This book has left me stunned, speechless, and absolutely defeated. I had to laugh at the majority of hateful quotes and statements collected in here to keep from crying or getting irate! Bates breaks down the dangerous and lethal affects of extreme misogyny and how it needs to be taken seriously by the world. She does this by deep diving into the internet, and finding the most vile and inhumane posts that stem from the i***l community. As you can imagine, it was difficult to read these comments and know that there is nothing you can do about it. I will never, for the life of me, understand how some people have that much hate and poison in their heart to speak of other human beings in such a hateful way?

Moving on, I mentioned that this book left me feeling defeated. I already knew that misogyny would only be eradicated in a perfect world, but after reading this, as well as Bates’ solutions, it made it even more evident that Femicide and violence against women will always be an issue because those who can destroy it are the same ones benefitting from it. So why would you want to get rid of something that helps you out? Once this was reiterated and made strikingly clear, it felt like I was hit with a bucket of ice cold water. 

The one thing that really bothered me about this book is that it only scratched the surface of how misogyny affects women of color, specifically Black women. Misogynoir is a real, complex issue. So it would’ve been nice to have quotes and statements from Black feminist leaders included. We still have a ways to go in regards to intersectionality, too. Sigh. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, I think this is an important read. Extreme misogyny is a form of t*rrorism, and it needs to be talked about more and recognized as such.