Men Who Hate Women
From Incels to Pickup Artists, the Truth About Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All
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Narrated by:
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Laura Bates
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By:
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Laura Bates
About this listen
Includes an exclusive interview between the author and Ben Hurst, head of facilitation and training at The Good Lad Initiative and presenter of the TedxLondonWomen talk 'Boys won’t be boys. Boys will be what we teach them to be'.
An explosive book examining the rise of secretive, extremist communities who despise women. In this ground-breaking investigation, Laura traces the roots of misogyny across a complex spiders web of groups extending from men's rights activists and pick-up artists to Men Going Their Own Way, trolls and the Incel movement, in the name of which some men have committed terrorist acts.
Drawing parallels with other extremist movements around the world, Bates seeks to understand what attracts men to the movement, how it grooms and radicalises boys, how it operates and what can be done to stop it.
Most urgently of all, she traces the pathways this extreme ideology has taken from the darkest corners of the internet to emerge covertly in our mainstream media, our playgrounds and our parliament.
Going undercover on and offline, Laura provides the first, comprehensive look at this hitherto under-the-radar phenomenon, including fascinating interviews with former members of these communities, the academics studying this movement and the men fighting back.
©2020 Laura Bates (P)2020 Audible, LtdHer aim in the book is mainly to raise awareness of the misogyny lurking on the internet (but crossing over, violently, into real life). The four groups she discusses are incels, pick up artists, mens rights activists and men going their own way. Posing as a man she infiltrates their forums and communities over a year and what she finds is very disturbing. Misogyny is everywhere; hatred and incitement to violence, rape and murder is the defining feature of incel communities, but only marginally less disturbing in this context are the views and techniques of pick up artists.
After chapters on each, replete with some of the vilest abuse you will ever read, one's hopes that these represent tiny minorities are dashed as she traces how far these views spread (all the way up, of course, to Donald Trump who receives due attention). Most worrying of all is her work in schools and how widespread misogynist views are to be found in teenage boys, and particularly influential in this context are Jordan Peterson (and to a much lesser extent Carl Benjamin). The pivotal role of Gamergate is extensively discussed in this context (especially the abuse that Anita Sarkeesian suffered).
Rapes, murders and mass killings have been carried out by members of these groups (particularly by incels), and the links between these communities and alt-right and far-right groups is extensively explored and detailed. Bates argues, and argues well, that this is a form of domestic terrorism and should be treated as such. The nexus of radicalisation, as she evidences, is YouTube. 25% of all mobile internet use is now YouTube, and 70% of what people watch are YouTube recommendations subsequent to whatever was initially viewed. YouTube's algorithm moves a viewer to more 'extreme' content and anybody looking at feminist issues will quickly be presented with anti-feminist videos to watch (just try it!). Interviews with teenagers reveal that YouTube is their primary source of misogynist views.
The 'Me Too' movement and the issue of false rape or sexual assault allegations is discussed at length. Bates presents statistical evidence to demonstrate the number of such allegations is miniscule compared to the number of rapes that take place. More importantly, however, Bates points out that if this is something that worries a man, then it is his own behaviour and views that he should be examining, rather seeing women in general as a threat or as being prone to making false allegations.
The book concludes with a discussion on what can be done about it and Bates argues that the ball is in our (men's) court; no amount of a woman and/or feminist telling men what to do will have any effect. She argues that toxic masculinity (which she carefully distinguishes from toxic men) has created problematic attitudes that we need to address and that where support is needed it must be provided. It is down to us to call this behaviour out when we see it.
This book is not some intersectional rant from somebody who hates men (though thousands hate her as she is in receipt of a constant barrage of rape and death threats) but a carefully researched, evidenced and extremely well argued book that I encourage all men to read/listen to.
You need to read this chaps
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Excellent analysis of the Manosphere
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Thank you for writing this book Laura and sorry for what you went through in the process.
Well done you.
Outstanding work!
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A few years back, when I first heard about Incels the idea was so bizarre I decided to see it for myself. It took me maybe an hour to find them.
I am not sure if I would comprehend this author's message to the full extent if earlier I didn't see for myself this sewer of ideology.
Word woman is not occurring there. We are foids, femanoids, the lowest, dumbest of creatures. Things practically. Hatred just pours and pours without end.
Red pillers or incels would say that the author misrepresented them. I say she showed them in the clear light, but without shock and disgust, their full image creates.
Since my initiation into the manosphere I educated myself with a sick fascination about not only Incels but also MGTOW, pick-up artists, and the black pill. I watched hours of Jordan Peterson videos. So I can confirm the quality of research in this book. It is all very well put together. I learned a lot of new information about manosphere relation with politics, law enforcement, and systemic radicalization of youth.
I highly recommend this source to learn about the topic.
Amazing work 👏
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Essential reading for men and women
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