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A review by willowbiblio
Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
"Men's rights idols are driving forward the vicious circle, ushering another wave of disaffected, broken, ashamed men straight into the nets of misogyny, blame, and bitterness."
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I suppose that, being a woman on the internet in 2023, none of this content came as a shock to me. Maybe my time spent in online gaming communities has also somewhat prepared me for a lot of what Bates addressed here. As such, none of it felt novel. What I was most surprised by was her continuous assertion that any of this would be surprising.
In general, this was well organized. Dividing each group of the "manosphere" into chapters made it easy to understand each ideology- as well as their similarities and differences. Her final chapter felt a bit lackluster to me. I think I was hoping for a more solution-oriented conclusion, especially after 300+ pages of vitriol and awfulness directed against women. Maybe Bates' only solution was educating kids before they can become indoctrinated. That didn't feel even remotely like enough given the scope and breadth of this issue.
I respect her willingness to become so visible to this community (the manosphere) in service of education and awareness. Maybe my dissatisfaction has less to do with her writing than just the problem itself, but it felt quite underwhelming at the end. Maybe that's also a reflection of my own deadened reaction to what should *never* have become commonplace and normalized in our society.
I'd like to think this book would change the status quo, but it's been 3 years since this was published and things are worse than ever.
-----------------------
I suppose that, being a woman on the internet in 2023, none of this content came as a shock to me. Maybe my time spent in online gaming communities has also somewhat prepared me for a lot of what Bates addressed here. As such, none of it felt novel. What I was most surprised by was her continuous assertion that any of this would be surprising.
In general, this was well organized. Dividing each group of the "manosphere" into chapters made it easy to understand each ideology- as well as their similarities and differences. Her final chapter felt a bit lackluster to me. I think I was hoping for a more solution-oriented conclusion, especially after 300+ pages of vitriol and awfulness directed against women. Maybe Bates' only solution was educating kids before they can become indoctrinated. That didn't feel even remotely like enough given the scope and breadth of this issue.
I respect her willingness to become so visible to this community (the manosphere) in service of education and awareness. Maybe my dissatisfaction has less to do with her writing than just the problem itself, but it felt quite underwhelming at the end. Maybe that's also a reflection of my own deadened reaction to what should *never* have become commonplace and normalized in our society.
I'd like to think this book would change the status quo, but it's been 3 years since this was published and things are worse than ever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexism