Rebecca Solnit Women

Words: 922
Pages: 4

Women should remain passive: many women find themselves unable to speak in the presence of men. Author and historian, Rebecca Solnit, wrote Men Explain Things to Me, published in 2008 which informs the prejudice women face in the presence of men who explains things to them, and where they find themselves voiceless and ignored as they attempt to speak. Solnit begins building her credibility with personal experiences, employing emotional appeals through her strong diction, and citing facts; however her word choice weakens her credibility and argument.
Solnit uses plethora of anecdotes to advance her claim. She recounts an experience at a party where she spoke with an older male who “cut [her] off soon after [she] mentioned Muybridge” and “with
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Solnit includes a statement someone made on her article,“Representative Todd Akin made his infamous statement that we don't need abortion for women who are raped, because “‘if it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.’” This sentence causes a reaction of disbelief due to Akin’s ignorance on the topic of the female body and rape. Adding to this, Solnit uses words such as “patronized,” “belittled,” “talked over,” and “being silenced” to indicate that women are often subjected to these behaviors. All these words evoke negative emotions and can make readers sympathize and empathize with …show more content…
Solnit informally mentions the men who explained things to her calling them, “Mr.Important” and “Idiot.” The usage of these words can be unprofessional and immature as an author who wants to inform her audience, Additionally, she makes a description of her encounters with men saying “an anaconda that’s eaten a cow or an elephant turd on the carpet,” and “A Freudian would claim to know what they have and I lack, but intelligence is not situated in the crotch.” The usage of words such as “ turd” and “crotch” in an informative essay is inappropriate, and can be shocking. Although the essay is written in combination of humorous and seriousness, it, ultimately, weakens her credibility as a writer because her lack of seriousness makes the argument of her essay less