Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

28 reviews

cady_sass's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but don’t join that MLM. 

In all seriousness this is EXPERTLY done and I’m blown away. I’ve always been drawn to cult history and I really, really appreciate the work the author did here to include “cultish” behavior (hence, the title) of non cult entities- MLMs, fitness & CrossFit culture, MAGA, etc.- along with the obvious identifiable cults like Jonestown, Heavens Gate, and Nxivm, among others. 

Super important to give language to the behaviors and vernacular that are big red flags 🚩 so people can engage carefully and make informed decisions. Highly, highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Sexism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

snd1101's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Reads like a memoir; would like more credible evidence and analysis; if you’re conversant in linguistics, you’re not the target audience. A good splashy introduction with broad coverage of several USian cults and cultlike practices (which i liked having the coverage of!), but go elsewhere if you’re looking for substance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, and Misogyny

ramhog's review

dark funny informative fast-paced

4.5

This put into words so many conversations and thoughts I've had with my partner and friends! I don't feel like I particularly learned anything groundbreaking or new but having this exploration of the language of cults laid out so neatly and in an engaging way makes it a must-read imo. Bought at Firestorm Books.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Bullying, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Murder, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Suicide, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Since this is all about various cults and their abuses I'm sure I missed some warnings. From my memory none of the descriptions longer, but it does deal head on with dark themes.

linkamarisa's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Minor: Body shaming, Misogyny, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, and Suicide

graceesford's review

dark funny informative fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cultural appropriation, Death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Homophobia, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Misogyny

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Toxic friendship, Murder, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Suicide attempt

tender_onion's review

dark informative mysterious fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, and Violence

bootsmom3's review against another edition

funny informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Child death, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

taelights's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Cults are a topic that deeply interests me so this one was a fun read despite being very surface-level information but it was interesting and I did learn a few things I didn't know before. Plus the exploration of more "untraditional" cults was cool as well. I don't think I would have gotten through this if I hadn't listened to the audiobook version because this way it was like a long podcast on cults but I think it would drag on too much and be too repetitive if I had tried to read it in any other format. I probably would have dnf it if it wasn't for the audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Violence, Body shaming, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

faeriekit's review

adventurous dark funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

As someone who's been very into cults and cult history...this book was not very illuminating. I learned a few things on a few subjects, such as a few individuals' stories from the Jonestown massacre, but ultimately, I realized that this book was not as in depth or as exploratory as to the nature of cults in and of themselves as I wanted it to be. That's fine; I wasn't the target audience, the average reader, someone who may not be as familiar with the subject, is. 

For the average reader, this strikes me as a good ground-level cult book to get into the topic with. The subjects are covered humorously, everything is given it's basic context, and the subjects run the gambit of your Applewhites and Jim Jones to modern Insta influencers with similar statused with their audience, which gives you a real variety of flavors of extremely niche and spiritual-oriented groups. It's a "dark" read, but no darker than the usual subject matter; I would actually consider it light fare, if not for, you know...the mentions of mass suicide. It's a pool read! But you're sort of sad! Crisis tourism in a beach read! The personal touch of the author's own Scient*logy story was a nice read as well. Most people don't know how to grapple with such a close brush to such an insular group. I think writing abook about the subject is a great way to do so. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicide, Child abuse, and Misogyny