Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson

12 reviews

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.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Classism, Cancer, Pandemic/Epidemic, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Racism

mmccombs's review

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I’m a person who likes to learn about MLMs (and cults) in the same way we all crane our necks to see a car crash, they are mind-boggling, drama-filled, and absolutely terrible and I want to know more. I’m also a person who has done MLM adjacent type work, stuff in college that wasn’t exactly an MLM but wasn’t exactly not an MLM either, so I definitely empathize with fellow white women who fall into these kinds of traps. This book was a bit more of an autobiography than I anticipated, much more about Emily’s experience than it is an overview of MLMs. But I think that worked really well, talking from her experience rather than painting with a large brush made understanding the why of joining an MLM and why you would stay and what folks get out of it more salient. I do think this was quite repetitive, it could have been significantly shorter (I think it could have even been a long-form article tbh), but the insight and compassion and nuance she brings to this topic was so interesting to read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Classism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Body shaming

divyab's review

informative reflective fast-paced

3.0

Entertaining but honestly didn't do as much as I wanted it to. Ultimately, don't think anything new was shared with me about psychology, exclusion-ism, or other thoughtful themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Classism and Emotional abuse

raereads23's review

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexism, Racism, Ableism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

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.

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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

maggie_the_ferocious_reader's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Classism, Outing, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

tinyoceankingdoms's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

2.75

I think this book would have benefited from more careful editing. It felt about 100 pages too long to me, there’s a lot of rinse and repeat (naturally), and it all becomes a bit convoluted. 

What is most frustrating is where Paulson alludes to how MLMs are a symptom of larger destructive structures, but never really articulates her arguments clearly. I feel these could have been separated out into more defined sections to allow for more concise analysis,  as opposed to yet another description of some gathering and coveting of studded heels mixed in with passing reference to supporting studies and research. 

It also takes almost 300 pages to tackle the intersection of low information literacy and MLMs. Perhaps others have thoroughly covered this aspect, but I feel this is an enormously important issue in tackling MLMs.  It seems a bit disingenuous to believe that this only becomes apparent to Paulson during the infodemic, but there is a lot of wilful dissonance throughout the book. 

A lot of what attempts to be critical analysis is reminiscent of Elle Woods’ “due to… uh… habeas corpus…” moment. Just words being thrown around in attempt to confound a less informed audience (presumably her former peers). 

In short, she’s strongest when she’s recounting the grift because that’s what she understands best.  I would recommend it for that reason. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Cancer

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, and Classism

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.

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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

kayrenee521's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Solid story of Emily’s rise through the ranks of an mlm, her struggles with alcoholism and her realization of the dangers of mlms. These have rubbed me the wrong way since I was a teen, maybe it’s the introvert in me but I’d rather gouge out my own eyeballs then cold call anyone. I instantly block anyone who messages me that I haven’t spoke to since high school talking about their “ business opportunity “. 
     Still, I have friends who have participated in everything from 31 gifts to Young Living and I’ve bought things be supportive. It was interesting to read a perspective from someone who actually made money from this. Highly  recommended read for anyone interested in mlms and their predatory practices.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Pandemic/Epidemic

booksandmagic's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Classism, and Racism

Minor: Cancer