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Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'
Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson
5 reviews
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Racism, Classism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Body shaming
raereads23's review
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
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.
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
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