A review by bizzybee429
#MeToo: Essays About How and Why This Happened, What It Means and How to Make Sure it Never Happens Again by Lori Perkins
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.