Lisa of Troy's Reviews > Men Explain Things to Me

Before feminism was "cool," I was a feminist. In fact, when I graduated from Michigan State University in 2009, I had a specialization in Women, Gender, and Social Justice.

When I was flying back from Mayo Clinic, there was a male doctor chatting to a female passenger the entire flight. Although I was sitting rows away, I could still hear his patronizing tone. My partner even made a comment about how he felt bad for the trapped passenger who was attempting to feign interest.

Then, I come across this collection of feminist essays. Sign me up!

However, this collection fell short of my expectations.

In the first essay, a rich dude in Aspen tried to tell the author about a new book coming out.....except it was the author's own book.

Perhaps this book was groundbreaking at the time of publication, but it did not add anything new to the conversation. Most people have heard about sexual assault and domestic violence so it is unclear who is the target audience of this book.

Further, Men Explain Things to Me is pretty depressing. I was hoping for some snappy one-liners or perhaps some tips.

Some of the essays focused too much on statistics. However, faceless numbers don't usually change hearts and minds. People crave stories and connection. Tell me your story or someone else's. Make me care about that person, and I will be more likely to feel sympathy. Even Jesus told parables!

Additionally, there is a weird essay about economics and the IMF (International Monetary Fund). It seemed to be largely opinion based and not well supported with research. I'm still not exactly sure why I am supposed to whip out my pitchfork against the IMF.

If you like to be depressed, you will enjoy this collection of essays.

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