sadiereadsagain's review against another edition
4.0
I think the subtitle basically tells you what this book is all about. But I will add that it is a collection of essays from different individuals, including men, so the perspectives and experiences shared or alluded to are mixed. But they all come together with a powerful message, and that is really what the purpose of this book is. As with many anthologies, the pieces are on a spectrum. They range from analytical to emotional, and there are pieces that are stronger than others. But this is a protest book, it is raw and reactionary, maybe unpolished. That doesn't detract from the fact that it is important, and it still managed to be a good read. My only criticism is that it is very US-centric, but it's only a nit-pick at best because the movement began in the US, it's key antagonists are from the world of Hollywood, and unfortunately sexual abuse and harassment translate easily into every culture and language on earth.
thegeekybibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
#MeToo Essays About How and Why This Happened, What It Means and How to Make Sure it Never Happens Again is a collection of twenty-six essays—written mostly by women, but also a few men—with many sharing their personal stories about sexual harassment, assault, or rape.
#MeToo isn't a fun read, but it's an important one. In November 2017, millions of women from around the world shared their stories on social media (or simply #metoo if they were unable to tell their story). If you followed the movement and read even a tiny portion of these heartbreaking stories, you couldn't help but be both saddened and enraged at how pervasive this problem is. Rape culture and misogyny have enabled this pernicious abuse of women and young girls. All too often, there is no justice for the victim, leaving women unwilling to report sexual crimes, fearing they won't be believed
(NB: I'm aware that there are men and young boys who have also been victimized and are survivors of sexual harassment, assault, and rape. Their stories are just as important to be acknowledged; their trauma just as real.)
We need a society in which those who have been hurt are no longer afraid to speak up. Rather than doubt those brave enough to come forward with their stories, we should allow them the dignity to be heard, help them heal, and seek justice for them. We can only do better as a society when we shine the harsh light of truth on the evils of the world, and make a commitment to change things for the better... and that's what this book is about.
I received an advance review copy of this book courtesy of Riverdale Avenue Books via Netgalley.
#MeToo isn't a fun read, but it's an important one. In November 2017, millions of women from around the world shared their stories on social media (or simply #metoo if they were unable to tell their story). If you followed the movement and read even a tiny portion of these heartbreaking stories, you couldn't help but be both saddened and enraged at how pervasive this problem is. Rape culture and misogyny have enabled this pernicious abuse of women and young girls. All too often, there is no justice for the victim, leaving women unwilling to report sexual crimes, fearing they won't be believed
(NB: I'm aware that there are men and young boys who have also been victimized and are survivors of sexual harassment, assault, and rape. Their stories are just as important to be acknowledged; their trauma just as real.)
We need a society in which those who have been hurt are no longer afraid to speak up. Rather than doubt those brave enough to come forward with their stories, we should allow them the dignity to be heard, help them heal, and seek justice for them. We can only do better as a society when we shine the harsh light of truth on the evils of the world, and make a commitment to change things for the better... and that's what this book is about.
I received an advance review copy of this book courtesy of Riverdale Avenue Books via Netgalley.
southernbellebooks's review against another edition
5.0
This was a very quick read and I thoroughly enjoyed the different essays, poems, or personal testimonies. Lori Perkins makes a profound statement by saying in her introduction that "We are not a mob. We are a movement." She explained how #MeToo went global with hashtags like #YoTambien in Spanish and #BalanceTonPorc in French. Even Patricia Douglas, the first whistle-blower on the sexual abuse in Hollywood, is covered. In these essays, you hear from Jessica Berdinka who worked for the Weinstein Brothers and Paul M. Sammon who works in the industry and discusses casting couches. You even get to hear about sexual assault or harassment in the work place and how it is handled in HR. This book of essays was empowering and heart-breaking. Definitely something people should read if they need the motivation to get up and change what is happening around them.
This book was given to me for free by Riverdale Avenue Books though NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was given to me for free by Riverdale Avenue Books though NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
kaycee_k's review against another edition
4.0
#MeToo is a book filled with essays of stories. Every story in this is heartbreaking. I was hoping that these stories were going to be about how the #MeToo affected people. This book was raw, told by these victims, personal journeys and experiences are not hiding anything, which is very important. But be warmed when reading this that it's will hurt your heart, made you sad and very upset, to know what these writers and more have gone through. This book is matter and is important but I do wish that it was also about of the #MeToo affected the world and people.
bizzybee429's review against another edition
3.0
Average Rating: 3.29 stars.
This is a difficult review to write. I by no means want to take away from the importance of the #MeToo hashtag, but this book definitely had its flaws. I wish I could give it five stars simply for the importance of subject matter, but I can’t. I’m going to divide my review into sections based on the essays themselves.
--
Remembering Patricia Douglas, the First Woman to Call Out Hollywood for Sexual Assault: 5 stars. Haunting, sad, and made me tear up. I had never heard of Patricia Douglas before this, but she deserved a lot better than she got.
After #MeToo 2 stars. The beginning was good, but it was somehow too long and too rushed all at once. It was split into a bunch of little sections, which, instead of making the essay easier to read, felt like an information overload. There were too many sections. Every time I flipped the page I was like “Seriously?? There’s more??”
The Bully Culture of the Weinsteins: 3.5 stars. Good, but didn’t give a lot of details and didn’t really set up any tension or feelings of being overwhelmed, so it wasn’t as effective as other pieces I’d read.
The Big Ugly: This left literally no impression on me whatsoever. I can’t even remember what it was about. I’m not even going to rate it.
Wall Street Assets: 2 stars. The writing was good but the uncomfortably graphic scene in the middle of it was unneeded and just plain weird.
#MeToo: A Rock’n’Roll Runway: 3 stars. The stories were haunting, but it is a very potentially triggering piece. There was also some unneeded and racist stereotyping of black girls, which was unappreciated and wrong.
Consent: Breaking the Silence: 5 stars. Sad and hopeful all at once, with a good message r.e. statutory r*pe.
Tit for Tat: 2 stars. Another one that was kind of weird. It used the terms “male” and “female” wayy too often. Like, that is literally the type of language that TERFs use and emphasize on??? I really hope that it was accidental. However, there were some good guidelines in it that described the warning signs of a sexual predator.
“I was only…”: 5 Stars. An excellent and wonderfully written piece on the importance of not minimizing the effect of sexual harassment by not saying “I was only trying to help,” “It was only a joke,” etc.
Me Too: Protecting Men from Themselves: 5 stars. The second good piece in a row! Hooray. An excellent look at how sexual assault victims are expected to protect the loving men in their lives from their trauma. Probably my favorite piece out of the whole book.
Men, Women, and #MeToo: 5 stars. An awesome look at aspects of r*pe culture that aren’t looked at a lot in the mainstream feminist stratosphere. Another favorite.
Every Book I Have Ever Written is a #MeToo Novel: 3.5 stars. Good subject matter, but I wish it had been longer with more depth than breadth.
#NotMe’s Instead of #MeToo’s: 2 stars. There wasn’t really anything wrong with it, I was just kind of bored and it didn’t really keep my attention.
Not Them Too: 2 stars. Got a real “white feminism” vibe, and it was too short for me to really get anything else from it.
Why We #MeToo: 1 star. I read this literally five minutes ago and can’t even remember what it was about.
Until When? #MeToo: 2 stars. This was the third super short essay in a row, and I was getting kind of tired of brief essays. Wish there had been a long one somewhere in there to break the monotony.
Doing What We’ve Always Done: Gender Roles and Sexual Assault: 4.5 stars. Great topic about gender roles and how sometimes men just don’t get it. It reminded me of the intro to the10th Anniversary edition of Speak.
More Than a Hashtag: 4 stars. Brought some humor to an unfunny topic that was a welcome break from the more serious pieces. However, the humor didn’t detract from the overlaying message.
For Guys Reading #MeToo Testimonies: 4 stars. A good step by step guideline for men wondering what they can do to help.
The Wild Feminine Freed #MeToo: 1 star. Uhhhhhhh. This was just kind of weird. Like wtf was going on. Seeing Baba Yaga, the centuries old witch from fairy tales who literally runs around on a house on chicken legs, as a symbol of femininity, was…. strange.
Our Bodies Are Not the Problem: 2.5 stars. Another…. Just, bleh. I don’t know. It had no effect on me.
Hush: 4 stars. Short, but the good kind of short. It was nice to have a poem as a break from the essays. This one packed a powerful punch.
Sexual Harassment on the Job from HR’s Perspective: 4 stars. Another superb piece. I loved that it went really into depth on sexual harassment in the workplace. I learned things I didn’t know before.
Why the #MeToo Movement is a Call to Arms for Men Everywhere: 4 stars. A great piece on why it’s important to actively support the women in your life.
Politics is My #MeToo: 3 stars. uhhh some more white feminism vibes. But besides that, it definitely wasn’t the strongest piece and not a very good essay to end with.
Overall thoughts
All in all, it was definitely a nice book, and probably worth reading (especially since – according to the ARC copy, it will be free on all e-book platforms!!) if you are interested in the #MeToo movement.
I wish there had been more pieces written by women of color, and I was definitely looking for a piece written by a trans woman! Violence towards trans women is a super prevalent issue in sexual harassment, but the issue was only briefly mentioned once throughout the entire collection. And that made me sad.
(Also – it should be noted that this novel could be extremely triggering in terms of sexual harassment/assault, r*pe, and violence. Tread with caution.)
I was provided an eARC copy by NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.
This is a difficult review to write. I by no means want to take away from the importance of the #MeToo hashtag, but this book definitely had its flaws. I wish I could give it five stars simply for the importance of subject matter, but I can’t. I’m going to divide my review into sections based on the essays themselves.
--
Remembering Patricia Douglas, the First Woman to Call Out Hollywood for Sexual Assault: 5 stars. Haunting, sad, and made me tear up. I had never heard of Patricia Douglas before this, but she deserved a lot better than she got.
After #MeToo 2 stars. The beginning was good, but it was somehow too long and too rushed all at once. It was split into a bunch of little sections, which, instead of making the essay easier to read, felt like an information overload. There were too many sections. Every time I flipped the page I was like “Seriously?? There’s more??”
The Bully Culture of the Weinsteins: 3.5 stars. Good, but didn’t give a lot of details and didn’t really set up any tension or feelings of being overwhelmed, so it wasn’t as effective as other pieces I’d read.
The Big Ugly: This left literally no impression on me whatsoever. I can’t even remember what it was about. I’m not even going to rate it.
Wall Street Assets: 2 stars. The writing was good but the uncomfortably graphic scene in the middle of it was unneeded and just plain weird.
#MeToo: A Rock’n’Roll Runway: 3 stars. The stories were haunting, but it is a very potentially triggering piece. There was also some unneeded and racist stereotyping of black girls, which was unappreciated and wrong.
Consent: Breaking the Silence: 5 stars. Sad and hopeful all at once, with a good message r.e. statutory r*pe.
Tit for Tat: 2 stars. Another one that was kind of weird. It used the terms “male” and “female” wayy too often. Like, that is literally the type of language that TERFs use and emphasize on??? I really hope that it was accidental. However, there were some good guidelines in it that described the warning signs of a sexual predator.
“I was only…”: 5 Stars. An excellent and wonderfully written piece on the importance of not minimizing the effect of sexual harassment by not saying “I was only trying to help,” “It was only a joke,” etc.
Me Too: Protecting Men from Themselves: 5 stars. The second good piece in a row! Hooray. An excellent look at how sexual assault victims are expected to protect the loving men in their lives from their trauma. Probably my favorite piece out of the whole book.
Men, Women, and #MeToo: 5 stars. An awesome look at aspects of r*pe culture that aren’t looked at a lot in the mainstream feminist stratosphere. Another favorite.
Every Book I Have Ever Written is a #MeToo Novel: 3.5 stars. Good subject matter, but I wish it had been longer with more depth than breadth.
#NotMe’s Instead of #MeToo’s: 2 stars. There wasn’t really anything wrong with it, I was just kind of bored and it didn’t really keep my attention.
Not Them Too: 2 stars. Got a real “white feminism” vibe, and it was too short for me to really get anything else from it.
Why We #MeToo: 1 star. I read this literally five minutes ago and can’t even remember what it was about.
Until When? #MeToo: 2 stars. This was the third super short essay in a row, and I was getting kind of tired of brief essays. Wish there had been a long one somewhere in there to break the monotony.
Doing What We’ve Always Done: Gender Roles and Sexual Assault: 4.5 stars. Great topic about gender roles and how sometimes men just don’t get it. It reminded me of the intro to the10th Anniversary edition of Speak.
More Than a Hashtag: 4 stars. Brought some humor to an unfunny topic that was a welcome break from the more serious pieces. However, the humor didn’t detract from the overlaying message.
For Guys Reading #MeToo Testimonies: 4 stars. A good step by step guideline for men wondering what they can do to help.
The Wild Feminine Freed #MeToo: 1 star. Uhhhhhhh. This was just kind of weird. Like wtf was going on. Seeing Baba Yaga, the centuries old witch from fairy tales who literally runs around on a house on chicken legs, as a symbol of femininity, was…. strange.
Our Bodies Are Not the Problem: 2.5 stars. Another…. Just, bleh. I don’t know. It had no effect on me.
Hush: 4 stars. Short, but the good kind of short. It was nice to have a poem as a break from the essays. This one packed a powerful punch.
Sexual Harassment on the Job from HR’s Perspective: 4 stars. Another superb piece. I loved that it went really into depth on sexual harassment in the workplace. I learned things I didn’t know before.
Why the #MeToo Movement is a Call to Arms for Men Everywhere: 4 stars. A great piece on why it’s important to actively support the women in your life.
Politics is My #MeToo: 3 stars. uhhh some more white feminism vibes. But besides that, it definitely wasn’t the strongest piece and not a very good essay to end with.
Overall thoughts
All in all, it was definitely a nice book, and probably worth reading (especially since – according to the ARC copy, it will be free on all e-book platforms!!) if you are interested in the #MeToo movement.
I wish there had been more pieces written by women of color, and I was definitely looking for a piece written by a trans woman! Violence towards trans women is a super prevalent issue in sexual harassment, but the issue was only briefly mentioned once throughout the entire collection. And that made me sad.
(Also – it should be noted that this novel could be extremely triggering in terms of sexual harassment/assault, r*pe, and violence. Tread with caution.)
I was provided an eARC copy by NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.
marginaliant's review against another edition
2.0
I like the concept of the book but the execution was kind of a mess. The essays were short and underdeveloped, many with syntax and clarity errors that made them appear extremely rushed. There were several essays that I felt were tone deaf and out of place and many important facets of the #MeToo moment I felt were unexplored. Overall I would not recommend it.
jentidders's review against another edition
3.0
The #MeToo movement originally began in 2006 but took off in 2017 with the revelations about Harvey Weinstein, and demonstrates the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace. As a woman, I both sadly and unsurprisingly, can also say #MeToo and I suspect that not one of my female friends, family members or colleagues could say "not me".
As a book, #MeToo is a variety of essays, written by women and male allies in the immediate wake of Weinstein's unmasking, covering the contributors' personal experiences with sexual harassment, assault, or rape; how toxic masculinity and patriarchal systems facilitate misogyny and violence; and how we can make personal, cultural and societal shifts in order to stop such abuses happening in the future.
This is not the kind of collection you can exactly say you enjoyed, but it is important, timely and thought provoking, and I appreciated the effort to include diverse voices including male, POC and LGBTQ authors. I suspect that women will be most drawn to this title, but it's a worthwhile (even essential) read for everyone, particularly men who want to know how they can act as feminist allies for the cause.
Thanks for NetGalley and Riverdale Avenue Books for the digital copy in return for an honest and unbiased review. Note that you can you can download the e-book for free from a number of platforms, including the publisher's own website.
As a book, #MeToo is a variety of essays, written by women and male allies in the immediate wake of Weinstein's unmasking, covering the contributors' personal experiences with sexual harassment, assault, or rape; how toxic masculinity and patriarchal systems facilitate misogyny and violence; and how we can make personal, cultural and societal shifts in order to stop such abuses happening in the future.
This is not the kind of collection you can exactly say you enjoyed, but it is important, timely and thought provoking, and I appreciated the effort to include diverse voices including male, POC and LGBTQ authors. I suspect that women will be most drawn to this title, but it's a worthwhile (even essential) read for everyone, particularly men who want to know how they can act as feminist allies for the cause.
Thanks for NetGalley and Riverdale Avenue Books for the digital copy in return for an honest and unbiased review. Note that you can you can download the e-book for free from a number of platforms, including the publisher's own website.
naveennbhat's review against another edition
3.75
A lot to think about and self-reflect after reading this one.
dearangela's review against another edition
2.0
#MeToo #NetGalley
I liked some of the essays which offered another POV on the #metoo movement which is rarely discussed.
There are essays discussing HW, but also the corporate culture, history of Hollywood which offer perspective which I found interesting.
Other essays were more #metoo testimonial. Some connected with me and others felt repetitive. Let me stop a second and say that this is not a critical comment in the writers if their experience. It's real and honest and I do appreciate it. What I am commenting on is the editor selecting so many of these types of essays.
"I was only..." and "Protecting men" were two stand outs among many other thoughtful essays.
I liked some of the essays which offered another POV on the #metoo movement which is rarely discussed.
There are essays discussing HW, but also the corporate culture, history of Hollywood which offer perspective which I found interesting.
Other essays were more #metoo testimonial. Some connected with me and others felt repetitive. Let me stop a second and say that this is not a critical comment in the writers if their experience. It's real and honest and I do appreciate it. What I am commenting on is the editor selecting so many of these types of essays.
"I was only..." and "Protecting men" were two stand outs among many other thoughtful essays.