Violence Against Women

Throughout Solnit's memoir, she explores the effects of violence against women through close personal, literary, and historical examination. Having grown up in a tumultuous home setting, Solnit was well-acquainted with male aggression in the early years of her life, so much so that she endeavored to run away throughout her childhood. Finally leaving home as a teenager and moving into the projects in San Francisco, Solnit soon realized this violent behavior directed at women was not contained to her familial structure. Nowhere seemed safe. Not only was Solnit personally harassed, mugged, and assaulted on the street, public transportation, and a range of social gatherings, she was barraged by stories of other women experiencing the same threatening, even sometimes fatal behavior.

Living in San Francisco in the 1970s, the media was filled with images of women who had been raped and brutally murdered by violent white men...