A review by jasmineteagirl
I Hate Men by Pauline Harmange

challenging informative fast-paced

4.5

I picked up this book @ the strand on a whim during their Wordle event due to the blunt title catching my eye. It’s a title that would cause a double take and criticism, particularly on the internet. To which I’d respond: read the book. Even the back immediately presents that this is a speculative essay, questioning “what if misandry was essential to women’s rights?”

In terms of my opinion, this book encapsulates most of my own already-formed opinions, written down. Which I am very happy to have, due to my impatience to write my thoughts. Pauline Harmange wrote these thoughts down better than I could. I enjoyed the sarcastic tone of this essay, it’s very easy to read and understand. It’s broken up into different parts concisely. In my opinion, I believe this would be a great introductory piece for people to understand modern feminism and why feminism is still important- and also why, perhaps, women distrusting men in general is nowhere near as harmful as men harboring distaste for women. 

As for criticism, this book hardly touched on intersectionality. Pauline Harmange is a white French woman. Speaking over experiences she hasn’t lived or will ever face as a white woman would be problematic but I don’t believe acknowledging race, class, etc, would be if done correctly. In her authors note she does mention “women and other marginalized people” but never directly states that women in third world countries, of different race/ethnicity, etc face sexism based crimes at different statistics due to circumstances such as racism. Or in general have different experiences.This essay only broadly covers issues that ALL women face, but doesn’t go much deeper. I’d love to have seen class, race, and other intersectional aspects at the least acknowledged in this essay. However, I do understand that this was just meant to be a short speculative essay. 

Overall I’d recommend everyone give this a read, anyone interested in the modern feminist movement, feminism in general, or even someone with differing opinions. It’s an essay meant to evoke thoughts, and I do think it’s an important read.