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fpgreviews 's review for:
The New Age of Sexism
by Laura Bates
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
In The New Age of Sexism, Laura Bates dives deep into the harms that technological advances are enabling against women and minorities, as well as offering some suggestions for how these harms can be mitigated. It is an insightful read, although I worry that the decision-makers who need to read about these sorts of things are not the type to pick up this book. Regardless, this is an important book for anyone who interacts with AI models to read.
Bates covers many topics about emerging technology in this book, not just AI. She discusses revenge porn, sex robots and cyber brothels as well (although the robots and brothels are beginning to use generative AI as well). I'd heard of Cybrothel, but Bates' exposé of it in this book certainly does not match up with the feel-good advertising the brothel is putting out. I agree with her analysis about the dangers of these brothels inuring men to the true impact of violence against women and making them more likely to be dangerous with real women, sex workers or not. I honestly doubt that the type of man who visits a cyber brothel would be the type to not already be a potential instigator of violence against women, but I see her points that it could encourage their violent tendencies to worsen.
One thing I do wish she had spent more time covering was the impact of these emerging technologies on FTM (female-to-male, or trans male) individuals. There is a considerable amount of discussion about their likely impact on transgender women, but I didn't notice any mention of FTM individuals in the book. I understand that this was likely because the book is about sexism and there is a misconception that FTM people do not experience sexism, but they still do. They are victimized at least as much as MTF individuals, perhaps more because predators are not going to ask a pre-transition FTM person's pronouns before deciding they look like a woman and violating them. There are also FTM sex workers, not just MTF ones. This struck me as odd, since she also discussed racism and bigotry against nonbinary people in the book, so it's clearly not 100% laser-focused on only women. I wish she would have also mentioned more about the environmental impact of generative AI, which disproportionately impacts poorer communities.
All in all, this was an eye-opening book. Laura Bates continues to shine a light on topics that are essential to discuss in our evolving world.
The New Age of Sexism releases August 19 from Sourcebooks. Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks and Laura Bates for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Bates covers many topics about emerging technology in this book, not just AI. She discusses revenge porn, sex robots and cyber brothels as well (although the robots and brothels are beginning to use generative AI as well). I'd heard of Cybrothel, but Bates' exposé of it in this book certainly does not match up with the feel-good advertising the brothel is putting out. I agree with her analysis about the dangers of these brothels inuring men to the true impact of violence against women and making them more likely to be dangerous with real women, sex workers or not. I honestly doubt that the type of man who visits a cyber brothel would be the type to not already be a potential instigator of violence against women, but I see her points that it could encourage their violent tendencies to worsen.
One thing I do wish she had spent more time covering was the impact of these emerging technologies on FTM (female-to-male, or trans male) individuals. There is a considerable amount of discussion about their likely impact on transgender women, but I didn't notice any mention of FTM individuals in the book. I understand that this was likely because the book is about sexism and there is a misconception that FTM people do not experience sexism, but they still do. They are victimized at least as much as MTF individuals, perhaps more because predators are not going to ask a pre-transition FTM person's pronouns before deciding they look like a woman and violating them. There are also FTM sex workers, not just MTF ones. This struck me as odd, since she also discussed racism and bigotry against nonbinary people in the book, so it's clearly not 100% laser-focused on only women. I wish she would have also mentioned more about the environmental impact of generative AI, which disproportionately impacts poorer communities.
All in all, this was an eye-opening book. Laura Bates continues to shine a light on topics that are essential to discuss in our evolving world.
The New Age of Sexism releases August 19 from Sourcebooks. Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks and Laura Bates for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Stalking