{"id":195,"date":"2021-02-13T22:49:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T03:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/idst398u\/?p=195"},"modified":"2021-02-15T10:49:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T15:49:46","slug":"solnit-chapters-1-5-curation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/idst398u\/2021\/02\/13\/solnit-chapters-1-5-curation\/","title":{"rendered":"Solnit – Chapters 1-5 Curation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Curation of Men Explain Things to Me,<\/em>\u00a0Rebecca Solnit
\nChapters 1-5
\n<\/em>Gina Flanagan<\/p>\n

In Chapter 1, Solnit tells us a story about a time when she was under estimated by a man who presumed to know more than she about the very book she had just published. Once this man finally realized who she was, she reveled in his embarrassed arrogance, which she describes as, \u201cwhen forces that are usually so sneaky and hard to point out slither out of the grass and are as obvious as, say, an anaconda that\u2019s eaten a cow.\u201d This all too-often occurrence of men explaining things to women is what Solnit calls \u201cconfrontational confidence.\u201d\u00a0 Solnit says this presumption can cause lifetime damage in the same way being harassed can cause a woman to fear speaking out against her perpetrator. She says women should try to find a happy medium between self-doubt and total self-confidence.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 This article, <\/strong>5 Critical Steps To Fearless Confrontation<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>provides some excellent examples of how to handle confrontation, and is especially relative to women. \u00a0As a woman, have you ever experienced \u201cconfrontational confidence\u201d and how did you handle it?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

In Chapter 2, Solnit discusses several topics surrounding male authoritarianism such as rape, domestic violence, and murder, and how the extent of those crimes go largely unnoticed in the world.\u00a0 Society has seemed to latch onto the theory that it is more crucial to teach women how to avoid becoming a victim, rather than teach men how to avoid becoming a perpetrator. Solnit says the predominant offenders of these crimes are men with 93.5% making up the total prison population. She sums up this chapter with a call to action \u2013 it is all of our jobs to \u201cchange it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 In 2017, Time Magazine named its person of the year <\/strong>\u201cThe Silence Breakers\u201d<\/strong><\/a> to call awareness to rape and sexual harassment. Do you think the \u201cMe Too\u201d movement has affected awareness of this topic?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Chapter 3 opens by taking a story out of 2007 headlines when the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Strauss-Kahn, was charged and convicted of sexual assault. Solnit illustrates that even the head of an organization such as the IMF, that claims its purpose is to promote employment and reduce poverty among other things, was capable of and not immune to commit violence upon a woman. She also mentions former President Bill Clinton\u2019s shortcomings regarding the global food supply.\u00a0 This also reminds us of Clinton\u2019s infamous sex scandal with intern Monica Lewinsky, compounded by his lie to Congress and the American people, and then subsequent impeachment.<\/p>\n

Solnit discusses and debates the meaning of \u201cmarriage equality\u201d in Chapter 4.\u00a0 Those who are for marriage-equality, often same-sex marriages, dismiss the pattern of traditional roles of the male as head of household, or having power over the female.\u00a0 They choose an \u201cegalitarian\u201d relationship with equal status. Those opposed to marriage-equality, often male-female heterosexual couples, wish to maintain the gender role tradition, or \u201chierarchal\u201d status.\u00a0 There is a long history of male dominance in the traditional gender role family.\u00a0 For a long time, women had no rights to their property or income.\u00a0 Their husbands owned them and could physically abuse them with no legal consequences.<\/p>\n

For hundreds of years, women could not vote to change the unfair laws that were put in place, by men, to perpetuate this continual cycle of abuse and need for control. How grateful I am for the sacrifices made by many women during the suffrage movement<\/a>.\u00a0 They are the reason we can vote.<\/p>\n