Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

44 reviews

sa_aurum's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

It was a very insightful book. You know those types which you're intrinsically aware of the things being discussed but you don't actively think about when it actually happens irl. Amanda retold a very profound series of accounts from survivors of various cult groups and presented them in a very digestible manner. The premise of the entire book revolves around cult affiliation(group affiliation), human psychology, brainwashing, unjustified prejudice, glossolalia, genocide and language performativity theory. It also tells us how everyday people end up in cults just to find a meaningful connection as we(humans) are programmed to be seekers of the unknown and social communes are a way to satisfy our emotional and religious needs. The book was written in the light of the writer's father's experiences which gave it a personal and professional outlook. Overall it was a good read but it was long overdue due to uni. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Genocide

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Gaslighting, and Racism

courto875's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Cultural appropriation, Death, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

zoinkie's review against another edition

challenging funny informative reflective slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicide and Death

Minor: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Body shaming, and Bullying

wright_rendon_reads's review against another edition

challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I'm not a true crime girly, but I AM a cult girly. So when I heard about this book my interest was peaked. 

This book combines two of my special interests: language and cults. This book is split into sections covering cults and cult(ish) groups: religious groups, self-help groups, MLMs, fitness groups, and online influencers/political groups. The book doesn't claim all of these are cults but that they do use language that cult groups tend to use like thought terminating cliches and love bombing. 

This book was interesting, thought provoking, funny, and informative. I found myself turning it on even for a short drive to pick up food. (I listened to it on audiobook). I greatly enjoyed this as my last summer read before school started. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, and Racism

These content tags are based more on frequency of mentioning rather than going into detail.

bethancy's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, and Body shaming

divine529's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

Cults are something I've been finding myself fascinated by more and more lately, especially given how much we hear about them on a regular basis. This is an absolutely fantastic book and a topic I've been interested in for awhile - language. This book really opened my eyes to a variety of things, expanded upon things I've believed, learned about and understood for awhile, and allowed me to view choices and experiences I've made and had in a different way. 

That said, tread lightly if you have triggers as this book deals with heavy and difficult topics at times. 

I highly recommend this to everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Murder, Racism, Confinement, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

cady_sass's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but don’t join that MLM. 

In all seriousness this is EXPERTLY done and I’m blown away. I’ve always been drawn to cult history and I really, really appreciate the work the author did here to include “cultish” behavior (hence, the title) of non cult entities- MLMs, fitness & CrossFit culture, MAGA, etc.- along with the obvious identifiable cults like Jonestown, Heavens Gate, and Nxivm, among others. 

Super important to give language to the behaviors and vernacular that are big red flags 🚩 so people can engage carefully and make informed decisions. Highly, highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Sexism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

rionstorm's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Really cool exploration into the linguistic techniques used by cults and cultish groups, written in an simple to read, conversational way so it's easy to get through.

I liked that the author explored a wide range of groups, from the types of groups that would traditionally be seen as cults, to new age social media healers, MLMs, and conspiracy theory communities like QAnon, as it was really fascinating to see the same core linguistic and persuasive principals being applied in such different scenarios. 

They look at both the positive and negative aspects of tight knit cultish groups, and consistently invite the reader to remain empathetic about to the factors that lead people to become part of these groups, without excusing any harmful behavior or views. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Sexual violence, Body shaming, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Pedophilia, Cancer, Racism, and Vomit

blueberryelf's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Cursing, Body shaming, Cancer, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Alcoholism

daniellekat's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.25

As a fan of the author’s previous book, Wordslut, I was convinced that I would love this. The writing, wit, and humour were in style with Montell’s previous book, but this was just way too repetitive. The repetition was nearly unbearable and there were many times I considered DNFing. By the end of each section I was basically just skimming looking for new anecdotes. A personal pet peeve that really irritated me with this book was the constant call to upcoming content  (ex. “More to come on this in part 4, we’ll revisit this in the next chapter, we’ll see so and so again in part 2, etc.). It was so obnoxious and it caught my attention and took me out of the narrative every time. 
Although I’m complaining, the content was really quite interesting. I just think this book could have done with a more thorough edit. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment