Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny Paperback – 1 Mar. 2019

Dr. Manne has written a well-researched, reader-friendly book on misogyny, the content of which should be included as core curriculum in middle schools. Dr. Manne addresses several limitations (who can cover everything in one book?) to her thesis such as misogynoir, equal rights for transwomen, etc., but has more than sufficiently researched and defended her argument regarding misogyny. She examines misogyny as the enduring traditions, customs and actions that signal women to “stay in their lane” and not compete for roles, jobs, titles or the economics traditionally retained by men. Identifying misogyny as the COSTS women bear and not the MOTIVES of the men involved was one of the significant takeaways for me.Like Prof. Manne, I agree dehumanisation (depriving a person of human qualities, instead attributing animal-like qualities to them) is not the main mechanism of misogyny, but it certainly is one practice that will signal misogyny is at work to keep women in their lane (note the terms men use when discussing women’s sexuality, particularly when women’s choices are seen as ‘outside their lane’).I originally bought this book as the Audible version but added the paper book to mark vital passages for further reference. You won’t be sorry you purchased this book.

What can we do in the age of Weinstein and Trump? We can start by learning about the nature of misogyny, so we know what we’re up against.

Kate Manne concludes Down Girl on a pessimistic note: “Even trying [to present misogyny as a disciplining mechanism in our heteropatriarchal society] is liable to make me seem nasty, abrasive, and pushy (dare I say, shrilly) and give rise to the sort of resistance that […] tends to be fatal. Or, if one does manage to sugar-coat it, it becomes self-defeating. So I give up. I wish I could offer a more hopeful message.“I think Manne’s pessimism is unjustified, though as a cis and read-as-heterosexual man it’s much easier for me to say this than it is for her since I don’t sound (womanly) shrill, untrustworthy and/or unreliable with ideas above my station when I try to explain to other men (and some women) that our women-as-givers, men-as-entitled-receivers worldview is both unjustified and sub-optimal except for a minority (white cishet men and their partners) as well as being deeply discriminatory and plain immoral.In 8 chapters, which you can read one after another (as I did) or singly after reading the introduction and conclusion for orientation - in both cases print out the table of contents to keep track of where you are (I didn’t do this and sometimes was missing where I was in the overall roadmap) - Manne justifies her concept and analysis of misogyny with both empirical evidence (from poetry for kids and Twitter rants through to killings of women and the cases of Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard) and (analytic philosophical - but it’s not too hard 😉) investigation of what we can understand under the terms “misogyny“ and “sexism“. Once you’ve got the general idea, you can dive back into the book to find the most suitable arguments and evidence for a given situation. Which I fully intend to do and which all men should do, only men can fix this situation, starting off by recognising it and then choosing the best candidate for a given job or political office having removed the distorting misogynistic glasses.

Slightly more academically written than I had anticipated from the title. Covers all the bases, tho. As an intro to the subject I preferred Joan Smith’s book Misogyny, tbh, tho reading both would be the best option.

A must-read for all women (and men). Compelling arguments, insightful and eye-opening analysis, beautiful language (and yes, not an easy read as every turn of phrase is so carefully chosen and impactful). I am recommending it to everyone, even though (or exactly because) it felt like I'm reading something that will be banned soon.The concepts of HIMpathy and HERasure are revolutionary in reinterpreting my experiences.Loved it!

Getting through this book was a chore. I'm quite an accomplished reader, used to reading dense and academic language but this was something else. Things that should be explained on at most 3 sentences stretch accross two paragraphs, ideas stretch and disappear and reappear within a chapter with no flow or guide through. It literally takes the author 3 long chapters and an introduction to outline her initial thesis. I would reccomend this book to others if it weren't for the writing - I think you could find these ideas better articulated elsewhere. No idea where the editor was on this but maybe they zoned out after the first 30 disclaimers

I’m only into chapter 1 and finding it immensely irritating already. It’s absolutely normal for academics to stake a claim to originality and Manne does this: “this is the first book-length treatment by someone working in the tradition of analytic feminist philosophy.” Seriously? She’s never, apparently, read or heard of Simone de Beauvoir? She cannot seem to see any continuity between de Beauvoir’s pioneering work on the oppression of women and the way their social roles are enforced and justified and her own ‘new’ definition of misogyny. Nor does she appear to recognize that the system of social control that she terms ‘misogyny’ corresponds entirely with what feminists have been describing as ‘gender’ (as a system of social control of women) for decades now. The only thing that’s new here is her scrapping/discounting of years of work by radical feminists in order to redefine terms.

Interesting read, slightly repetitious in parts.