Like Lavin’s “Culture Warlords,” this was a slow read for me because I kept having to put it down, digest what I had read and come back for more. Readers should be mindful of content warning for pretty much everything that misogyny can offer (sexual assault, white supremacy and gun violence, just to name a few), but this is a foundational piece for modern antisexism work.
Anyone who has lived as woman-presenting has bounced off manosphere behavior, and those of us who live our lives online in any capacity have seen even more. Bates explores not only the darkest recesses of where men gather to polarize themselves against women, but how they find themselves there and the ease with which men and boys can be recruited into misogyny. All aspects of how men become radicalized into pathological misogyny is examined with an amazingly compassionate view. The rules of manhood are bad for men, and these communities offer an out that doesn't require too much self-assessment or actual work to change the face of modern manhood. While there is no excuse for the behavior analysed in this book, Bates provides keen insight into the seductive nature of the communities- important social context if one wishes to dismantle this aspect of the patriarchy.
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