Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates

164 reviews

mindintheskies's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Sexual assault, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Murder, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, and Rape

allyjshand's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

READ THIS. Such an important book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Physical abuse

mollysam's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, and Misogyny

notthatcosta's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

2.5

I tend to struggle with books that were written by journalists, because I find that their storytelling skills are lacking when it comes to creating a whole book. Even though Laura Bates is not a journalist, Men Who Hate Women falls foul of similar traps that I've seen previously in non fiction books of this type.

Most of the chapters feel unnecessarily padded out, often with repetition of previous points made that don't serve to create a cohesive narrative thread. Even in more successful chapters like 'Men Who Don't Know They Hate Women', half way through it veers off into a tangent about the 2016 election. 

I understand that the topic at hand is very broad, complex and wide reaching, but the lack of focus makes it frustrating to read beyond the frustrating subject matter. With better and tighter editing I think this could have been a great book, but it ends up feeling like an unfocussed and cluttered collection of ideas and case studies with some paraphrased 4Chan posts sprinkled in. 

I probably would have preferred it if the book just centred on what Laura Bates heard during her school visits and talks, rather than the need to try and summarise what she read on manosphere forums.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Bullying, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Body shaming, Sexism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Cursing, Death, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Child death, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Xenophobia

nugenmak000's review against another edition

I plan to pick up this book later when I'm in a stringer mental headspace. This book is dark and covers the different layers of the manosphere and their groups. It covered misogyny and crimes against women/general hate of women. It also mentioned manifestos of crazed misogynistic murderers like Elliot Rogers. This book is overall very heavy and difficult to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Violence, Gun violence, and Sexual violence

Minor: Antisemitism, Murder, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, and Rape

ashwaar's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

I cannot imagine how it must feel to be a woman in the public sphere and receive innumerable threats and angry outpourings from men. I cannot imagine how you handle being doxxed, your families threatened, being physically and verbally assaulted, and then going on to write a book about the very real dangers these attackers pose, and how no one takes it seriously. We take these threats, and these assaults as generic, as something to be contended with as a woman, instead of trying to stop or prevent the behaviour at its source.

In Men Who Hate Women, Laura Bates explores several online communities including incel (involuntary celibate) groups. She recounts her experiences infiltrating extremely misogynistic, often violent online forums, where groups of angry men will curse against the wrongs they felt they have been dealt in society. Instead of working to better themselves through personal growth and development, they will blame women for their lack of sexual success, and fantasise about a world in which women have no right of choice to a sexual partner, where rape is legal and accepted and where women are not considered human enough to warrant any sort of voice. 

She then takes us on an exploration of other, more socially acceptable but still deeply disturbing and unhinged groups including pick-up artists, men’s rights activists and even mainstream figureheads like Jordan Peterson. By starting us off with the violently misogynistic and delusional incel groups, Bates traces a clear path to show how their ideology trickles down into the mainstream, socially acceptable content. From pick-up artists who hold huge workshops to manipulate and take advantage of their supporters to popular and acceptable ‘mentors’ like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate.

Although it is a bit repetitive at times, I think this is needed so that Bates can get her point across, that these groups are real, bigger and more dangerous than we assume. Another thing that stuck with me is the blame is always, inevitably on women. When an act of mass violence is incited, especially by a young white man, the press is always focused on how society has failed them. They are not treated as a criminal, they are treated as a victim, even more so than the people they killed. This is a difficult, compelling and well-researched read that I think so many people would benefit from reading. As these groups are growing more and more popular and their ethos is becoming more socially acceptable, we need to raise our collective awareness in response. We need to support the confused, vulnerable kids stumbling across these forums and protect the women these actions and rhetorics ultimately affect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Hate crime

champagnepr0blem's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective

4.0

Honestly, this could have been 5 stars. But by the end it became a chore to read. Id lost all faith in humanity, and was starting to pick up on more scary stuff around me. Saying that, I believe this is a good starting point when looking at misogyny and the way toxic male online forums effect our daily lives. It's essential reading for all men and most women but it's hard to get through! You'll see the worst of everything and you'll see it on your doorstep.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Homophobia, Violence, Transphobia, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Antisemitism

meganjjang's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

triple_m's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

5.0

A really well researched and well written book about the different types of men who hate women, why they hate women, and how it harms everyone.

At times this book was hard to read, I mean, it’s really fucking depressing to hear all of the ways men want to harm us and hate us. It was especially upsetting to learn that the younger generation is buying into this narrative at increasing rates because of how easy this ideology can spread online. 

That being said, I’m really happy Laura didn’t shy away or play down the ugly truth of the situation, even if it’s not what we want to hear. Really important work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Rape, and Racism

jbv123's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Misogyny

Moderate: Hate crime, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and Sexual violence