Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks

7 reviews

roxanne_blythe's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

This book really does explain men masculinity, and love. I feel like the intended audience is women, not that men don’t need to read this, but I feel like it was directed towards feminists. 

The main messaging is pretty decent. There are some points that I don’t fully agree with specially the blame that’s kind of placed on mothers for upholding the patriarchy. Not that they should be blameless, but I feel like the way that  bell hooks writes about fathers is very different from the way that she talks about mothers. 

Maybe I will need to revisit those points but for now I just feel like there’s not a lot of nuance when it comes to patriarchal mothers

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, War, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

The Will To Change is an important introduction to the place of men in feminist and gender equity movements. hooks' sympathy for the male experience under patriarchy is critical to the fight against it, as the obvious statement that men suffer under rigid and chaffing expectations and that men need support is a radical one in some supposedly feminist spaces. Additionally, hooks' writing style is very accessible; she expounds on complex topics in plain and straightforward language, which is a breath of fresh air when it comes to reading theory. That said, not all of her ideas still resonate (as this came out in 2004) - specifically, her conceptualization of gender and sexuality is a little too binary for my tastes, but overall, it was a good read, and extremely worthwhile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

Minor: Classism, Sexual violence, and Racism

theolivetree's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

fairylibrary's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Incest

nicwilkins22's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide

tessjx's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, and Rape

Minor: Rape and Racism

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative fast-paced

4.0

This book was short, sweet, and gave me a lot to think about. I liked how emotional it was overall. The book was strongest in the places where hooks described her own experiences. Because there aren't citations, other than mentions of book titles, it was sometimes hard to know where the boundaries were between her opinions and data. Also, some points haven't aged well, specifically with how the author discusses gender in binary terms. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny

Moderate: Incest, Ableism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicide, Physical abuse, Medical content, Infidelity, Violence, Homophobia, War, Addiction, and Murder