Ask Jill Soloway how they’re doing and they respond with a heavy sigh, “The world is a terrible place.” It’s hard not to feel this way, as Soloway writes in their new memoir, She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy, it seems that the world has continuously turned its back on women, people of color, queer and transgender and disabled people, and survivors of sexual violence. It’s easy to succumb to the fear and the pain that comes with inequality.
“There’s a part in the book,” Soloway says, “where I talk about male privilege and what would be the equivalent of sitting around watching the football game on Sundays in my underwear with my family. Whatever it is American dads get to have, what would that have been like for me to have as a parent. I talk about this idea of feminist arguing as a sport I wish I could be watching. What would it be like if we could all go to stadiums and watch Roxane Gay and Jessica Valenti have an argument about consent and we’re all cheering from the stands?”
By Jill Soloway (Crown Archetype). Reading Thu 10/18, 7 PM, Chicago Waldorf School, 5200 N. Ashland, 7 PM, 773-769-9299, womenandchildrenfirst.com, $30 (includes copy of the book).
