Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

20 reviews

bluejayreads's review against another edition

challenging informative

5.0

This book is intense and absolutely bursting with ideas about racism and anti-racism that I’ve never heard before. 

In many ways it feels like a topical memoir, as the ideas contained are illustrated and expanded through the author’s life in a mostly-chronological order. Mr. Kendi discusses his struggles with external, systemic, and internalized racism, and to a lesser degree homophobia and sexism, and now reckoning with those forces led to these ideas. 

This book heavily emphasizes definitions, with each topical chapter opening with a definition of a term. At first I thought that was kind of silly, because of course I know what racism is, otherwise why would I have picked up this book? But Mr. Kendi uses these definitions – and he defines these words much differently than I would have, and for good reasons which he explains – to tackle everything from intersectionality to the idea that Black people can’t be racist. The ideas he presents are radically different from most of what I’ve heard about race and racism, and the difference is eye-opening. He makes it clear why most movements against racism today have accomplished little to nothing. 

In the early hours of reading this book, I was afraid this would have to go in my “the title promised me actionable things to do but it lied to me” pile, as it was focusing more on explaining what racism and anti-racism were more than how to be an anti-racist. But it gets there. Mr. Kendi wants to make sure we’re on the same page concerning the ideas he’s presenting, but once he’s sure of that he digs into the practical, actionable stuff. And don’t think you can skip over the first sections and go straight to the practical stuff, because the actionable items won’t make half as much sense if you don’t have the context built up in the earlier parts of the book. 

This book is amazingly valuable. The perspectives on racism and anti-racism are much different than mainstream ideas about race and racial activism (or at least way different from the twenty-teens Tumblr social justice ideas where I was introduced to these things). I feel like my mind has been expanded, and of course I always appreciate actionable steps. This book and the radical ideas inside are absolutely worth reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Hate crime, and Cancer

Minor: Racial slurs

rieviolet's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I am really a beginner when it comes to reading about racism and other aspects of social justice, so this book was a very important read for me and helped me a lot to understand better, to learn more and to reflect, even when that meant difficult and painful reflections. 

Overall, I think the book was very accessible and easy to follow, although some of the ideas and themes included certainly need time to sink in and to be digested. 

I enjoyed the narrative choice of alternating  personal experiences and explanatory/reflective segments. It was really fascinating to follow the author's own journey and to see it reflected in the themes included in the chapter. 
I very much enjoyed the historical sections and I look forward to expanding my reading and my knowledge of these topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Bullying, Slavery, Cancer, Medical content, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: War, Transphobia, Homophobia, Gun violence, and Fatphobia

jellybean53's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Sexism, Police brutality, Violence, Gun violence, and Bullying

Minor: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Colonisation

btg's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative slow-paced

5.0

Do yourself a favor and just read the book. Frankly, I don't think I have the words to describe how beneficial and eye-opening Kendi's book is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Cancer, Transphobia, Slavery, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

Minor: Mass/school shootings

Quick note on the content warnings -- this is a nonfiction book. Very few of these are explicitly described without the unpacking/dismantling of the reasons why it happens/what we can do about it, and I wouldn't strictly describe most of the content used as "graphic". It's definitely presented differently than a typical piece of media. That being said, be aware that this book covers heavy topics, probably because it's an antiracism book. Of course various types of prejudice are getting explored

melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

4.5

This book taught me a ton and I really enjoyed it as well.

Kendi does an excellent job interweaving historical examples, personal examples, and well-explained definitions into each chapter to teach about the many intersectionalities of racism and other -ims. 

My only complaint is that I felt the chapters on gender and sexuality were severely lacking compared to the rest of the book, and it was very noticeable that these were not up to par.

I felt this book taught a lot and I look forward to reading more of Kendi's work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Cancer, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Police brutality

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

"Americans have long been trained to see the deficiencies of people rather than policy. It's a pretty easy mistake to make: People are in our faces. Policies are distant. We are particularly poor at seeing the policies lurking behind the struggles of people.”

Ibram Kendi takes a good hard look at racism in this book. He discussed how racism tries to turn the word "racist" into an epethet so racist people can be mad about being called racist, and speaks at length about fighting racist policies that create racial inequity. He also spends quite a lot of time examining his own racism (and other things like homophobia) in his past endeavors to fight racism and how he's learned from that. I recommend this read, but it may be hard for anyone who's lives have been touched by cancer (discussed in the ending). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Racism

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Police brutality, and Forced institutionalization

alayamorning's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Drug use

schenkepanky's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Each chapter tackles a different type of racist power and policy - it's blended memoir and US history that challenges and overturns so many common and misguided tropes we carry about race. It's mostly about the history of Blacks in America, but the beginning chapters outlining his ideas about racism vs. active anti-racism (i.e., there is no such thing as passive "not racist") is universally applicable and necessary reading. 

I listened to the audio version narrated by the author. His narration is well done - stylized and slow at about 11 hours. Listening at about 1.5 speed felt about the pace of other books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Hate crime

jhpepper's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Mental illness, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, and Violence

gagne's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Cancer, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Slavery, Sexism, and Religious bigotry