Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Men Who Hate Women

This was a hard read. Not because of the writing style or even the length of the book itself (just shy of 350 pages 🤷‍♀️) but just the topic in general was constantly jarring. I had to just stop and close the book on multiple occasions and rethink many encounters with men in the past…

It’s something I was aware of throughout recent years, terms like “incel” and “manosphere” have popped up in memes/tiktoks but the size of the groups mentioned and the real life examples threw me off. To see how many mass shootings and other heinous crimes can be directly linked back to the ideology of these groups is shocking, saying how little you hear the word misogyny used in a serious, non-mocking way in the media. (Usually paired with jabs at “feminazis” and groups that are trying to HELP MEN😒)

STRONGLY encourage anyone who spends a decent amount of their lives online (and on any form of social media) to read this. Even if you’re a bit older and feel like you have a grasp on how to interpret content/news/facts online.

One thing that I will say (not necessarily a complaint or a mistake) but when checking the Notes at the back of the book for references on certain facts a lot of the time it would be news articles. Nothing really wrong with that except that throughout the book it is said how the media is quick to jump to conclusions when they haven’t done much research. I’m guessing Bates has looked into each sources thoroughly. Maybe it’s my own preconceptions that make me pause before referencing Channel 4 in a debate?

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priesty23's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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jokehelldo's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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kebmonty's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

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magsnificentmils's review against another edition

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This is very well researched and written but I simply cannot read about any more terrible things right now

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mindintheskies's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

There's so much detail in this book that I didn't expect. I was triggered by a lot of the statistics and real, lived stories that were shared of women suffering at the hands of incels and incel-sympathisers. I guess that's the reason why it's taken me 4 months to get through it all. The book doesn't only cover examples on women, but marginalised communities, Muslim men and women and others. In fact there's a respectable amount of focus on Islamophobia and the discrepancy in media reporting of crimes committed by incels, and crimes committed by people belonging to the Muslim community. The book is on extreme communities of misogynists and repeatedly states that the vast majority of men don't hate women, without denying the fact that a large group of men who do hate women exist and are spreading that hate through online grooming, interactions, in institutions, the media and police covering up crimes, and so many other platforms e.g. YouTube on a daily basis. It's so scary that people actually believe women are subjects of hatred, especially when it comes from young people. It's given me a lot of knowledge and understanding of how these incel communities are set up, run and how they survive. The book also covers a chapter on men who hate men who hate women which I found really interesting. As expected there are a lot of examples that I've either experienced myself or know someone who has gone through the extreme examples mentioned in the book, so it gives me a sense of validation and acceptance that it's a reality that women live in this world, and that there's the awareness of it through this book and other resources similar. I have also listened to parts of the audiobook and listened to the interview at the end, which was very insightful.

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