Solnit’s piece, called Men Explain Things to Me, explores the theme of the arrogance of men in society. Through her examples, we can see how men have oppressed and overlooked women when it comes to a multitude of different topics.
“Yes, guys like this pick on other men’s books too, and people of both genders pop up at events to hold forth on irrelevant things and conspiracy theories, but the out-and-out confrontational confidence of the totally ignorant is, in my experience, gendered.” I feel that this statement is very true for many men in society. I feel that this might not be the case for most men, I feel that this can be said for close to the majority. When we are passionate about something, sometimes we can get blinded by our own attempt at proving our points. I feel that this article is pretty different from the ones we have read so far this semester. Besides for the Baldwin and Buckley debate, I feel that this article has taken the strongest stance towards their topic. Solnit takes strong stances and she uses strong examples to prove her points.
E367: Writing and Diversity 
Michael,
I’d like to hear more about the shift in tone that you hear in Solnit’s piece (as opposed to the others we’ve read). I can’t really tell you whether you admire the “strength” of her stance and opinions, or if you feel sort of bulldozed by her. But since you bring up the issue, I’m interested to learn more about your response.
I also suspect that it will be important for us to talk about the other issue raise, which has to do with if and how Solnit can argue that a certain behavior is gendered while acknowledging that it doesn’t describe all men all the time.
Joe
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Michael,
I appreciate the bravery and humbleness it takes to be as self reflective as you were in this response. Part of the problem may be that men aren’t thinking about the way they influence women in these instances and aren’t talking about it with other men. The way this patriarchal society has developed us to act may be insensitive and I think it’s time we make the switch to all inclusive interactions all the time.
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Michael,
This topic is a difficult one to confront as a man. While I agree that mansplaining or gender based superiority on knowledge is absolutely an issue, I would disagree that it is something most men do. Rather, I feel that generalized arrogance is a much more prevalent trait of people. As a computer science major I am part of a male-dominated field, with very few women in any of my computer science classes. Although I cannot speak for the experiences of these women, I can comment on interactions I have witnessed. There have been several occasions where I have seen male students talk over a female student or brush off their ideas in a somewhat arrogant way. While undoubtedly some of these have been acts of ignorance and sexism, most of these interactions come from students who act arrogantly towards most other students regardless of gender. I have even experienced this arrogance or superiority first hand in some minimal interactions I had with one of these students. This gender-based sexism is real and is an issue, but I believe that a general confrontational arrogance plays a part in this and that the generalization that most men are sexist can be a harmful statement.
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Michael,
I enjoyed reading your post and I agree that Solnit exemplifies how men have “oppressed and overlooked women when it comes to a multitude of different topics.” Also, when you say, “I feel that this might not be the case for most men, I feel that this can be said for close to the majority,” I instantly correlated ‘this’ with generations and realized the complexity of Men Explain Things to Me.
For example, a male from the baby boomer generation would be more likely to partake in the behavior Solnit demonstrates, while a male from our generation would be more likely to have the social awareness and education to not partake in this behavior. I feel this comparison of older generations to younger generations like ours highlights the complexity of Solnit’s points and the examples she uses.
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Reading your response, I appreciate a male’s perspective on Solnit’s piece. I think that her piece can be somewhat problematic in regard to how she discredits almost all men. If Solnit wishes to speak to only certain types of men, then I think she has not succeeded. I think Solnit can definitely be a little clearer as to who she is addressing. My fear is that all men will feel attacked by this piece and react negatively, continuing the cycle. My question to you: is there a mentality that men can use while interacting with women who feel similarly to Solnit?
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