What do you think?
Rate this book
Collapse Feminism: The Online Battle for Feminism's Future
We're doomed. We hear this phrase more and more frequently. Collapse has become the framework through which we write, debate, theorise, and therefore make society.
In such times of crisis, women are more likely to see their rights attacked, their sexuality scrutinised. On social media, it is claimed that women are responsible for the downfall of Western society. To make matters worse, this anti-feminist discourse has merged with internet culture and is being pushed by the algorithm into users' social media feeds.
Covering everything from the reactionary politics of the "manosphere" to sexual liberation, hookup culture, traditional femininity, the girlboss, and self-help content, Collapse Feminism looks at how this conservative backlash is being orchestrated online and why we must fight against it. Reversing our contemporary catastrophism, Alice Cappelle asks readers to join her and others in building a future that will liberate us all.
In such times of crisis, women are more likely to see their rights attacked, their sexuality scrutinised. On social media, it is claimed that women are responsible for the downfall of Western society. To make matters worse, this anti-feminist discourse has merged with internet culture and is being pushed by the algorithm into users' social media feeds.
Covering everything from the reactionary politics of the "manosphere" to sexual liberation, hookup culture, traditional femininity, the girlboss, and self-help content, Collapse Feminism looks at how this conservative backlash is being orchestrated online and why we must fight against it. Reversing our contemporary catastrophism, Alice Cappelle asks readers to join her and others in building a future that will liberate us all.
222 pages, Paperback
First published November 14, 2023
82 people are currently reading
2720 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
December 11, 2024
Great little primer on the incompatibility of neoliberal feminism and internet age. Alice is a great organizer of disparate parts of society that envelop us all
November 16, 2023
With a title like that you wouldn't necessarily expect it but this book is a great introduction to feminist thought, especially if you're a little uncomfortable with the label of feminist or if your interests are firmly in the here and now.
I found this book to be great in regard of its portrayal of the current states of affairs and as a reminder to think beyond the notion of "everything is f*cked" which is hard, but not impossible, to avoid right now. The tone also avoided the austere seriousness of older feminist work and the tendency to get overly jargony.
I was particularly impressed by how Cappelle understood the notion of a middle class as a something that prevents and/or dissuades solidarity between workers and with her thinking regarding aesthetic.
I have to admit that I was entirely unfamiliar with Cappelle's work before requesting an ARC of this book upon an insomnia fueled book acquiring spree I have since indulged in a few of her videos which are as easy to listen/watch to as this book was to read. While very enjoyable I find both lacked a little teeth, a sacrifice to being more approachable and "reasonable" sounding I guess. I also found the idea of the internet as a space of experimentation and especially the part about how in some instance it (through VR chat) can be escape from the panopticon to be perhaps a little naive.
Many thanks to Repeater Books and NetGalley for providing me an eARC for review consideration.
I found this book to be great in regard of its portrayal of the current states of affairs and as a reminder to think beyond the notion of "everything is f*cked" which is hard, but not impossible, to avoid right now. The tone also avoided the austere seriousness of older feminist work and the tendency to get overly jargony.
I was particularly impressed by how Cappelle understood the notion of a middle class as a something that prevents and/or dissuades solidarity between workers and with her thinking regarding aesthetic.
I have to admit that I was entirely unfamiliar with Cappelle's work before requesting an ARC of this book upon an insomnia fueled book acquiring spree I have since indulged in a few of her videos which are as easy to listen/watch to as this book was to read. While very enjoyable I find both lacked a little teeth, a sacrifice to being more approachable and "reasonable" sounding I guess. I also found the idea of the internet as a space of experimentation and especially the part about how in some instance it (through VR chat) can be escape from the panopticon to be perhaps a little naive.
Many thanks to Repeater Books and NetGalley for providing me an eARC for review consideration.
February 4, 2024
Fascinating analysis on today’s feminism. In recent years, feminism has lost its appeal on social media. There's now a massive backlash from the manosphere (men-focused online communities) and women who feel lied to by empty "work fulfilment", "sexual empowerment", and "equal domestic tasks" promises.
The author suggests that such backlash is dangerous as women may lose their hard-fought rights. Just recently, the Supreme Court in the US overruled the constitutional right to abortion, which is arguably the biggest step backwards in the whole feminist fight for women's freedom of choice. Are we heading backwards? Are sexism, misogyny, and traditional gender roles taking their power back?
Although I disagree with the author's answers and very liberal political views, I appreciate her honesty. She openly advocates for her beliefs and doesn't hide her political stance. Despite her disappointing solutions (internet deprivatisation and communal love), I thoroughly enjoyed her spotless research. I highly recommend the first half of the book.
The author suggests that such backlash is dangerous as women may lose their hard-fought rights. Just recently, the Supreme Court in the US overruled the constitutional right to abortion, which is arguably the biggest step backwards in the whole feminist fight for women's freedom of choice. Are we heading backwards? Are sexism, misogyny, and traditional gender roles taking their power back?
Although I disagree with the author's answers and very liberal political views, I appreciate her honesty. She openly advocates for her beliefs and doesn't hide her political stance. Despite her disappointing solutions (internet deprivatisation and communal love), I thoroughly enjoyed her spotless research. I highly recommend the first half of the book.
January 12, 2024
I discovered Alice's Youtube channel quite by accident but it has been, as these things so often are, a happy accident. In this book, Alice Cappelle, a self-described left-wing radical, takes on the issue of feminism online. Alice's take is that the issue with many of the well-meaning reforms as well as the terrible rise of fascist nationalism is that unfettered capitalism rules all. Diving into topics like the Sexual Revolution, the Women's Right To Work vs. Trad Gender Roles, and the place of the internet in public discourse, Alice notes that this capitalism is what is driving the backlash against feminism and progressive reforms generally. Because work is no longer liberating, we see the rise of "traditional values" pushing women back into the domestic sphere. Because the nuclear family is easier to control for a capitalist economy than less traditional roles, we see the backlash against LGBTQ communities and people of color who do not conform to these traditional family roles. Alice calls on us to rethink the family, to rethink work and, above it all, to rethink the internet. While she does not sketch out a detailed plan, she does note that de-privatizing the internet and making it public, regulated property would be a vital first step, enabling communities to begin to find ways to create their own ways in the world.
The tone of the book is serious, educated and hard hitting. Alice does not spare words for right wing hate mongers like Ben Shapiro and others while also noting the reason that well meaning people might fall for their schtick. However, she never descends to the hate mongers level, bringing light rather than heat. She writes in the same engaging fashion as she speaks in her videos. I encourage everyone to read this book and check out her YouTube channel as well as those of others like her. Listening to these young voices, and learning from them, is the way we make the world a better place than it is or has been. One of my deep takeaways from this book is that while a world built BY men FOR men has been bad for women and often bad for many men as well, a world designed with WOMEN in mind, would be a much better world for all of us. Make it so!
Reread and it definitely holds up. There's a lot of things I'm still sitting with and wrapping my head around. But that's a good experience. Another thing that grabbed me on the second read through was her statement at the end, "No one is coming to save us." There is no one hero out there. We must work together to save ourselves.
The tone of the book is serious, educated and hard hitting. Alice does not spare words for right wing hate mongers like Ben Shapiro and others while also noting the reason that well meaning people might fall for their schtick. However, she never descends to the hate mongers level, bringing light rather than heat. She writes in the same engaging fashion as she speaks in her videos. I encourage everyone to read this book and check out her YouTube channel as well as those of others like her. Listening to these young voices, and learning from them, is the way we make the world a better place than it is or has been. One of my deep takeaways from this book is that while a world built BY men FOR men has been bad for women and often bad for many men as well, a world designed with WOMEN in mind, would be a much better world for all of us. Make it so!
Reread and it definitely holds up. There's a lot of things I'm still sitting with and wrapping my head around. But that's a good experience. Another thing that grabbed me on the second read through was her statement at the end, "No one is coming to save us." There is no one hero out there. We must work together to save ourselves.
April 23, 2024
I love Alice Cappelle and I really wanted to love this but… it wasn’t it for me. I can see this being informative for older feminists less familiar with online discourse, but as someone who’s chronically online and also already very familiar with (and a fan of) Cappelle’s work on YouTube I found nothing I didn’t already know. I also found it to be a bit disjointed at times and the random insertions of parenthesied ad libs feel better suited to a video format.
April 29, 2024
5 ⭐️ - OMG what an incredible debut, I have read other feminist books this year but this may be my fav by far. Such a relevant book, it’s good enough to get me out of my slump (haven’t finished a book in 11 days). Highly recommend to everyone and especially people wanting to understand intersectional feminism in age of social media.
November 19, 2023
I liked this book, however I feel like it would have benefited from more in-depth "offline" research. I know literature, media, etc. analysis is a form of research, but with internet focused essays I always feel like there is a huge need for in-depth analysis on the differences between the offline and online words. Personal anecdotes in this book aimed to bridge that gap somehow, but in this matter I found it lacking. Still, hope to read other books from her as well.
July 22, 2025
3.5
I expected to like this book much more than I did, which isn’t bad considering I think it’s relatively well-rounded overview of the relationship between feminism and the modern internet. Alice Capelle includes thorough references throughout her writing, which makes the book additionally engaging. I wish the content provided more insight into more niche corners of the internet and the compounding effects of open-aired misogyny on social media. I think, too, at times Capelle forgets to explain what certain phenomena are (such as TikTok trends). Overall, I would read this again and I look forward to referencing it in the future, but I’ll also be on the lookout for books that offer even deeper of a dive into this subject.
I expected to like this book much more than I did, which isn’t bad considering I think it’s relatively well-rounded overview of the relationship between feminism and the modern internet. Alice Capelle includes thorough references throughout her writing, which makes the book additionally engaging. I wish the content provided more insight into more niche corners of the internet and the compounding effects of open-aired misogyny on social media. I think, too, at times Capelle forgets to explain what certain phenomena are (such as TikTok trends). Overall, I would read this again and I look forward to referencing it in the future, but I’ll also be on the lookout for books that offer even deeper of a dive into this subject.
September 17, 2024
While this was a strong and interesting introduction to issues surrounding feminism online I think this book failed to deliver on two of it's biggest appeals to me. I went to a book talk led by Alice on this topic and the concept of collapse and it's role in modern feminist thought was discussed in a fairly detailed manner but this was under-developed in the book in my opinion. I also feel that while some of the exploration of online discourse was interesting there was room for more indepth reflection on how people use online platforms specifically to promote ideologies. There's a lot of research on this topic and I feel like Cappelle could have engaged with this more and contributed some interesting reflections as a content creator herself. However, the biggest strength of this book is it's ability to both grab and hold on to your attention and I do feel this sort of writing is necessary and extremely helpful in this context.
August 1, 2025
When you're chronically online and you realized that "gender war" becomes something that keep on trending.
Again, meanwhile we're trying to fight back and get divided, those incels + far-right + fascist are strategizing to make "feminism" looks bad.
In Collapse Feminism, Alice Cappelle explained to us what's happening in the US (& Global North). Tradwife contents are everywhere and Incels are bombarding us with something aweful. They are trying to make us believe that "feminism is bad", thus we should leave it.
Cappelle also gave us long and comprehensive articles on what "Capitalist Feminist" is and why we should criticize Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In. Also, the double standard westerners have around women who cover themselves because of their choice.
She reminded us that "feminism" should be intersectional, not only "based on white feminists" but it should be inclusive.
I personally took interest on her data & explanation on Tradwife content (because my algo doesn't show me those kind of contents). I realize, here in Indonesia, we also have our kind of ((tradwife)) ytta.
Whenever "gender war" appears (mostly) on Twitter, I always remember how Cappelle said it's their playbook. We shouldn't fall in their propaganda and should try to educate/inform our surrounding about this thing.
So, if you have noticed some annoying posts about gender--denying gender equality--please do not engage. It will make the algo work ((better)) to reach wider audience.
Oh anyway, Collapse Feminism is my 5/5 stars. I urge you to read this.
Again, meanwhile we're trying to fight back and get divided, those incels + far-right + fascist are strategizing to make "feminism" looks bad.
In Collapse Feminism, Alice Cappelle explained to us what's happening in the US (& Global North). Tradwife contents are everywhere and Incels are bombarding us with something aweful. They are trying to make us believe that "feminism is bad", thus we should leave it.
Cappelle also gave us long and comprehensive articles on what "Capitalist Feminist" is and why we should criticize Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In. Also, the double standard westerners have around women who cover themselves because of their choice.
She reminded us that "feminism" should be intersectional, not only "based on white feminists" but it should be inclusive.
I personally took interest on her data & explanation on Tradwife content (because my algo doesn't show me those kind of contents). I realize, here in Indonesia, we also have our kind of ((tradwife)) ytta.
Whenever "gender war" appears (mostly) on Twitter, I always remember how Cappelle said it's their playbook. We shouldn't fall in their propaganda and should try to educate/inform our surrounding about this thing.
So, if you have noticed some annoying posts about gender--denying gender equality--please do not engage. It will make the algo work ((better)) to reach wider audience.
Oh anyway, Collapse Feminism is my 5/5 stars. I urge you to read this.
January 2, 2024
Essai féministe d'une youtubeuse que je suis depuis probablement moins d'un an qui s'intéresse à beaucoup de sujets: fémininité, masculinité, misogynie, le choice feminism, le phénomène des girlboss, le conservatisme et les discours anti-féministe de droite et en ligne, etc. Un des premiers "long" essai que je lis sur l'utilisation conservative de la fémininité (et même du féminisme) pour faire reculer les droits des femmes et ce, sans jamais oublié, ni oublié de souligner, que cette instrumentalisation se fait par des politiques patriarcales. Elle n'oublie pas non plus que la masculinité est vraiment aussi construite en relation avec la haine/mépris/etc. des femmes et que bien qu'un discours fictif sur les "hommes", cela reste toujours une relation de pouvoir avec les femmes. Donc l'argumentaire est bien, bien construit, solide et bien référencé (bien que des fois, il manquait des références ou des sources à mon avis, un peu plus de notes n'aurait vraiment pas nui…).
L'essai se construit sur beaucoup d'autres essais féministes, mais aussi beaucoup d'essais sur YouTube (de nombreux remerciements à la fin sur les personnes qui l'ont inspiré) et ça se sent dans les figures convoquées. Je pense que c'est le complément "en ligne" à La crise de la masculinité: autopsie d'un mythe tenace que j'attendais de pouvoir lire depuis un moment et ça complète bien à ce niveau là.
Le mérite de l'essai est de rassembler plusieurs tendances conservatrices, de la manosphère, de la droite, etc. qui s'attaque aux femmes et au féminisme en ligne, de montrer comment elles se communiquent mutuellement et quels sont leurs effets et leurs tactiques. Il y a aussi des critiques intéressantes de figures qui se disent féministes (et qui peuvent l'être, dont Eva Illouz), mais qui adopte aussi des postures classiques de la droite dans certains débats et Cappelle montre bien la pente glissante qui attend l'aboutissement de leurs réflexions parfois inachevées.
En lien avec ces réflexions peut-être inabouties, je dois avouer avoir eu un peu de mal à comprendre l'articulation du dernier chapitre de l'essai (partie II, chapitre 2) qui allait dans beaucoup de direction, sans critique très claire, comme si on avait essayé de mettre un peu tout ce qu'il restait à dire ensemble avec un peu moins de cohérence ou de critiques intéressantes de ces concepts (ou en tout cas, qui frappait leurs cibles) et je restais avec un peu plus de questions à la fin que de compréhension assez clair que le restant de l'essai m'avait offert.
Un bon essai féministe pour toute personne qui s'intéresse à l'anti-féminisme, à ce qui se déroule en ligne, aux articulations conservatrices de la fémininité et de la masculinité et aux tactiques de recrutement anti-féministe utilisées sur Internet.
L'essai se construit sur beaucoup d'autres essais féministes, mais aussi beaucoup d'essais sur YouTube (de nombreux remerciements à la fin sur les personnes qui l'ont inspiré) et ça se sent dans les figures convoquées. Je pense que c'est le complément "en ligne" à La crise de la masculinité: autopsie d'un mythe tenace que j'attendais de pouvoir lire depuis un moment et ça complète bien à ce niveau là.
Le mérite de l'essai est de rassembler plusieurs tendances conservatrices, de la manosphère, de la droite, etc. qui s'attaque aux femmes et au féminisme en ligne, de montrer comment elles se communiquent mutuellement et quels sont leurs effets et leurs tactiques. Il y a aussi des critiques intéressantes de figures qui se disent féministes (et qui peuvent l'être, dont Eva Illouz), mais qui adopte aussi des postures classiques de la droite dans certains débats et Cappelle montre bien la pente glissante qui attend l'aboutissement de leurs réflexions parfois inachevées.
En lien avec ces réflexions peut-être inabouties, je dois avouer avoir eu un peu de mal à comprendre l'articulation du dernier chapitre de l'essai (partie II, chapitre 2) qui allait dans beaucoup de direction, sans critique très claire, comme si on avait essayé de mettre un peu tout ce qu'il restait à dire ensemble avec un peu moins de cohérence ou de critiques intéressantes de ces concepts (ou en tout cas, qui frappait leurs cibles) et je restais avec un peu plus de questions à la fin que de compréhension assez clair que le restant de l'essai m'avait offert.
Un bon essai féministe pour toute personne qui s'intéresse à l'anti-féminisme, à ce qui se déroule en ligne, aux articulations conservatrices de la fémininité et de la masculinité et aux tactiques de recrutement anti-féministe utilisées sur Internet.
June 27, 2025
Trying to get through this book created a real bottleneck in my reading routine. Gave up around 60%.
Cappelle’s central argument is that modern feminism has become entangled with consumerism and social atomization — and that these forces accelerate cultural decline, rather than challenge it. The author’s stance aligns with my own research on how intersections of feminism, media activism, and capitalism reinforce western hegemony — I was ready to love this.
However, Cappelle’s tone is reactive rather than critically reflective. She cherry-picks extreme examples to support her arguments, and her citations are questionable. For example, she states France was the first country in the West to legalize abortion — that is straight up wrong. She also does not accurately represent divine femininity in African culture and history when she discusses co-opted online trends, flattening her insights into Black women's online experience. And many times her arguments against specific patriarchal ideologies came about as attacks on men in general. These choices weakened the analytical force of the book, even though I agree with the author’s core claims.
While I’m excited to see other researchers pick up on the consequences of these emerging cultural patterns, I fear Cappelle’s approach exemplifies how our political biases can dissuade and further fracture progressive audiences rather than inform them and bring them into allyship.
Cappelle’s central argument is that modern feminism has become entangled with consumerism and social atomization — and that these forces accelerate cultural decline, rather than challenge it. The author’s stance aligns with my own research on how intersections of feminism, media activism, and capitalism reinforce western hegemony — I was ready to love this.
However, Cappelle’s tone is reactive rather than critically reflective. She cherry-picks extreme examples to support her arguments, and her citations are questionable. For example, she states France was the first country in the West to legalize abortion — that is straight up wrong. She also does not accurately represent divine femininity in African culture and history when she discusses co-opted online trends, flattening her insights into Black women's online experience. And many times her arguments against specific patriarchal ideologies came about as attacks on men in general. These choices weakened the analytical force of the book, even though I agree with the author’s core claims.
While I’m excited to see other researchers pick up on the consequences of these emerging cultural patterns, I fear Cappelle’s approach exemplifies how our political biases can dissuade and further fracture progressive audiences rather than inform them and bring them into allyship.
August 16, 2025
Things I liked:
- The leftist take on feminism, from women in the workplace to Lean In to "tradwife" subculture
- Cappelle's anecdotes from her own life, including her time as a tennis instructor
- The conclusions she draws from current trends, in particular, the very last chapter
Things I didn't like:
- The "chronically online" nature of the research in this book. I went in fully aware that academic literature or even pop literature on sociology was going to look very different from what I'm used to (science/engineering primarily). But I didn't expect to see so many references to specific influencers, hashtags, and YouTube videos, especially since they were not limited to citations and made up a good chunk of the book
- The leftist take on feminism, from women in the workplace to Lean In to "tradwife" subculture
- Cappelle's anecdotes from her own life, including her time as a tennis instructor
- The conclusions she draws from current trends, in particular, the very last chapter
Things I didn't like:
- The "chronically online" nature of the research in this book. I went in fully aware that academic literature or even pop literature on sociology was going to look very different from what I'm used to (science/engineering primarily). But I didn't expect to see so many references to specific influencers, hashtags, and YouTube videos, especially since they were not limited to citations and made up a good chunk of the book
August 26, 2025
Very fascinating read about the trends of online feminism and how they are co-opted by conservative movements. I would have greatly benefited from a glossary, because I am (mercifully) not deep enough into these online rabbit holes to recognize many of these trends without definitions.
May 2, 2024
3.5. Solid, more grounding in material analysis and long history of thought behind the sentiments might have bumped it to a 4.
As it is it’s probably more in the “what to give your parent if they don’t understand internet culture” category than “leftist book club debate material” category.
As it is it’s probably more in the “what to give your parent if they don’t understand internet culture” category than “leftist book club debate material” category.
January 20, 2025
A concise primer to the insidiousness of capitalist, patriarchal systems and thought in the online age. This book (at times to its detriment) reads like a YouTube video essay. For those who watch Jordan Theresa, Contrapoints, StrangeAeons, Philosophy Tube etc. - who she cites often - this book will be nothing new. It feels familiar and digestible. I read it in an afternoon.
✨️✨️✨️
The first half is an excellent expose on the muddled, consumerist, contradictory, always-changing image of the ideal woman in the Internet Age. Cappelle explores #girlboss feminism, self-care, tradwives, and being "that girl." The second half is less cohesive. The analysis stumbles through the sexual revolution, OnlyFans, dating apps, and incel culture. It becomes a bit disjointed and unfocused. Sometimes, the anecdotes weaken the argument. The book would have benefitted from a narrower focus - I respect how much of internet culture Cappelle tried to comment on, but it would have been better to give less more depth.
✨️✨️✨️
Overall, as someone who grew up in the online world and studies online misogyny, I didn't learn anything. But it is incredibly helpful and powerful to see all of this written down. This book will grow in importance as we move further into the Internet Age. The suggestion to turn toward collective forms of love unbounded from heteronormative family structures is an important rallying cry of our time.
✨️✨️✨️
The first half is an excellent expose on the muddled, consumerist, contradictory, always-changing image of the ideal woman in the Internet Age. Cappelle explores #girlboss feminism, self-care, tradwives, and being "that girl." The second half is less cohesive. The analysis stumbles through the sexual revolution, OnlyFans, dating apps, and incel culture. It becomes a bit disjointed and unfocused. Sometimes, the anecdotes weaken the argument. The book would have benefitted from a narrower focus - I respect how much of internet culture Cappelle tried to comment on, but it would have been better to give less more depth.
✨️✨️✨️
Overall, as someone who grew up in the online world and studies online misogyny, I didn't learn anything. But it is incredibly helpful and powerful to see all of this written down. This book will grow in importance as we move further into the Internet Age. The suggestion to turn toward collective forms of love unbounded from heteronormative family structures is an important rallying cry of our time.
November 30, 2023
Alice Cappelle is an author I knew prior to the publication of this book due to her also being a youtuber I actively watch. The commentary content she provides on her channel is the type of videos I personally love having playing in the background as I work so I thought she'd be the perfect person to publish a book because I could pick up the audiobook and consume it the way I typically do all of her content already.
I'm not surprised to find out that just like in all of her other work, Alice provides well researched and well thought out commentary on the topics she's discussing. I find the conversations around feminism circulating online to be a very interesting topic to explore further, as I truly think that more than any other online discussions, it is the topic that ends up having the most translation to the real world, or rather the offline world. The way the conversations around feminism have been shapped in more recent years in the never ending threads and forums online have had significant impact to how many supposed liberal countries have been shaping their politics and that has been both interesting yet terrifying to witness. Alice was able to put all of those topics into this book and I think it's a good starter book for those who want to join the conversations but don't know where to start.
I'm not surprised to find out that just like in all of her other work, Alice provides well researched and well thought out commentary on the topics she's discussing. I find the conversations around feminism circulating online to be a very interesting topic to explore further, as I truly think that more than any other online discussions, it is the topic that ends up having the most translation to the real world, or rather the offline world. The way the conversations around feminism have been shapped in more recent years in the never ending threads and forums online have had significant impact to how many supposed liberal countries have been shaping their politics and that has been both interesting yet terrifying to witness. Alice was able to put all of those topics into this book and I think it's a good starter book for those who want to join the conversations but don't know where to start.
March 24, 2024
Normalmente quando começo a ler non-fiction tenho sempre o receio de que demore muito tempo e que requeira mais energia. Posso, no entanto, dizer que para o conteúdo o livro é surpreendentemente fácil de ler. O trabalho de desconstrução dos conceitos e das ideias está excelente. A contextualização destes mesmos elementos, em teorias e escolas, é também muito bem conseguido. O livro não é objectivo, nem afirma ser, mas oferece uma introdução relâmpago a ‘sub’culturas online e às suas manifestações na vida offline. Gostei da mistura entre tipos de fontes - tanto académicas como mais cultura da internet. Acho que faz falta em termos intelectuais termos uma abordagem mais equilibrada às fontes de ideias e debates. Também gostei da análise sintomática dos problemas apresentados no livro - a revolução sexual, cultura do puritanismo, conservadorismo, machismo, entre outros - e como se interliga com diferentes espaços online (e como os interesses políticos fora e nestes mesmo espaço acabam por informar a promoção de ideias e crenças). A autora faz também um bom trabalho a estabelecer as origens das ideias o que aprecio muito mesmo, tal como uma constante empatia mesmo quando tece críticas ao machismo por exemplo. Havia momentos em que a tese de um dado parágrafo ou secção se perdia mas rapidamente voltava a uma lógica coesa. Recomendo imenso!
September 22, 2024
Ik volg Alice Cappelle al een tijdje op YouTube en ik vind haar ideeën altijd heel interessant. Toen haar boek werd gepubliceerd wilde ik het dus lezen. Ze heeft een aantal heldere ideeën, maar ik kon het niet helpen dat ik haar argumentatiestructuur soms was repetitief vond. Dat is inherent aan het onderwerp, want het gaat over hoe feminisme in social media steeds verder achteruitgaat. Ze gebruikte veel voorbeelden over bepaalde subgroepen op social media; het gaf me inzicht in welke groepen er allemaal bestaan en waar zij voor staan maar ik vond het jammer dat er niet meer diepgang in zat. Het werd me niet altijd duidelijk waarom deze groepen deden wat ze deden. Hier kan Alice natuurlijk niets aan doen, want ze is een journalist. Haar taak is om te observeren en te beschrijven, dat is haar taak. Ik had liever nog een psychologische analyse gehad.
Daarbij vind ik boeken over online discours lastig, omdat het landschap zo ontzettend snel verandert. Over twee of drie jaar is dit boek al sterk verouderd wat betekent dat het geen duurzaam boek is. Online discours is gewoon geen duurzaam onderwerp...
Daarbij vind ik boeken over online discours lastig, omdat het landschap zo ontzettend snel verandert. Over twee of drie jaar is dit boek al sterk verouderd wat betekent dat het geen duurzaam boek is. Online discours is gewoon geen duurzaam onderwerp...
October 22, 2024
3.7/5
Enjoyed this book and is incredibly interesting, exploring the internet through the eyes of feminism and lending a hand for solutions as oppose to just being all doom and gloom. I appreciate the spotting of patterns and analysis. I also appreciate her attempts to explore both sides and genuinely get inside the minds of some of the people she speaks about instead of ridiculing them with out analysis
My critique is that the first half of the book’s topics felt like they rambled a bit in terms of I felt she digressed a bit too much and sometimes didn’t quite bring it back round to the point of the chapter enough
Enjoyed this book and is incredibly interesting, exploring the internet through the eyes of feminism and lending a hand for solutions as oppose to just being all doom and gloom. I appreciate the spotting of patterns and analysis. I also appreciate her attempts to explore both sides and genuinely get inside the minds of some of the people she speaks about instead of ridiculing them with out analysis
My critique is that the first half of the book’s topics felt like they rambled a bit in terms of I felt she digressed a bit too much and sometimes didn’t quite bring it back round to the point of the chapter enough
August 18, 2024
Online discourse can feel so new and different but Cappelle does a good job connecting the long history of feminist movements and reactionary movements with the present. It feels strange to see urban dictionary and YouTube comments cited next to quotes from Bell Hooks but also in some ways relieving since it makes the current weird times we're living in feel less removed and distinct. On the other hand algorithmic feeds and clickbait are introducing far more people to regressive views on gender than ever before. I thought the parts about people pushing inherently conservative views under the guise of feminism or liberalism were particularly interesting.
July 28, 2025
Does a good job defining term such as "girl boss", "cottage core", "tradwife", "incel", and "radical love". Terms I feel like are a good thing to know. Also thought it was challenging (atleast for me) when Cappelle argues "true liberation cannot be achieved if only class disparities are eliminated" bc in my mind thats the root of every negative ism. But this book helped me understand that unfortunately things aren't aren't so simple :/ like Cappelle says "unequal power dynamics between people of various genders or ethnicities can exist outside of capitalism".
PS I SWEAR THIS ISN'T PERFORMATIVE MY DAD ASKED ME TO READ THIS BOOK FOR HIS CLASS
PS I SWEAR THIS ISN'T PERFORMATIVE MY DAD ASKED ME TO READ THIS BOOK FOR HIS CLASS
March 9, 2024
Wonderful book exploring everything from the harm of gender essentialism to the "that girl" lifestyle, so much was covered in this book. Alice Cappelle is such an insightful cultural observer, throughout the book I found Alice was able to put words and context to so many cultural currents I've seen online. A great book to read alongside Naomi Klein's Doppelganger; both explore conservative trends online and recognize that too often the left only responds to the right rather than offer a real alternative. Could not recommend more highly!
April 8, 2024
I absolutely adore Cappelle‘s research process and presentation. She takes on immensely complex topics, from a very valuable perspective. Bought this after having watched her video essays for some time, no regrets, big recommendation!
December 25, 2024
Känns som att den här bara liksom skrapar på ytan. Hade gärna velat ha mer djupdykande analys, men det man fick var väldigt bra.
June 24, 2025
Interesting enough. I agree with some points, disagree with others. That’s how it goes.
January 28, 2024
Very well-documented book which illustrates the rise of the conservative discourse within several internet so-called progressive & feminist areas, culminating in the self-help industry. The author uses examples and quotes from plenty of highly popular conservatives such as Ben Shapiro, Jordan B Peterson or Andrew Tate, who primarily target younger audiences. This is dangerous for it fosters traditional stiff gender roles, far right ideology, misogyny, and ultimately violence. Although it's tempting to believe that the solution to escape from the exploitative capitalist system is to turn back to the past gender roles & nuclear family, the author demonstrates how this backward step is actually dangerous for feminism and provides several left-oriented alternatives fostering the collective support.
June 27, 2024
As a chronically online person this brought together feminism and current as well as past online discourse in the best way possible for me.
November 8, 2023
An interesting look at different internet communities and subcultures in regards to their backlash against women/feminism. Overall, I really enjoyed the writing but I wish the conclusion packed a bit more of a punch.
June 28, 2024
This book falls into a modern trap; the tendency to make feminism synonymous with ALL current progressive movements. It is a tendency, a scope creep that I have never accepted. The author acknowledges this when she writes,
The misconceptions
around what feminism is can also be related to the multitude of feminisms
that now exist. I do not have the authority — no one has — to decide what
feminism is and what it isn’t. However, I can say that feminism to me is
bigger than gender equality, it’s bigger than women; it’s a social project, a
vision of how things could be if we ditched the culture of domination that
the patriarchy nurtures. In a patriarchal world, people take, use and throw
away. In a feminist world, people would prioritise care. It’s a bold claim,
some will say, but it sounds a bit naive. It is true that I probably wouldn’t
have written that when I started thinking about what I wanted to do with
this book. However, as I searched for progressive alternatives to the
conservative ideas I’ll be criticising in this book, I was almost
systematically redirected to feminist literature, in all its diversity. I
concluded that intersectional feminism offered some of the best answers to
the challenges of our time. Sure, feminism won’t come up with a protocol
on how to decarbonise our economies. It is not a program, an authoritative
force, but an invitation to boldly rethink the basis upon which we make
society.
This tendency to make feminism everything might be the real reason it is collapsing - if it is collapsing. It may be because any movement trying to be everything will inevitably fail at lots of things. If you define a fish as a creature that can swim and can ride a bicycle, then we can say that fishes are failing at being fishes.
To take an example, in the conclusion of the book, she writes, Women were incentivised to join the workforce to participate in the
economy, become financially independent and find meaning outside the
home. Some privileged classes of women did benefit from their inclusion in
the workplace. However, other classes of women feel overworked,
exploited and unfulfilled. They don’t dream of labour, they don’t want to
put all their energy into developing a career, some can’t even afford an
education or a life outside work. Now is the time to change our approach, to
ditch the “bullshit jobs” and bring back meaning into work. To do that,
people must work less so that they can invest time in other forms of work
like housekeeping (for all, not just women), gardening, community work,
volunteering, education, politicisation and leisure activities like creating art
or doing sports. “Sure, a lot of it would be nonsense”, said anthropologist
David Graeber, “but it’s hard to imagine a full 40-50% would be doing
nonsense, and that’s the situation we have today”, he added in reference to
the amount of people who think their job is “bs”.
This is an expansion of the scope of feminism. The goal of feminism was not necessarily to find meaning outside the home; it was the freedom to not be restricted to the sphere of the home. Whether or not meaning could be found at work was left to philosophers and theologians. A feminism that cannot look back at the expanded freedom of women to work, unlike before, with a sense of satisfaction is a feminism that will see itself collapsing because it has saddled itself with the project of giving people the means to fill their lives with meaning. A feminism that does not look back at increasing gender equality in the family with satisfaction is one that will see itself collapsing because it has acquired the extra burden of redefining family to include friendship and society. The author's feminism is collapsing because it even has the burden of preventing climate change and pollution.
All through the book, what the reader will encounter is not a collapsing feminism, but challenges to various progressive conceptions of work, sex, relationship, family, the environment, and society. I am too old to sweep all those into an all-encompassing feminism umbrella. When the author says feminism is collapsing, don't be fooled into thinking that the rights of women are collapsing. What you need to keep at the back of your mind is that this is the collapse of a feminism that is buckling under the weight of its ever-increasing cosmic scope.
The misconceptions
around what feminism is can also be related to the multitude of feminisms
that now exist. I do not have the authority — no one has — to decide what
feminism is and what it isn’t. However, I can say that feminism to me is
bigger than gender equality, it’s bigger than women; it’s a social project, a
vision of how things could be if we ditched the culture of domination that
the patriarchy nurtures. In a patriarchal world, people take, use and throw
away. In a feminist world, people would prioritise care. It’s a bold claim,
some will say, but it sounds a bit naive. It is true that I probably wouldn’t
have written that when I started thinking about what I wanted to do with
this book. However, as I searched for progressive alternatives to the
conservative ideas I’ll be criticising in this book, I was almost
systematically redirected to feminist literature, in all its diversity. I
concluded that intersectional feminism offered some of the best answers to
the challenges of our time. Sure, feminism won’t come up with a protocol
on how to decarbonise our economies. It is not a program, an authoritative
force, but an invitation to boldly rethink the basis upon which we make
society.
This tendency to make feminism everything might be the real reason it is collapsing - if it is collapsing. It may be because any movement trying to be everything will inevitably fail at lots of things. If you define a fish as a creature that can swim and can ride a bicycle, then we can say that fishes are failing at being fishes.
To take an example, in the conclusion of the book, she writes, Women were incentivised to join the workforce to participate in the
economy, become financially independent and find meaning outside the
home. Some privileged classes of women did benefit from their inclusion in
the workplace. However, other classes of women feel overworked,
exploited and unfulfilled. They don’t dream of labour, they don’t want to
put all their energy into developing a career, some can’t even afford an
education or a life outside work. Now is the time to change our approach, to
ditch the “bullshit jobs” and bring back meaning into work. To do that,
people must work less so that they can invest time in other forms of work
like housekeeping (for all, not just women), gardening, community work,
volunteering, education, politicisation and leisure activities like creating art
or doing sports. “Sure, a lot of it would be nonsense”, said anthropologist
David Graeber, “but it’s hard to imagine a full 40-50% would be doing
nonsense, and that’s the situation we have today”, he added in reference to
the amount of people who think their job is “bs”.
This is an expansion of the scope of feminism. The goal of feminism was not necessarily to find meaning outside the home; it was the freedom to not be restricted to the sphere of the home. Whether or not meaning could be found at work was left to philosophers and theologians. A feminism that cannot look back at the expanded freedom of women to work, unlike before, with a sense of satisfaction is a feminism that will see itself collapsing because it has saddled itself with the project of giving people the means to fill their lives with meaning. A feminism that does not look back at increasing gender equality in the family with satisfaction is one that will see itself collapsing because it has acquired the extra burden of redefining family to include friendship and society. The author's feminism is collapsing because it even has the burden of preventing climate change and pollution.
All through the book, what the reader will encounter is not a collapsing feminism, but challenges to various progressive conceptions of work, sex, relationship, family, the environment, and society. I am too old to sweep all those into an all-encompassing feminism umbrella. When the author says feminism is collapsing, don't be fooled into thinking that the rights of women are collapsing. What you need to keep at the back of your mind is that this is the collapse of a feminism that is buckling under the weight of its ever-increasing cosmic scope.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews