A review by thepaperbackplanner
I'm Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

This was a quick but informative and moving read. Author Vivek Shraya uses her personal experiences to illustrate the ways that societal structures of masculinity have affected her throughout her life. She ties memories from her past into current experiences to showcase the ways that upholding “traditional masculinity” holds back people of any gender. Something I loved about this book was how Shraya used second-person pronouns to refer to the people who did her harm when telling her story. There’s something very challenging about reading phrases like “you laughed at me,” “you spit on me,” and “you called me a slur.” Maybe we as readers weren’t the actual people from this story… but what *have* we done, intentionally or unintentionally, to harm another person? This writing style forces that confrontation in the reader. The only reason I didn’t give this a five-star rating is that the directness of the writing style didn’t always work well for me. But overall, “I’m Afraid of Men” led to an excellent book club discussion, and I would heartily recommend it to anyone looking to read about a transgender person’s experience, challenge their concepts of masculinity and “good” vs. “bad” men, and be challenged to approach the way they think about their own gender.