PBS is airing an amazing series called Women, War, and Peace. I have only seen the first episode, but I was deeply moved and am excited to watch the rest of the series. Matt Damon narrates the series, initially I thought a woman should be narrating, but then I heard this interview with him during which he said: “Why I wanted to do Women, War & Peace was because I thought it said something really important about the nature of war and the nature of the experience of women. And—as a guy who’s raising four girls—that matters to me. It matters to me anyway, but that makes it matter to me more.” I’ve always like Matt Damon, but I do even more so now that he came out and said that the experience of women is something important, something he wanted to help tell to the rest of the world. It was a profound statement for such a famous and visible celebrity to make.

And then, I become frustrated. Why does it take a man, a powerful, white, rich, famous man, have to make this statement for people to listen? Why did the directors of these documentaries want a man to narrate? My guess is because of the added attention it would bring the series. And then I am brought back to reality, the sad reality that they need Matt Damon. They need Matt Damon for the name recognition. For the publicity and for the credibility. They need Matt Damon for the statement he makes and the feminist street cred that he gains from narrating. And of course this isn’t true of just this series, but of any feminist effort. We need men like Matt Damon. Without them, we get nowhere near as far. Because of course, when Matt Damon speaks, people listen.

But are the men listening? Do men hear Matt Damon’s message that men should care about women’s experiences, about how the world differently impacts their women-identified loved ones? After all, we find the stories of men’s lives fascinating, so why aren’t women’s lives fascinating. Right, because we live in a world where women are invisible. My hope is that as people of power begin to realize, because of their daughters or their sisters or their lovers, that women matter, they also begin to use their power to lift up women’s voices. I hope Matt Damon is in a long line of many men with power to bring attention to issues that need attention. And I hope that feminists and other women are open to his help.

The documentaries themselves are so powerful. The stories they tell are so compelling. If one more person is exposed to them, if one more person turns on the T.V. and watches the documentaries just to hear Matt Damon, then Matt Damon should absolutely narrate. Because, despite its problems, Matt Damon’s voice telling the stories of women does more good than it does harm, he gets people to listen.