My Review (5 stars out of 5)
(Audiobook)
An important book that charts the rise of secretive, extremist communities, tracing the roots of misogyny 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.
If I’d bought this book as a paperback, I’m not sure I’d have made it to the end. Listening to the author talk about the truly appalling levels of abuse she has suffered from online groups, is difficult and deeply troubling. Laura Bates investigates and exposes the growth of radical web-based groups who promote hatred and violence against women, posing (in some cases) as activists promoting men’s rights. Terms like ‘Manosphere’ and ‘incel’ were ones I’d heard of but had no real insight into what they represented. As other reviewers have said, the book is deeply upsetting and disturbing from the outset, not least in the way the author shows how the media and public figures allow such extremist views to go unchallenged.
What is truly scary is how some of these groups deliberately target young men and boys, grooming them into believing that women pose a threat to their lives, and promoting misogyny and terrorist attitudes.
A scary and deeply troubling book.
Colin Garrow 
An interesting book. I looked up the commentary in The Guardian about this book as I am always wary of books that position themselves the way this one does. I wasn’t aware of this type of movement in the USA and UK, but you get extremists in all societies and cultures. Sure, they must be managed, but one has to be careful not to give them credence through to much acknowledgement.
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Yes, I think it would be difficult not to unintentionally ‘promote’ such groups simply by taking about them.
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