Description
Manne examines recent and current events such as the Isla Vista killings by Elliot Rodger, the case of the convicted serial rapist Daniel Holtzclaw, who preyed on African American women as a police officer in Oklahoma City, Rush Limbaugh’s diatribe against Sandra Fluke, and the “misogyny speech” of Julia Gillard, then Prime Minister of Australia, which went viral on YouTube. The book shows how these events, among others, set the stage for the 2016 US presidential election. Not only was the misogyny leveled against Hillary Clinton predictable in both quantity and quality, Manne argues it was predictable that many people would be prepared to forgive and forget regarding Donald Trump’s history of sexual assault and harassment. For this, Manne argues, is misogyny’s oft overlooked and equally pernicious underbelly: exonerating or showing “himpathy” for the comparatively privileged men who dominate, threaten, and silence women. l
