REVIEW: Men to Avoid in Art and Life by Nicole Tersigni
Men to Avoid in Art and Life pairs classical fine art with modern captions that epitomize the spirit of mansplaining.
This hilarious book perfectly captures those relatable moments when a man explains to a woman a subject about which he knows considerably less than she does.
Situations include men sharing keen insight on the female anatomy, an eloquent defense of catcalling, or offering sage advice about horseback riding to the woman who owns the horse.
• These less qualified men of antiquity dish out mediocrity as if it’s pure genius
• For the women who have endured overbearing men over the centuries
• Written with hilariously painful accuracy
Review
My first recommendation is to avoid the foreword as it comes across as painfully strident. The intent of the book stands on its own. I’d rather have heard from Tersigni herself on what motivated her to write the book. But then after reading through it (it’s fairly short and easy to whip through), I imagine that most women have had similar (or the exact same) statements made to them by men. The “comments” pair well with the artwork and in some cases, I had to wonder (based on the expressions of the women) if they weren’t actually thinking something similar. Amusing and all too realistic. B
~Jayne
Do we really want to read a book that tells us what we already know and have to live with? My daughter designed and implemented a program in her office to process payments with more efficiency. A few weeks later, she was introducing a new employee (a woman) to the office staff, and one male employee launched into an explantation of the program my daughter had designed. My daughter said, “Yes, I know, I created that.” It went right over the guy’s head, and he kept going on—explaining to “the gals” how a program worked that one of the women he was talking to had designed! I told my daughter that the exchange was basically a microcosm of a type of gendered workplace interaction. Sigh.
Sigh. Well at least he didn’t try and take credit for her program.