Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'
Castas: As Origens do Nosso Descontentamento, by Isabel Wilkerson
15 reviews
lpfoley's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Racism, Genocide, Violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Medical trauma, and Hate crime
grubloved's review against another edition
also weird that india's caste system is a selling point but is honestly barely present in the book, and that nazi germany is consistently held up as another state creating an underclass (the goal wasn't an underclass of jews. it was no more jews. this is not very analogous to a caste system).
the alpha wolf chapter was also absolutely atrocious and i think is a really good example of a lot of the problems i had with the text. it was really strange for the book to claim that racism's big downsides are largely that naturally superior people who happen to be in the wrong caste can't assume their rightful place as leaders, and that naturally inferior people who are in the upper caste should be allowed to be ruled by their betters ??? it continually seems to insist that hierarchy is not the problem, but that it is simply a wrong hierarchy and that we should adjust to follow a better natural order. just really really strange to read in a book about racism.
i really enjoyed the pillars of caste section but the rest of it just wasn't the indepth reading i was here for.
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Confinement, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Classism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Child death, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, and Murder
bi_n_sad's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Racism, Torture, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child death, Terminal illness, Classism, and Death
Minor: Death of parent, War, and Grief
arthur_harris's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Police brutality, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Colonisation, Slavery, Blood, Medical trauma, Racism, Child death, and Murder
jess_westhafer's review against another edition
Graphic: Genocide, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Antisemitism, Violence, Slavery, and Torture
youreawizardjerry's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Blood, Bullying, Body horror, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Death, and Death of parent
atamano's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Torture, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Genocide, Slavery, Physical abuse, Violence, and Racism
ebrown0789's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Violence, Gore, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Hate crime, Body horror, Child abuse, Genocide, and Physical abuse
Minor: Police brutality
tlilf's review against another edition
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
shanflan's review against another edition
5.0
Wilkerson's prose along with her incorporation of research, history, and anecdotes cemented the ideas in each chapter.
The unspeakable torture and separations from family that those forced into slavery endured and even the lynchings of the jim crow era seem so far in the past, but to this day the casual disregard for black life is ubiquitous as shown by the thousands of police and vigilante shootings of unarmed black citizens. But it's not only this outward display of hatred/racism that upholds the caste system; just as important are the unconscious biases, the silent compliance of the upper caste and the desire of the upper caste to keep their place as if life is a zero-sum game.
Some of the most striking moments for me:
-The notion that race is really an arbitrary social construct created in America.
- I had no idea how much inspiration the Nazis took from America in the classification and treatment of the lowest caste (noting that "the one-drop rule was too harsh for the Nazis")
-2022 marks the first year that the U.S. will have been an independent nation for as long as slavery lasted on its soil.
-The story of the little boy who wasn't allowed to swim with his baseball team but was eventually allowed to make one lap atop a floating device only after everyone else got out of the pool, reminding him "just don't touch the water"
-That the south still displays statues of confederate leaders who many are proud of rather than ashamed of, and how connected these symbols of slavery are to the notion that the upper caste will do anything to keep their perceived superiority, as shown by the 2016 election.
This was a very challenging read, but I like how Wilkerson ends the novel with a sentiment of hope. As a white person, I know that empathy is no substitute for experience itself, but with privilege comes the responsibility of allyship, and "the moral duty to act when one sees another person treated unfairly".
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Hate crime, and Antisemitism