Laura Bates is a feminist activist, writer, and founder of the ‘Everyday Sexism’ project, which collected over 100,000 to 200,000+ testimonies in over 25 countries of women sharing their stories of fighting sexism. In her bestselling book of ‘Men Who Hate Women’, Bates explores issues of the ‘manosphere’, a hidden side of the internet that promotes anti-feminist ideologies while encouraging extremely toxic views on male identity and masculinity. Bates successfully exposes the dark extremism everybody fails to talk about. 

I strongly underestimated the strong emotions that ‘Men Who Hate Women’ would convey, I had to take lengthy breaks trying to finish each chapter that introduced new, unexpected aspects of the ‘Men Who…’ phrase. It wasn’t because Bates is a bad writer. Instead, it was because the lack of awareness I, and most people, had on the extreme hatred against women that is accepted, normalised, and scarily encouraged. 

 This is far from a light-hearted read and goes into detail on the shocking communities that lie in plain sight, wishing to strip women of their dignity and respect. Many of these groups refer to women as ‘foids’, a derogatory term used to dehumanize women and reduce them to mere objects. These terms become very familiar throughout the book, which Bates does to display how easily desensitised the individuals in these communities become to extremist misogyny.  

It’s tempting to brush off the impact that the ‘manosphere’ may have on society. However, Bates cleverly yet patiently presents several cases where these communities have infiltrated society and produced hateful, violent, misogynistic crimes. Bates refuses to ignore any aspect of questions the readers may have on the impact of these groups, displaying the brilliance and importance of this read. Bates perfectly captures the strain misogyny is having on both our men and women, and the real-life violence that many unconsciously turn a blind eye to. 

Bates also details the many men that argue ‘men are physically incapable of stopping during sex’, a common argument that has been heavily proven inaccurate several times. The origin of the argument is frequently repeated in extremist forums, such as incel (involuntarily celibate) communities. She outlines how these digital groups adopt a sense of normality around men having a privilege to unwanted sex, their concept justifying rape through a lack of biological control. Bates highlights how these forums create a space to excuse non-consensual behaviour whilst also shifting the blame onto victims they (or ‘idols’ of theirs) violate.  

 ‘Men Who Hate Women’ is a harrowing yet necessary read. It exposes the many men who do truly hate women, though Bates acknowledges that not all men are part of this ‘manosphere’. I believe that everyone should read ‘Men Who Hate Women’, as it focuses on both how these communities violate women and encourage hatred-filled violence against them. It also focusing on the detrimental impact these communities have on men’s self-identity and the pressure to conform.  Without a doubt, this is definitely a book worth reading and recommending to others around you, shedding light onto the extremism of men that do indeed hate women and are silently hidden.