Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Men Explain Things to Me (Updated)
Men Explain Things to Me (Updated) | Rebecca Solnit
In her comic, scathing essay Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit takes on what often goes wrong in conversations between men and women. She writes about men who wrongly assume they know things and wrongly assume women don t, about why this arises, and how this aspect of the gender wars works, airing some of her own hilariously awful encounters. She ends on a serious note because the ultimate problem is the silencing of women who have something to say, including those saying things like, He s trying to kill me! The updated edition of this national bestseller features two new essays, including Solnit's recent essay on the remarkable feminist conversation that arose in the wake of the 2014 Isla Vista killings. "This slim book hums with power and wit."Boston Globe "The Antidote to Mansplaining."The Stranger "Feminist, frequently funny, unflinchingly honest and often scathing in its conclusions."Salon "Solnit tackles big themes of gender and power in these accessible essays. Honest and full of wit, this is an integral read that furthers the conversation on feminism and contemporary society."San Francisco Chronicle Top Shelf "Solnit [is] the perfect writer to tackle the subject: Her prose style is so clear and cool."The New Republic Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of fourteen books, most recently The Faraway Nearby. She is a Harper's Magazine contributing editor."
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
post image

When so many men explain things to us that an essay becomes a book 💕

#alphabetgame #letterM @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Haha! This looks interesting! 2y
31 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
Tineke
post image
Pickpick

As I get older I become more and more aware of the patriarchal society I live in. I have been a victim of spousal abuse. I left this man but since I have a child with this man the abuse hasn't really stopped. It just changed. It led to me having PTSS. To get help for me and my child I've discovered that it is so difficult to be understood. People keep second guessing you every step of the way. Continued in comments.

Tineke I keep second guessing myself every step of the way. To add insult to injury my ex-husband denies anything happened. And I'm just a cunning woman, a crazy woman. It hurts. And this book pushed some of these buttons, because it's recognizable and infuriating that it happens and it's possible to get away with this behavior. I've been compared with a bunny in the headlights of a coming car. He barks, but at least he doesn't bite, they say. 3y
Tineke In other words I should be thankful it's not worse. That's what we hear as women: 'don't be so hysterical, at least it isn't worse.' 'You're just trying to take our power away.' Damn right we try to take your power away, as you only wield it over us. As to the book: it pushed buttons but I wished it had pushed some more. More insight in this struggle. I want to feel like jumping on the barricades now. TBR since February 21, 2021; 154 pages. 3y
TrishB Sending supporting thoughts ❤️ I‘ve been there! 3y
BarbaraBB ❤️ 3y
22 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
Buechersuechtling
post image
Bailedbailed

What is this⁉️ Off-topic, sit down, Mrs Solnit, you failed.
Only the first text has something to do with the title, the rest contains of repeating injustice in the world without even giving a perspective.

And if I‘d wanted to learn something about Virginia Woolf, would‘ve picked up an according book.
All in all, it feels like a bluff.

Plus: I found the boa-constrictor-sentences she uses in the beginning awful. Doesn‘t she know full-stops❓🙄

quote
Buechersuechtling
post image

🇬🇧 “I believe that we would understand even more about misogyny and violence against women if we dealt with abuse of power as a whole, rather than domestic violence, rape and murder, intimidation and harassment, online, at home, at work or on the street independently. If you put it all together, the pattern becomes clear.” (p. 18)

⬆️⬆️⬆️ Sounds so reasonable‼️👏🏼

Freespirit Agree!! 4y
12 likes1 comment
quote
Buechersuechtling
post image

?? „Meiner Ansicht nach würden wir Frauenfeindlichkeit und Gewalt gegen Frauen noch besser verstehen, wenn wir uns mit Machtmissbrauch als Ganzem befassten, statt häusliche Gewalt, Vergewaltigung und Mord, Einschüchterung und Belästigung, online, zu Hause, am Arbeitsplatz oder auf der Straße unabhängig voneinander zu betrachten. Nimmt man alles zusammen, tritt das Muster klar zutage.“ (Seite 18)

⬆️⬆️⬆️ Klingt so vernünftig, so sinnvoll‼️??

blurb
Buechersuechtling
post image

Is it true, my dear English-speaking Littens, that in your language something that is as easy as a children‘s play is called a “cakewalk”❓ 🤔

I am not sure, if I still like you then. 😉 You know, me as being someone with a passionate sweet tooth, I just can‘t approve of walking on cakes 🍰 .
You understand that, don‘t you❓🙃😂

DaveGreen7777 Alas, the expression “cakewalk” does truly exist in English! I‘ve never really understood why “cakewalk” would be used to describe something that is easy, since walking away from cake is one of the hardest things to do for me! 🤪🍰 4y
Ruthiella It‘s a game, kind of like musical chairs (Reise nach Jerusalem) when you walk around a table with a cake at certain positions on the table. If when the music stops, everyone stops and you are in the right position , you win the cake. @DaveGreen7777 @Buechersuechtling (edited) 4y
10 likes2 comments
blurb
Buechersuechtling
post image

Oh, what a tiny read. 😯

blurb
Buechersuechtling
post image

Büchersüchtling proudly presents: her next read. I am sure it‘s a #BlameItOnLitsy–choice – I saw it so often.

I was a bit shocked that in the Litsy database entry, Lena Dunham says it‘s the best book of the year. Because, you know, I read Lena Dunham‘s book (as an audiobook) and it really did tell me _nothing_. I‘m not sure, if this book will – just because it‘s Lena Dunham who says, it‘s important.

And yes, I‘m aware, that this is a prejudice.

vlwelser I didn't really enjoy Lena Dunham's book. But I definitely liked this one. 4y
13 likes1 comment
review
Librarybelle
post image
Pickpick

Solnit tackles quite a few social injustices in this essay collection, as well as showcases internal conflicts & struggles we all face to varying degrees. I connected with some of the essays - the Virginia Woolf essay that explores darkness was brilliant, in my opinion. Overall, the essays are thought provoking. They may be brief, but they pack a punch.

Finished this morning with three of my boys, #SebastianKitty , #Xander , & #Zeke #catsoflitsy

Moonprismpower Im halfway through this. I am liking it but I was traumatized after having to read,critique one of Virginia Woolf‘s books back in school for the entire four month course, and so now I hate to read about her. But I read that chapter 😐 4y
Librarybelle @Moonprismpower Totally understandable! 4y
101 likes5 stack adds2 comments
quote
ImperfectCJ
post image

"It's an extraordinary declaration, asserting that the unknown need not be turned into the known through false divination or the projection of grim political or ideological narratives..." Or misleadingly rosy political or ideological narratives, either.

MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm I really love this. ❤️ 4y
ImperfectCJ @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm I'm pretty lukewarm on this book overall, but this essay is excellent. 4y
40 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
NeedsMoreBooks
post image
Pickpick

This short book is a collection of essays that starts humorously but has darker overtones. Solnit discusses mansplaining but also traces discrimination, women‘s right to exist, violence, and rape culture. This book can be triggering. However, I was not aware of the gruesome statistics and some of the historical incidents. This book is still important and a must-read.

SamAnne Being meaning to pick this up. Her memoir is in my must read pile too. 4y
ImperfectCJ I'm reading this one too! I can't remember, were you in the Facebook group/book club reading this? I joined the group and commented a few times, but now I can't find it on FB. 4y
NeedsMoreBooks @SamAnne it is pretty short 😊 4y
See All 8 Comments
NeedsMoreBooks @ImperfectCJ yes. I read it as a part of that but I can‘t find the group, either 🤷🏻‍♀️ 4y
ImperfectCJ @NeedsMoreBooks I can't find @LaurenAshley on Litsy anymore either. I wonder what happened...and if we need to schedule a replacement book club meeting. I was looking forward to it. 4y
NeedsMoreBooks @ImperfectCJ same here. Let me message her on FB as I am friends with her. 4y
ImperfectCJ @NeedsMoreBooks Sounds good. Please let me know what you learn. :-) 4y
NeedsMoreBooks @ImperfectCJ yes, definitely! 4y
57 likes3 stack adds8 comments
review
Soytoosaucy
Pickpick

Whewwww, finally finished it. Well written and very informative. Eye opening. I wish I could hand out copies to many, to comprehend what she speaks of. 👏🏻
❤️👸🏻👸🏿👸🏽👸🏾👸🏼❤️

blurb
Soytoosaucy
post image

Yes still reading 154 page book, lol. I‘ve been taking my time to enjoy my two cuties in the back.

Safe to say we haven‘t gone out much to none at all, and it‘s all been driving us crazy. So I pulled the kiddie pool out and grabbed my book. Time to breathe fresh air. 🌬💨🌊🌤

blurb
Soytoosaucy
post image

What my night will consist of: reading the book club book, matcha facial mask following my fav skincare routines, and stuffing my face with green tea ice cream mochi ✌🏻 #selfcare #metime

10 likes1 stack add
quote
LaraS
post image

“...even if we can't completely comprehend, we might care.“

blurb
LaraS
post image

So many years later, so little progress. How many died because we're still not addressing this?

https://globalnews.ca/news/6868709/nova-scotia-mass-shooting-femicide/

#NSstrong

blurb
Connster
post image

#7days7covers #CoverCrush #day6

Seven covers in seven days with no explanation and tag someone new every day. What a cool idea!

Tagging @CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian

45 likes1 stack add
review
MelodySchreiber
post image
Mehso-so

Rebecca Solnit writes passionately about how women (and men) are gaining ground toward equality--how we are holding powerful predators accountable and demanding better for all of us.

But change takes time; progress is not always linear. The sometimes exuberantly optimistic tone of several essays--despite the dark subject matter--promises another leap forward to equality and more national conversations about treating every person fairly.

blurb
Connster
post image

Some people really struggle with the fact that I didn‘t completely take my husband‘s name when we got married. Like, they seriously cannot cope with my having squished our two names together, with a weeny line between them. Interestingly enough, the people who take umbrage at this are male. Well, I‘m no one‘s property and will not be erased.

My husband, btw, does not give a toss that we don‘t have the same name....

2 likes1 stack add
blurb
Connster
post image

Started this tonight. Awesome.

review
Lea
post image
Pickpick

I started this pre Kavanaugh hearings and it just became more and more relevant as I read on. History just keeps repeating itself. Things change but the essays written here could have been written this week. It‘s important, it gut wrenching. #readwomen #believewomen

20 likes2 stack adds
quote
rachelk
post image

“We have an abundance of rape and violence against women in this country and on this Earth, though it's almost never treated as a civil rights or human rights issue, or a crisis, or even a pattern. Violence doesn't have a race, a class, a religion, or a nationality, but it does have a gender.”

51 likes3 stack adds
review
ManyWordsLater
post image
Pickpick

History is bound to repeat itself if we do not learn from it.
This section is suddenly 100% relevant.
Solnit has such an eye for relevant and enlightening events. Her explanations of feminism open my mind.
#feminism #believewomen #essays #nonfiction #femaleauthor #readharder #educate #resist

Trismegistus Solnit gets so succinctly at things it takes me forever to say. She really is an excellent author. 6y
39 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
CKtheLibrarian
post image
Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Important comments on a timely manner. Filled with statistical information, past and current events, and important people and their stories regarding feminism. If this is up your alley or you want to know more about feminism-mark this TBR.

review
Suelizbeth
post image
Pickpick

September Diverse Book Club theme: Stories of Strong Women. One of the major points of this essay collection about feminism is that even though we have acquired the words and the language to speak about feminism, women are still fighting to be believed and seen as authoritative members of humanity. Feminism needs women and men working together for gender equality, for marriage equality, and as equal partners in everything. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

86 likes5 stack adds
review
needleminding
post image
Mehso-so

Mixed bag. The title essay and the essay about Woolf/Sontag were strong, stand alone essays, but the others felt a bit like internet "think pieces" (time sensitive, not very in-depth). Do they belong in a book? Do they contribute to feminist posterity? They felt like filler to me, like feminism 101 and not really the best version, due to a lack of intersectional considerations.

needleminding I do appreciate Solnit's efficiency of language, her clear value of research and action, and the ways that she employs the numbing backdrop of reports of violence against girls and women to illustrate how embedded and horrific sexism functions in American society. 6y
9 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
Femislay
Pickpick

Thought-provoking and informative.

review
Nute
Pickpick

It doesn't matter how many times you read this book or how familiar you are with its content or if you call yourself a feminist, these facts are unsettling and disturbing. Reading these essays again is just like reading them for the very first time. It's a shock to every cell in the body. It's a sorrow to the soul. But someone must say these things as Rebecca Solnit does, as so many other brave women have. Vocalization is paramount. Recommended!

Samplergal Oh you‘ve convinced me I need to move this toward the top of the pile. Great review. 7y
Nute @Samplergal I‘ll be interested to hear your thoughts. 7y
64 likes2 comments
blurb
StellarDoc
post image

Grading at Barnes and Noble means teasing myself with all of the books I'd like to buy.

review
Adventures_of_a_French_Reader
post image
Pickpick

Interesting collection of essays. They were all published before and rewritten for this book, thus making this collection sometimes repetitive. All the essays are about feminism. A lot of things discussed in this book I knew, so no major discovery. I would recommend it to people not very familiar with feminism.

19 likes1 stack add
quote
Nute
post image

Day 1 (yesterday) - Currently Reading “Most women fight wars on two fronts, one for whatever the putative topic is and one simply for the right to speak, to have ideas, to be acknowledged to be in possession of facts and truths, to have value, to be a human being...I‘m still fighting, for myself certainly, but also for all those younger women who have something to say, in the hope that they will get to say it.” #MarchInBooks⤵️

Nute Okay. One photo down, thirty more to go. I can do this. Rebecca Solnit...a voice for the voiceless. 7y
ephemeralwaltz Thanka for the follow! I LOVED this collection. I need to read more Solnit 7y
ephemeralwaltz Thanks* 7y
Nute @ephemeralwaltz She is definitely on my radar now. I‘ve known about her for awhile. It just took some time to get with her. 7y
74 likes4 comments
blurb
Schlinkles
post image

Finishing this up for book club today. Jane feels you, Rebecca.

HippieChickHomeschool I have that mug too! ❤️❤️ 7y
44 likes3 stack adds1 comment
blurb
Schlinkles
post image

This month‘s Feminist Book Club pick.

44 likes2 stack adds
blurb
GripLitGrl
post image

#FierceFeb #ModernGirl All Grown Up was already posted so I added Men Explain Things to me as well ☺🙋💟
@Cinfhen @batsy

batsy Nice! I love your graphics :) 7y
GripLitGrl Thank you @batsy 7y
Cinfhen Great Minds😘 7y
GripLitGrl Truth😉😘 Didn't realize it was you @Cinfhen i was scrolling tbrough omw to work this morning lol 😄 7y
27 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
Julsmarshall
Pickpick

Amazing! So well written and researched. I love how Rebecca Solnit writes, strong, concise, compelling. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

blurb
Julsmarshall
post image

Violence doesn‘t have a race, a class, a religion, or a nationality, but it does have a gender. #truth #timesup

45 likes1 stack add
review
Prairiegirl_reading
post image
Mehso-so

While I found myself nodding my head in agreement with a lot of this I really wanted her to go more in depth. No real aha moments for me.

blurb
nluev
post image

I wanted to try something a little different this year. I don‘t read as much as I used to and I want to get back into it so my goal for this year is to read at least 100 pages a day. I‘ve been starting off a little slowly and not reaching my daily goal as much as I would like, but I know I‘ll get there. :)
-•-
Do any of you have any bookish goals this year?
-•-
📚 2018: 2/40

JillR My reading goal is to try and give myself as much reading time as possible, which is difficult sometimes with work and young children, but I‘ve made a good start! 7y
nluev @JillR Sounds like you have your hands full! I commend you for trying to set that time aside despite everything you have to do :) 7y
13 likes2 comments
blurb
MoniqueChristine
post image

FAVOURITE NON-FICTION OF 2017 (1/5)
While I love losing myself in fictional worlds, sometimes it‘s just as fulfilling to learn more about the world I‘m in. Here are my favourite non-fiction books I read last year.

The 1st on the list being Solnit‘s moving collection of essays. Solnit manages to communicate issues of everyday sexism with words that I can arm myself with. I‘ll definitely be rereading this one in the near future
#favouritebooks2017

8 likes2 stack adds
blurb
Brooke_H
post image

Today‘s jaunt was to Small World Books on Venice Beach. I was traveling by bike, so I couldn‘t get anything big. When I went by the Feminist section, these jumped out at me.

review
Alliedanielson
post image
Pickpick

I never posted this when I read it this summer, but this is probably going to be in my top 5 reads for the year. I consider it a must read and I want to buy everyone I know a copy. It's that powerful.

review
ThatLibrarianLady
post image
Pickpick

This book helped me grow in my feminism and I can‘t wait to read more like it. I annotated the hell out of it and I know I‘ll return to it again many times. Read it!

My first book finished for the #readathon today.

blurb
ThatLibrarianLady
post image

I‘ve been absent since July, but hopefully I‘m back! Today, I‘m unofficially participating in the #readathon when I can between dog sitting and housework.

Joybishoptx Welcome back! 7y
EchoLogical 👋 7y
13 likes2 comments
blurb
ephemeralwaltz
post image

I love everything about the aesthetics of this book. Can't wait to dive into it. The first essay "Men Explain Things To Me" is terrific!
It's time to read #importantreads.

47 likes1 stack add
blurb
leslieisreading
post image

I left my lunch at home on my dining room table today. I was sad at first but not anymore!

blurb
HardcoverHearts
post image

Ok- woman crushes collide!! Hanya Yanagihara, the author of A Little Life, just took over as editor of T Magazine, in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. So I went out this morning for a morning bun, a bag of coffee & the NYT to then crawl back in bed and savor her inaugural edition. What do I see but a profile on another of my favorite authors- Rebecca Solnit?!? Fantastic! She didn't write it, but I love the inclusion in this first edition.

ReadingEnvy Do you have a favorite Solnit? 7y
HardcoverHearts @ReadingEnvy: Hope In the Dark has saved me since the election results came in. I want to read more of her other work, especially on wandering. Her repertoire is vast! But I see her around town often and I always get star struck! 7y
HardcoverHearts @Claireluana : this was a piece on Rebecca Solnit that just appeared in the NYT Sunday T magazine. She is having a moment, rightly so. 7y
28 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
amma-keep-reading
Pickpick

🌟🌟🌟🌟

blurb
kaywa
post image

Just waiting for someone to mansplain summer Fridays to me.

1 stack add
review
Wannabe_Quijote
post image
Pickpick

Thought-provoking. I'm glad it finally made it off the TBR list! #LitsyAtoZ #17

13 likes1 stack add
quote
Wannabe_Quijote
post image