Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates

84 reviews

titan_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

5.0

Very informative, but dark. A great place to start reading about misogyny and sexism, though it does quickly introduce some of the worst of the worst which can be quite shocking. The author mentioned real violent and abusive acts that have been committed against women and also shared posts that contain unfiltered threats to commit these acts throughout the book. 

I felt it was a good mix of showing the daily struggles women face just existing but also being empathetic towards the real problems men face. The last few chapters made me want to encourage the people in my life to take a more active role in the lives of the vulnerable people around them. 

I did have trouble reading this book not because of the writing but because I recognized so much of what was depicted in my own personal experiences with people online and in-person. I read something more upbeat alongside it and took breaks when I needed them. If you're in the right headspace it is worth the read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

Minor: Torture and Trafficking

eggbois_gf's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

3.25

It started off really strong and attention grabbing but as it went on it all just seemed to blur together and lost meaning. You became desensitized to the content, which is one of the points Bates makes for us to not do. I feel like it could have been condensed as she reiterated a lot of the same points, but it is a good starting point for learning about incel and toxic masculine extremism.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Misogyny, and Violence

dollyshouse97's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Reflecting all the interactions I’ve had with men on and offline 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Racism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, and Domestic abuse

mj_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexism

Minor: Rape, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Racism

znvisser's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

2.5

This is an important book and the author did the research to provide insight in the addressed problems - and eventually an attempt at solutions as well. Even though I knew about most of these communities, this book still provided me some new insights. That being said, I had a hard time plowing through it and wouldn't have finished it this soon (or maybe at all) if it weren't for the January daily reading challenge. To me this information would have been presented more effectively as a series of journalistic articles, as in its current form it became repetitive quickly and felt too preachy to the choir to have a real impact. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Stalking, Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Transphobia, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault

th18's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Amazing book and incredibly eye opening. Hard to read sometimes because of the emotions I felt but I think this is a book that everyone should read atleast once, especially men. Highlighting these issues hat we as women and half of the population face is extremely difficult but I feel that Laura did an amazing job. I've definitely been motivated to spread this information to others and do my best to educate men around me in order to prevent as much as possible their becoming of incels. I cannot stress enough how educational this book has been. Will definitely reread.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Suicide, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Bullying, Mental illness, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Death, and Racism

daddycat96's review against another edition

challenging informative tense slow-paced

5.0

Laura Bates doesn’t hold back and at times I needed to put the book down and breathe because I was that horrified by what I was reading. But she eloquently and clearly provides the reasoning and proof and links between the different segments of the manosphere and explains the real life, offline impacts of this supposedly online only world. It’s a hard fucking read and has many a triggering topic but it is definitely worth the read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Hate crime, Rape, Murder, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Sexual content, Rape, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Misogyny, Racism, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Domestic abuse

bookishbrenbren's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

I thought this book was really great but it would've benefitted from a heavier-handed editor crossing out repetitive or superfluous information.

It starts very strong with informative and compelling chapters on the incel community, pick-up artists (PUA), Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), and MRAs, which (even for someone who felt fairly well-informed before going into the book) were all by turns very shocking and very elucidating. I thought the author's argument of how and why this online extremism is causing offline harm was strongest in these early chapters and I found myself marking the most number of pages in this section.
The subsequent chapters, on trolls and domestic violence provided diminishing returns to their inclusion and could've been shortened - or rather, the domestic violence chapter could serve as a primer to the book, more of an introduction if anything, as knowledge of the misogynist foundations of our society is sort of necessary background information.
The following chapters, "Men Who Exploit Other Men" and "Men Who Are Afraid of Women", which cover, respectively, the ways the most powerful and recognizable misogynists - the 'face' of misogyny, if you will - benefit from the support of online misogynists (and how online misogynists are empowered by their public representation) and the strong misogynist backlash against the #MeToo movement and the sudden popular interest in false rape allegations. Again, I thought these chapters were out of place after 6 chapters of sketching how the extremist misogynist online community looks and acts. There were pages explaining how Donald Trump and Piers Morgan benefit from misogyny... like... did the author and editor assume their readers not only exist in the year 2020, and then not only bought THIS book (not likely by accident, given the title), but somehow also made it through the first 200 pages of this book without understanding what these  men and their slavering followers have done to bring misogyny mainstream? Or did they think that these readers would be the folks who need convincing that the backlash to MeToo was misogynist in nature? To me, it seemed silly. If readers didn't know this information beforehand, it seems unlikely their worldviews would have allowed them to get through the first chapters of this book. Needless to say, I felt very bored by these chapters and what started out as a very exciting 5-star read for me became mired in "yeah yeah yeah"s. 

Then the final two chapters, on young men and the ways they are captured by the online extremist community and men who are working against the very outdated societal standards of masculinity, were a return to extremely informative and extremely compelling writing, and I was very glad I didn't give the book up sooner. Thus, I am torn. If I could edit about 60 pages out of this book, I think it would be a 5-star read. But as it stands now, it's only 'good'. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Violence, Sexism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Homophobia

lawmixitup's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

Challenging and hard to finish. I can't say I enjoyed this book but I will say it's important. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Islamophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, Rape, Sexism, and Gun violence

seequinn's review against another edition

dark informative sad fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Racism, and Xenophobia