing the fitful march of progress on feminist issues.

Mansplaining

The host at a party waylaid author Rebecca Solnit and a friend. Solnit’s most recent publication at the time was River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West. Solnit mentioned the title, and her host cut her off to ask if she’d heard of a new “very important Muybridge book.” Solnit’s friend explained to the host that he was referring to Solnit’s book. This shattered the man’s preconceptions about who writes important works and this exchange exemplifies, as Solnit points out, an all-too-familiar experience for women.