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Reviews tagging 'Bullying'
Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson
8 reviews
purcellapple's review
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Alcoholism
bmpicc's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.0
My current rabbit-hole is the cult of MLM's. I do have a few reservations about this one. For instance, her new sober business makes me nervous because it has a slight MLM vibe for me. That being said, I think her heart is in the right place and what she shared was 100% relatable. It is easy to be sucked in, but beware... they pray on the weak. You may be on someone's "dirt list".
I'm not sure I know anyone at this point who has not been invited to a "party", let alone how many of us have been an active part of one. Yes, even me. I sold ********* when our son was first diagnosed with allergies because we didn't know how deep his issues went. I didn't know where to turn for safe cleaning & hygiene products. I was a new mom and an easy target. We all have a story.
I'm not sure I know anyone at this point who has not been invited to a "party", let alone how many of us have been an active part of one. Yes, even me. I sold ********* when our son was first diagnosed with allergies because we didn't know how deep his issues went. I didn't know where to turn for safe cleaning & hygiene products. I was a new mom and an easy target. We all have a story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Classism, Cancer, Pandemic/Epidemic, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Racism
amsswim's review
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I liked this one. Easy to read/listen to and follow the journey she went through. As this is a topic I am very interested in, I knew a lot of the information already but there were still some new facts or perspectives I hadn't considered. This is more of a personal story and perspectives with facts rather than a strict non-fiction book, which isn't bad just worth pointing out. Would recommend to most people. Liked the content but the writing style was not really for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Sexism, Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Racism, Misogyny, and Bullying
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault
miss__manga__'s review
informative
fast-paced
3.0
Way too long and repetitive. Every chapter was “I realised it was bad but told myself I was being silly”. And then when she finally listened to herself she’s like “I’ll coast on other people to get paid instead of quitting”, this was despite being unsatisfied with her job and the industry and knowing people in her company were terrible and that she was consistently benefiting off of the work of other people who were struggling.
There was a lot of “these schemes don’t allow anyone who isn’t white upper middle class to succeed” but I don’t think she fully acknowledged or understands how much she harmed those below her and how terrible she was. This was definitely written to make herself look reflective and inclusive but it doesn’t seem like she’s actually done a lot of reflection to how she harassed others into essentially going into debt and her inclusiveness seems surface level.
She discusses a lot of issues about how these schemes are bad but never with depth or thorough analysis. A lot of surface level arguments. This book needed to decide if it wanted to be factual or a memoir - the mix did not work.
I’m also confused because she mentioned Facebook still being smallish at the start but then she doesn’t quit until the pandemic? But the time line didn’t seem to add up with the amount of years she worked…
If this had been chopped in half I would have liked it more, but the repetition got to the point where I was listening at over double speed.
There was a lot of “these schemes don’t allow anyone who isn’t white upper middle class to succeed” but I don’t think she fully acknowledged or understands how much she harmed those below her and how terrible she was. This was definitely written to make herself look reflective and inclusive but it doesn’t seem like she’s actually done a lot of reflection to how she harassed others into essentially going into debt and her inclusiveness seems surface level.
She discusses a lot of issues about how these schemes are bad but never with depth or thorough analysis. A lot of surface level arguments. This book needed to decide if it wanted to be factual or a memoir - the mix did not work.
I’m also confused because she mentioned Facebook still being smallish at the start but then she doesn’t quit until the pandemic? But the time line didn’t seem to add up with the amount of years she worked…
If this had been chopped in half I would have liked it more, but the repetition got to the point where I was listening at over double speed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Bullying, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, Addiction, Body shaming, and Racism
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
lilybear3's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0
I might be a little obsessed about reading cults and MLMs. I think it's because myself and people outside of them can't fathom how powerful and influential they are on people. It's a car crash you can't seem to look away from. What makes this book stand out from others is the fact that Paulson was high up in the MLM scheme. She is brutally honest about her privilege as a white woman with a heteronormative family, her addiction recovery, and the inner workings of an MLM.
Writing is casual while giving readers information. At times, it is humorous with little quips, but overall, it is vulnerable and honest. I also appreciated the design of the cover. Best of all, the beginning of each chapter had flow chart/pyramid graphic of how her rank and downline continued to grow (and diminish). Absolutely genius.
While I'm super interested in the topic, objectively, this book is great and should be on everyone's reading list. I also appreciated that she says people who are in MLMs are simultaneously victims and abusers (may have used a different term, enablers?). It can seem like only fools would fall for these scams but the scams prey on vulnerable people and use compelling rhetoric. She says the book isn't to scold people, but to hopefully help them realize the danger these companies are. In addition, there's a paragraph about how be there for someone you know in an MLM. Importantly, she has resources for help with MLMs and addiction in the back of the book.
Writing is casual while giving readers information. At times, it is humorous with little quips, but overall, it is vulnerable and honest. I also appreciated the design of the cover. Best of all, the beginning of each chapter had flow chart/pyramid graphic of how her rank and downline continued to grow (and diminish). Absolutely genius.
While I'm super interested in the topic, objectively, this book is great and should be on everyone's reading list. I also appreciated that she says people who are in MLMs are simultaneously victims and abusers (may have used a different term, enablers?). It can seem like only fools would fall for these scams but the scams prey on vulnerable people and use compelling rhetoric. She says the book isn't to scold people, but to hopefully help them realize the danger these companies are. In addition, there's a paragraph about how be there for someone you know in an MLM. Importantly, she has resources for help with MLMs and addiction in the back of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Racism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Cancer, Religious bigotry, and Medical content
Minor: Body shaming and Homophobia
readingwithcats's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Gaslighting
bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
Thank you to Netgalley and Row House Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!
“This is the pretty much true, absolutely ridiculous, definitely catty story of my life in an MLM, but it's more than that. It's also about how MLMs operate, their role in the lives of suburban women across the United States, and the belief systems,
systemic racism, and white supremacy that course through their trainings, marketing, and one-on-one interactions.”
Author combines both her personal experience as a former MLM member and research/informational background on MLMs!
I was pulled in right away, I love learning about cults and MLMs (which are culty) so this was right up my alley. I enjoyed the interesting discussions on the faux feminism that MLMs typically display, the subliminal religious messaging, and their use of white feminism in upholding white supremacy and the patriarchy.
Paulson’s raw honesty in telling her story was well done and difficult to read at times. She discusses how she was part of the problem when recruiting others, her issues dealing with alcoholism, and reflecting back on her experience. I think she did a great job also discussing her place of privilege and the privilege in general of women in MLMs as they’re typically made up of white, upper-middle class, thin, and able bodied women. I was also glad to see that Paulson remains neutral when discussing MLMs because as she shows, it’s easy for anyone to be manipulated into joining and it’s not helpful to blame people that join.
Clearly well researched as well as personal which made for a fantastic balance of being informative, well-paced, and emotional! I highly recommend for anyone who’s interested in cults or learning about MLMs; any fans of the Lularich documentary will enjoy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, and Bullying
Moderate: Racism and Misogyny
Minor: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality
whimsy_and_rigor's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
If you have any interest in diving deep into the world of MLMs, with all of their insidious “community”, female “empowerment”, and outright schemes, Emily’s book is a must read. She has a writing voice that makes her feel like your best friend letting you in on the deepest, darkest, and dirtiest secrets. It releases at the end of May 2023 and is well worth a preorder.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Minor: Emotional abuse, Classism, Cursing, and Bullying
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