I'm Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya

I read this book sometime last year and it stuck with me enough that I was taking notes and writing down my thoughts as I read.  This post is a very informal review - it is literally those notes and thoughts combined and made a little easier to read than my sentence fragments.  

 The author does an excellent job of conveying the fear and pain they live with on a daily basis, and calls readers to examine their own lives to bring attention to when they feel the same fear, or have caused that very pain. Vivek Shraya writes about being afraid of men in the way that all women have learned to be afraid of men - afraid to look for fear of inciting groping or unwanted compliments, afraid to walk alone or dress up too nice, afraid to be themselves. But there is the additional lenses of the author being both a male-to-female transgender person and non-white. While the majority of readers might see a feminist statement, and I do think there is one being made, it is important to note there is no “white feminism” here. This is not a one-size-fits-all issue. Yes all women may encounter fear of men, but not all women have the same experiences or reasonings behind this fear. Some have more reason to fear than others. Some are not even validated as women in their daily lives and so their fear goes unknown or unrecognized. Vivek Shraya brings it forth and talks about it, shows it, spreads the signs and the reasons and straight up says “I’m afraid of men.”  And to read it is honestly a little life changing.