A stark reality to the rise in violence against women and it's link to domestic terrorism.
Dates read: 21/09/2023 to 01/07/2024
Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Word to describe: Shattering
Genre: Non-Fiction, Feminist Reads, Social Commentary.
Trigger Warning: Mention of sexual and physical violence towards women, murder, use of guns, racism, threat of sexual violence, threat of bodily harm, mention of intent to kill.
incel
[ˈɪnsɛl]
noun
a member of an online community of young men who consider themselves unable to attract women sexually, typically associated with views that are hostile towards women and men who are sexually active:
"self-identified incels have used the internet to find anonymous support" · "it's not the first time the incel movement has been linked to violence"
Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates is a bone-chilling read. Infiltrating the incel ranks Laura Bates releases a first time seen, in depth analysis of how incels and misogynistic views from the inside. Drowning herself into the red-pilled society of social media sites like Reddit and 4Chan, Laura Bates comes to a stark realisation. The incels, the right-wing, and the modern-day misogynists have one thing in common - they hate women.
Now, this can come in various levels from the introduction to women hating to the undeniable seething hatred towards women's existence. From simply wishing women would pay them attention to wanting to brutally murder them and rape their corpses (just charming - its honestly no wonder why they can't get a girlfriend). There are men who are feel inadequate, unattractive and misunderstood, and come to these communities looking for sympathy and get radicalised into extremism. Then there are the men who profit from these people who sell guides to winning a woman's heart through manipulation and sexual violence.
Men Who Hate Women brings one thing for certain into the public eye - the incel-verse has infiltrated everyday life and it is not going back into the shadows. Politicians like the newly appointed (again sigh) President "grab her by the pussy" Trump who parades around and stands proudly for the incel ideology that women are play things for men's desire, emotional wrecks, and (God forbid) irrational. Like Boris Johnson who's racist rhetoric against Muslim women somehow still allowed him into politics after being a failed journalist. These are people who influence the majority yet find themselves speaking the mutterings of a community who systematically preaches hatred. These people profit from the minds of young men who have been radicalised into racists, sexist, and homophobic rhetoric.
It took me several months to read this book because not only did it inspire a rage that I had never felt before, it left me feeling utterly in despair. The way these men talk about women and young girls made me physically sick. The creeping of these hate speeches into society make me question my safety daily. The world is becoming unsafe for women and this book not only highlighted something that we have already known, but it also emphasise how social media, the news, and those in charge are downplaying the seriousness of these situations.
To put this into perspective, for those who know little about how the incel narrative can shape a persons mind, misogynist extremism targets young men who are more likely to have neurodivergence or a learning disability which can make them vulnerable to being victimised by extremists. Once sucked in they find a community that is understanding and has the same experiences they do - of loneliness and feeling isolated. Then this community begins to blame women, and people of colour, and non-Christian religions, those who don't conform to heteronormativity and this is so convincing that these new targets do not even question it. And then the cycle repeats.
Until...
You end up with a young man like Elliot Roger (who's manifesto was mentioned in this book and referred to throughout, and is highly praised by this community). A man who attacked and killed several women before committing suicide. His reasoning? Women are to blame for the worlds atrocities and have rejected him sexually for the last time.
Men Who Hate Women sets such a catastrophic tone to the reality of this type of extremism in modern day that I cannot delete it from my mind. This is a must read. If not for education then to simply teach a new generation about the danger of these communities.
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