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Fix the System, Not the Women
Too often, we blame women. For walking home alone at night. For not demanding a seat at the table. For not overcoming the odds that are stacked against them.
This distracts us from the real problem: the failings and biases of a society that was not built for women. In this explosive book, feminist writer and activist Laura Bates exposes the systemic prejudice at the heart of five of our key institutions.
Education
Politics
Media
Policing
Criminal justice
Combining stories with shocking evidence, Fix the System, Not the Women is a blazing examination of sexual injustice and a rallying cry for reform.
This distracts us from the real problem: the failings and biases of a society that was not built for women. In this explosive book, feminist writer and activist Laura Bates exposes the systemic prejudice at the heart of five of our key institutions.
Education
Politics
Media
Policing
Criminal justice
Combining stories with shocking evidence, Fix the System, Not the Women is a blazing examination of sexual injustice and a rallying cry for reform.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2022
630 people are currently reading
14727 people want to read
About the author
Laura Bates
22 books2,535 followersLaura Bates is the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-increasing collection of over 100,000 testimonies of gender inequality, with branches in 25 countries worldwide. She works closely with politicians, businesses, schools, police forces and organisations from the Council of Europe to the United Nations to tackle gender inequality. She was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to gender equality in the Queen's Birthday Honours list 2015 and has been named a woman of the year by Cosmopolitan, Red Magazine and The Sunday Times Magazine.
Laura is the author of Everyday Sexism, the Sunday Times bestseller Girl Up, and Misogynation. Her first novel, The Burning, was published in 2019. She co-wrote Letters to the Future with Owen Sheers. Laura writes regularly for the Guardian, New York Times and others and won a British Press Award in 2015. She has been a judge for the Women's Prize, the YA Book Prize and the BBC Young Writers Award and part of the committee selecting the 2020 Children's Laureate. In 2019 she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Laura is a contributor at Women Under Siege, a New York-based project tackling rape in conflict worldwide and she is patron of SARSAS, Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support. She is the recipient of two honorary degrees and was awarded the Internet and Society Award by the Oxford Internet Institute alongside Sir Tim Berners Lee.
Laura is the author of Everyday Sexism, the Sunday Times bestseller Girl Up, and Misogynation. Her first novel, The Burning, was published in 2019. She co-wrote Letters to the Future with Owen Sheers. Laura writes regularly for the Guardian, New York Times and others and won a British Press Award in 2015. She has been a judge for the Women's Prize, the YA Book Prize and the BBC Young Writers Award and part of the committee selecting the 2020 Children's Laureate. In 2019 she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Laura is a contributor at Women Under Siege, a New York-based project tackling rape in conflict worldwide and she is patron of SARSAS, Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support. She is the recipient of two honorary degrees and was awarded the Internet and Society Award by the Oxford Internet Institute alongside Sir Tim Berners Lee.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 738 reviews
July 2, 2022
Just two things to say:
1. I wish Laura Bates didn't have to write her books.
2. I'm extremely glad she does.
1. I wish Laura Bates didn't have to write her books.
2. I'm extremely glad she does.
August 14, 2023
You know, I'm grateful for Laura Bates. Grateful that she has written such important books for us to do with what we will, but then I'm also sad that she has had to. You would think with all the time that has passed that things would have changed by now, society's perception and expectation of women should have changed, but still, here we are, still frustrated and tirelessly fighting to be heard.
I loved Bates Men Who Hate Women. It was a book that literally brought me to a standstill. It was brutally honest, not to mention sickening to read, but I was so glad I pushed through, because I felt like I needed to, and I feel that this book is equally important to men and women alike.
This is obviously well researched, and Bates speaks for all oppressed women, sometimes on a personal level about gender inequality and male violence towards women. There are still injustices towards women that are raped, assaulted or even murdered by a male, and these injustices are sometimes entirely justified by the fact the person was a female. This is done by giving a more lenient sentence, maybe because the female was wearing something that made her look older than she was, or is simply excused because the male was having a shitty time in the office. How is this acceptable?
Bates begins her book with a list of times where she knows she was assaulted or a target of blatant sexism. I find this to be a powerful, thought-provoking opener, as I think some women, myself included may not realise that certain behaviour, is actually sexism, and we were the victims of that.
I think what I do find difficult to comprehend, is the fairly recent overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States. Whichever way anyone looks at this, this is yet another misogynistic method of exerting control over women's lives. To have access to an abortion is and should be a given right to women, but removing that is sickening. How can it be a criminal offence to have control over your own body? It pained me to read records of women that have suffered needlessly because of this ban, such as a woman in Texas whose pregnancy was inviable and she wasn't able to access treatment until she was critically ill with sepsis, three days later. Or, the ten year old girl that was raped in Ohio, became pregnant due to that rape, and then had to travel across states to find a clinic that would treat her and give her an abortion. It shouldn't be happening, and it makes me angry that it does.
I doubt any of this research or reason can be challenged in any way. This is factual information which is clear and accessible to everyone, and I'm thankful to Laura Bates for yet again, standing up for women.
I loved Bates Men Who Hate Women. It was a book that literally brought me to a standstill. It was brutally honest, not to mention sickening to read, but I was so glad I pushed through, because I felt like I needed to, and I feel that this book is equally important to men and women alike.
This is obviously well researched, and Bates speaks for all oppressed women, sometimes on a personal level about gender inequality and male violence towards women. There are still injustices towards women that are raped, assaulted or even murdered by a male, and these injustices are sometimes entirely justified by the fact the person was a female. This is done by giving a more lenient sentence, maybe because the female was wearing something that made her look older than she was, or is simply excused because the male was having a shitty time in the office. How is this acceptable?
Bates begins her book with a list of times where she knows she was assaulted or a target of blatant sexism. I find this to be a powerful, thought-provoking opener, as I think some women, myself included may not realise that certain behaviour, is actually sexism, and we were the victims of that.
I think what I do find difficult to comprehend, is the fairly recent overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States. Whichever way anyone looks at this, this is yet another misogynistic method of exerting control over women's lives. To have access to an abortion is and should be a given right to women, but removing that is sickening. How can it be a criminal offence to have control over your own body? It pained me to read records of women that have suffered needlessly because of this ban, such as a woman in Texas whose pregnancy was inviable and she wasn't able to access treatment until she was critically ill with sepsis, three days later. Or, the ten year old girl that was raped in Ohio, became pregnant due to that rape, and then had to travel across states to find a clinic that would treat her and give her an abortion. It shouldn't be happening, and it makes me angry that it does.
I doubt any of this research or reason can be challenged in any way. This is factual information which is clear and accessible to everyone, and I'm thankful to Laura Bates for yet again, standing up for women.
May 19, 2022
Of course this was going to be 5/5, it’s Laura Bates.
Delivering yet another thoroughly researched and expertly written book on gender, feminism and the male violence epidemic, Bates analyses and dismantles the systemic oppression of women in modern society. Listing fact after devastating fact that will be all too familiar to the female reader, Fix the System Not the Women makes for a tough read. A couple of breathers were needed for sure.
For me, this was Laura Bates’ most personal book to date. Never before have I felt her formidable and brilliant voice more than in this book — and my god has she delivered some sardonic sentences in her previous offerings! She begins with her own list, a list of events or situations in which she has been the victim of sexism, harassment or assault. It’s a powerful opener that sticks with you throughout; I will be making my own list and expect to lighten the weight of it with a glass of wine in the company of my incredible female friends.
We move through the different “dots” of society that shape the systemic failings that keep women oppressed, assaulted, raped and murdered. Bates expertly highlights these failings and unpacks them to the root. Building upon previous research for books such as Girl Up and the harrowing Men Who Hate Women, as well as using entries from The Everyday Sexism Project, Bates joins these “dots”to blistering effect. Culminating in the final chapter Fix the System Not the Women.
It’ll be tough to find anyone with a counter strong enough to challenge Bates’ work. However, I have no doubt there’ll be misogynist on day release from the cesspit of the manosphere ready to spew their vitriol. Woefully I think it’ll be many men in our lives we love who won’t want to accept this book’s message because it holds a very painful mirror up to their own entrenched learned behaviour.
For women reading this book a lot of the topics/stories covered and information provided is either well known or completely entrenched into the fibre of our being — we live this daily. Which makes me think the necessary readers of this book have to be men. For once, let the onus be on them. Lord knows we need allies in this fight.
Delivering yet another thoroughly researched and expertly written book on gender, feminism and the male violence epidemic, Bates analyses and dismantles the systemic oppression of women in modern society. Listing fact after devastating fact that will be all too familiar to the female reader, Fix the System Not the Women makes for a tough read. A couple of breathers were needed for sure.
For me, this was Laura Bates’ most personal book to date. Never before have I felt her formidable and brilliant voice more than in this book — and my god has she delivered some sardonic sentences in her previous offerings! She begins with her own list, a list of events or situations in which she has been the victim of sexism, harassment or assault. It’s a powerful opener that sticks with you throughout; I will be making my own list and expect to lighten the weight of it with a glass of wine in the company of my incredible female friends.
We move through the different “dots” of society that shape the systemic failings that keep women oppressed, assaulted, raped and murdered. Bates expertly highlights these failings and unpacks them to the root. Building upon previous research for books such as Girl Up and the harrowing Men Who Hate Women, as well as using entries from The Everyday Sexism Project, Bates joins these “dots”to blistering effect. Culminating in the final chapter Fix the System Not the Women.
It’ll be tough to find anyone with a counter strong enough to challenge Bates’ work. However, I have no doubt there’ll be misogynist on day release from the cesspit of the manosphere ready to spew their vitriol. Woefully I think it’ll be many men in our lives we love who won’t want to accept this book’s message because it holds a very painful mirror up to their own entrenched learned behaviour.
For women reading this book a lot of the topics/stories covered and information provided is either well known or completely entrenched into the fibre of our being — we live this daily. Which makes me think the necessary readers of this book have to be men. For once, let the onus be on them. Lord knows we need allies in this fight.
July 29, 2022
AMAZING book. Don't get me wrong, I was enraged for half of it and in tears for the rest, but I am grateful to have access to such information and would recommend it to everyone. Literally. Especially men. Especially men who believe feminists hate men for no reason and society is equal and there's no point to feminism, because they've never seen or experienced the things feminists are complaining about - that's privilege. Privilege is not what you've experienced, it's what you didn't have to go through. Of course you wouldn't be aware of something if it doesn't affect you - you don't have to, but that's just blissful ignorance. It's absolutely disgusting to not only NOT believe, but mock and contradict the people who are indeed affected on a systemic level and think you know better than them what they should be focusing on.
Continuing what Invisible Women presented, it's full of statistics demonstrating how sexism and racism are embedded not only in everyday life, but especially in the systems that govern our lives. The people who are supposed to protect us, teach us, present news to us, govern or bring justice on our behalf are upholding ideas that actively harm minorities, but hide behind the very effective, yet fictitious phenomenon of "isolated incidents". Domestic violence, harassment and rape are for example so common and trivialised that we're essentially conditioned to think they're part of "normal" life - no one bats an eyelid when about 90% of women report experiencing harassment in public, yet when we get a highly mediatised case like that of Sarah Everard the authorities present it as "an exception", "a bad apple", and so on, as if it came as a suprise that a man with overtly misogynistic views and behaviours who had been reported before would end up abusing his position of power to rape and murder a woman.
Behaviours are based on thoughts and feelings, be them conscious or unsconscious, that's basic cognitive behavioural psychology. Yet when someone tries to explain how a sexist attitude or misogynistic views would tie in with and lead to a system in which discrimination and men's violence against women is normalised and allowed, you're labelled as paranoid or *sexist*. It cracks me up when a sexist uses the sexist card along with the not all men card.
We need to stop policing and blaming women for everything - their own safety, their own assault, their own discrimination and essentially most things they ever do - and hold our white male privileged figures of authority to account.
Continuing what Invisible Women presented, it's full of statistics demonstrating how sexism and racism are embedded not only in everyday life, but especially in the systems that govern our lives. The people who are supposed to protect us, teach us, present news to us, govern or bring justice on our behalf are upholding ideas that actively harm minorities, but hide behind the very effective, yet fictitious phenomenon of "isolated incidents". Domestic violence, harassment and rape are for example so common and trivialised that we're essentially conditioned to think they're part of "normal" life - no one bats an eyelid when about 90% of women report experiencing harassment in public, yet when we get a highly mediatised case like that of Sarah Everard the authorities present it as "an exception", "a bad apple", and so on, as if it came as a suprise that a man with overtly misogynistic views and behaviours who had been reported before would end up abusing his position of power to rape and murder a woman.
Behaviours are based on thoughts and feelings, be them conscious or unsconscious, that's basic cognitive behavioural psychology. Yet when someone tries to explain how a sexist attitude or misogynistic views would tie in with and lead to a system in which discrimination and men's violence against women is normalised and allowed, you're labelled as paranoid or *sexist*. It cracks me up when a sexist uses the sexist card along with the not all men card.
We need to stop policing and blaming women for everything - their own safety, their own assault, their own discrimination and essentially most things they ever do - and hold our white male privileged figures of authority to account.
May 10, 2023
A good informative book about systemic misogyny.
And it’s sad and infuriating reading all these stories of abuse, harassment, abuse of power, exclusion, and rape.
So many stories about rape and femicide by the police. And judges ruling not guilty because the 13 year old “looked old for their age” and “looks sexually aggressive”. And men not getting convicted because “they were stressed about their job, so it’s understandable that they took up skirt pictures of women on the bus”. They tell us to report it, then laugh in our faces and tell us we were to blame.
And it’s sad and infuriating reading all these stories of abuse, harassment, abuse of power, exclusion, and rape.
So many stories about rape and femicide by the police. And judges ruling not guilty because the 13 year old “looked old for their age” and “looks sexually aggressive”. And men not getting convicted because “they were stressed about their job, so it’s understandable that they took up skirt pictures of women on the bus”. They tell us to report it, then laugh in our faces and tell us we were to blame.
June 28, 2022
WOW! What a book!
A thoroughly researched, well written book on gender, feminism and the impact of male violence on the life of women.
How anyone could possibly argue that women are fairly treated in a system not designed for them after reading this is beyond me?
This book carefully goes through many aspects of society and the system that will make you cry, cringe and rage with anger. This book will infuriate you and open your eyes to so many injustices that you simply accept as “life as it is” presented with many accounts from real women and statistics that will shock, frighten and sadden you.
I cannot do this book justice in words. Laura Bates has brilliantly put into words many of my own experiences where I have never had the words for them before.
A thoroughly researched, well written book on gender, feminism and the impact of male violence on the life of women.
How anyone could possibly argue that women are fairly treated in a system not designed for them after reading this is beyond me?
This book carefully goes through many aspects of society and the system that will make you cry, cringe and rage with anger. This book will infuriate you and open your eyes to so many injustices that you simply accept as “life as it is” presented with many accounts from real women and statistics that will shock, frighten and sadden you.
I cannot do this book justice in words. Laura Bates has brilliantly put into words many of my own experiences where I have never had the words for them before.
February 13, 2026
I could write a whole essay on this, but I'll keep it (fairly) short and sweet:
THIS SHOULD BE MANDATORY READING FOR EVERYONE!!
An incredibly well written and researched masterpiece. I found myself again and again wanting to memorise the conclusions made AND their supporting evidence, this book manages to articulate points I wish I could express, with such conviction and eloquence. The content is incredibly hard-hitting and raw at times, but so immensely important that it is really worth the emotions evoked.
To women, the examples and 'lists' won't be ground-breaking or shocking; the excerpts from personal accounts sent to The Everyday Sexism Project are so excruciatingly relatable and to most, will be things ingrained in life as a woman. There is power in sharing experiences and the realisation that these 'incidents' of harassment, assault and discrimination are not and should not be normal. Listening to Laura's 'list', I felt like a switch flipped in my brain, all the little things when comprehensively recited together show not only a trend, but a massive problem. I feel extremely validated in my own experiences with sexism, misogyny and abuse and extremely grateful for Laura Bates and the work she is doing.
There has of course been so much progress made already, but if you think women are now seen as equal, treated as equal or the problem has been solved PLEASE read or listen to this and understand that the system is so intrinsically biased toward men. I beg you. The insights into figures of conviction of abusers and rapists, corruption in policing, publicised and non-publicised criminal cases in the UK and the response of the media, intersectional discrimination, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade and SO many other prevalent issues are ALL essential reading.
Attacks on women are not 'isolated incidents'.
If a problem is systemic and intersectional, the solution must be systemic and intersectional.
It is not the responsibility of women to fix the problem because women are NOT the problem.
“𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘪𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦.”
Summary - it's a tough read/listen but PLEASE READ THIS!! (@ men especially)
THIS SHOULD BE MANDATORY READING FOR EVERYONE!!
An incredibly well written and researched masterpiece. I found myself again and again wanting to memorise the conclusions made AND their supporting evidence, this book manages to articulate points I wish I could express, with such conviction and eloquence. The content is incredibly hard-hitting and raw at times, but so immensely important that it is really worth the emotions evoked.
To women, the examples and 'lists' won't be ground-breaking or shocking; the excerpts from personal accounts sent to The Everyday Sexism Project are so excruciatingly relatable and to most, will be things ingrained in life as a woman. There is power in sharing experiences and the realisation that these 'incidents' of harassment, assault and discrimination are not and should not be normal. Listening to Laura's 'list', I felt like a switch flipped in my brain, all the little things when comprehensively recited together show not only a trend, but a massive problem. I feel extremely validated in my own experiences with sexism, misogyny and abuse and extremely grateful for Laura Bates and the work she is doing.
There has of course been so much progress made already, but if you think women are now seen as equal, treated as equal or the problem has been solved PLEASE read or listen to this and understand that the system is so intrinsically biased toward men. I beg you. The insights into figures of conviction of abusers and rapists, corruption in policing, publicised and non-publicised criminal cases in the UK and the response of the media, intersectional discrimination, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade and SO many other prevalent issues are ALL essential reading.
Attacks on women are not 'isolated incidents'.
If a problem is systemic and intersectional, the solution must be systemic and intersectional.
It is not the responsibility of women to fix the problem because women are NOT the problem.
“𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘪𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦.”
Summary - it's a tough read/listen but PLEASE READ THIS!! (@ men especially)
November 18, 2025
After reading Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates I was appalled by the huge amount of sexism that exists in the world. I had hoped that things had improved since that book was published, but it seems they haven't.
In Fix the System, Not the Women Bates continues to show the harsh reality of sexism in society. After reading only a few pages I felt so angry that I had to put the book down and pause for a while before returning to it.
This book should be read by everyone, expecially men. It's time that many men learned to stop doing the awful things they do to women and show them the respect they deserve.
In Fix the System, Not the Women Bates continues to show the harsh reality of sexism in society. After reading only a few pages I felt so angry that I had to put the book down and pause for a while before returning to it.
This book should be read by everyone, expecially men. It's time that many men learned to stop doing the awful things they do to women and show them the respect they deserve.
April 13, 2026
10/10 harte Kost aber so wichtig!
„Because women were never the problem in the first place.“
„Because women were never the problem in the first place.“
March 11, 2025
3.5/5
This was very well researched. I also liked that the author mentioned a lot of women's personal experiences. I think i wasn't necessarily the target audience since I already knew most of the things she talks about here. But I think it is a great book for anyone who is just getting into feminist literature.
This was very well researched. I also liked that the author mentioned a lot of women's personal experiences. I think i wasn't necessarily the target audience since I already knew most of the things she talks about here. But I think it is a great book for anyone who is just getting into feminist literature.
July 7, 2022
4.5 Stars!
Real talk, this book was HARD to read. It was hard to read the lists of everyday sexism the author and other women received and to realise that I was right along with them.
This book examines how everyday accounts of sexism have become so ingrained into daily life that not only do we not even notice them half the time, but they've infiltrated and infected every structure of society.
I've felt enraged and exhausted in equal parts while reading this, especially with our current day situation.
Fantastic book I just wish it had a more worldwide view and was less UK focused.
Anyway read this, make your partner read this, make your sons read this.
Real talk, this book was HARD to read. It was hard to read the lists of everyday sexism the author and other women received and to realise that I was right along with them.
This book examines how everyday accounts of sexism have become so ingrained into daily life that not only do we not even notice them half the time, but they've infiltrated and infected every structure of society.
I've felt enraged and exhausted in equal parts while reading this, especially with our current day situation.
Fantastic book I just wish it had a more worldwide view and was less UK focused.
Anyway read this, make your partner read this, make your sons read this.
January 26, 2023
I’m really angry and sad that this had to be written, but I’m glad it was.
Real change needs to happen, and it’s not our fault as women if this does not happen fast, it’s the system and the hierarchy of this that need to take note and make action. We should not be held as having responsibility for men being violent against us. Fix the men, the system and not the women at the hands of it.
Real change needs to happen, and it’s not our fault as women if this does not happen fast, it’s the system and the hierarchy of this that need to take note and make action. We should not be held as having responsibility for men being violent against us. Fix the men, the system and not the women at the hands of it.
August 14, 2024
A este libro no lo sobra ni una sola palabra.
Todos deberían leerlo (empezando por los hombres)
Todos deberían leerlo (empezando por los hombres)
July 30, 2023
Another 5 star non-fiction?? WHO AM I! No but in all seriousness I think everyone should read this book! My boyfriend doesn't read but I was continuously reading out passages to him. This made me so angry, made me so sad, it was honestly incredible. So well written, so INTERESTING and I honestly just wanted to keep on reading regardless of how mad it made me!
December 4, 2024
A hard hitting, well articulated book that honestly angered me throughout. It would have had the same effect even reading half of it. I knew the statistics were staggering but this just brings to light the many ways in which systemic misogyny and racism appears through governed organisations that we as the public are SUPPOSED to trust: the police force, healthcare, parliament. Worth a read, but tbh, it’s worth a read for the men in your life. It’s time for everyone, not just women to educate themselves on this topic.
August 19, 2022
So, under patriarchal structures, girls and women are socialised to put the needs of others before our own. And the author suggests sexism can't effectively be tackled only at an individual level - we also need to break down the structures that maintain sexism. Okay, that far into her book, she makes sense.
But she also suggests women shouldn't focus on sexism unless we're also charging ourselves with solving racism, homophobia, ableism, transphobia, and every other -ism and -phobia. I think she even threw in climate change into her long list of things a feminist will have to do if they don't want groups of men to accuse her of being selfish.
Basically, women have to solve all the world's problems. And, maybe, if we're lucky, women might have a few crumbs of time, resources and effort to focus on tackling discrimination on the basis of sex. If we focus our efforts on sexism, we're wrong. (But campaigners who focus on racism but not sexism - they're fine. People who fight against transphobia but not sexism - they're fine. Likewise for groups tackling homophobia, etc, etc, etc.)
Hmm, it's a pretty short book but the author already forgot the beginning by the time she wrote the end. I think she needs to examine her own socialisation to put the needs of certain groups of men above the needs of certain groups of women.
Just as cancer research charities aren't chastised for not centring heart disease, and cat protection leagues aren't hounded for not prioritising dogs, feminism needs to ignore the misogynists clamouring for us to make sammiches [sic] for everyone. We need to acknowledge and address the way girls are socialised to always put others' needs before our own. We can't solve sexism until feminists prioritise women and girls in our own movement.
If feminists won't prioritise the needs of women and girls over males, then no other bugger will.
There were some big omissions from her examples of the horrendous ways women have been treated in recent years. Women prisoners being sexually assaulted because rapists are put into women's prisons on the basis of self-ID can't have escaped her notice unless she has been living in a cave. Yet she found it simpler not to mention them, perhaps knowing that women who do champion the dignity and safety of incarcerated women are being subjected to harassment campaigns.
Likewise, the only reference she made to women being unable to access rape crisis services, was one about a general decline in funding. She ignored the rape crisis and domestic abuse services whose funding applications are denied because they insist the female-only part of their service remain female-only. Women who support women's need for single-sex spaces to recover from male violence are also vilified, and perhaps the author decided to ignore the needs of abused women in order to limit the backlash she herself faces.
But there's no hope for us to solve sexism, if women with a platform (like this author) are content to throw some of the most vulnerable women under the bus.
But she also suggests women shouldn't focus on sexism unless we're also charging ourselves with solving racism, homophobia, ableism, transphobia, and every other -ism and -phobia. I think she even threw in climate change into her long list of things a feminist will have to do if they don't want groups of men to accuse her of being selfish.
Basically, women have to solve all the world's problems. And, maybe, if we're lucky, women might have a few crumbs of time, resources and effort to focus on tackling discrimination on the basis of sex. If we focus our efforts on sexism, we're wrong. (But campaigners who focus on racism but not sexism - they're fine. People who fight against transphobia but not sexism - they're fine. Likewise for groups tackling homophobia, etc, etc, etc.)
Hmm, it's a pretty short book but the author already forgot the beginning by the time she wrote the end. I think she needs to examine her own socialisation to put the needs of certain groups of men above the needs of certain groups of women.
Just as cancer research charities aren't chastised for not centring heart disease, and cat protection leagues aren't hounded for not prioritising dogs, feminism needs to ignore the misogynists clamouring for us to make sammiches [sic] for everyone. We need to acknowledge and address the way girls are socialised to always put others' needs before our own. We can't solve sexism until feminists prioritise women and girls in our own movement.
If feminists won't prioritise the needs of women and girls over males, then no other bugger will.
There were some big omissions from her examples of the horrendous ways women have been treated in recent years. Women prisoners being sexually assaulted because rapists are put into women's prisons on the basis of self-ID can't have escaped her notice unless she has been living in a cave. Yet she found it simpler not to mention them, perhaps knowing that women who do champion the dignity and safety of incarcerated women are being subjected to harassment campaigns.
Likewise, the only reference she made to women being unable to access rape crisis services, was one about a general decline in funding. She ignored the rape crisis and domestic abuse services whose funding applications are denied because they insist the female-only part of their service remain female-only. Women who support women's need for single-sex spaces to recover from male violence are also vilified, and perhaps the author decided to ignore the needs of abused women in order to limit the backlash she herself faces.
But there's no hope for us to solve sexism, if women with a platform (like this author) are content to throw some of the most vulnerable women under the bus.
April 29, 2023
Selepas libur lebaran, aku mencoba kembali membaca buku yang bikin marah-marah.
Kali ini pilihanku jatuh kepada buku barunya Laura Bates yang berjudul Fix the System, Not the Women. Sebuah kritik tertulis dari Bates kepada 5 ekosistem institusi yang menindoktrinasi, memaksakan, dan menormalisasi inequality.
Pada bab pertama, Bates sudah membuatku mendidih. Dia menuliskan pengalamannya serta perempuan lain yang ada dalam Everyday Sexism Project miliknya. Sebagian besar tentang pelecehan hingga kekerasan seksual yang dialami oleh perempuan. Bagaimana agak nggak mungkin ada perempuan yang nggak pernah jadi korban pelecehan. Coba ngaku, siapa di sini yang nggak pernah diluncah (catcall) oleh mas-mas/om-om/bapak-bapak? 👀
Dari input yang masuk melalui situs Everyday Sexism Project, Bates kemudian memetakan setidaknya ada 5 ekosistem yang seharusnya bebenah. Bukan malah sibuk menyalahkan & "mengamankan" perempuan.
Fix the System, Not the Women merupakan buku Laura Bates pertamaku. Namanya sudah cukup sering aku dengar sbg aktivis kesetaraan gender yg juga rajin menulis esai dan buku. Tapi, baru kali ini aku beneran tertarik buat baca & dalam waktu singkat aku langsung menyukainya.
Aku sempat skeptis karena Bates adalah perempuan kulit putih. Khawatir kalau feminisme yg diusungnya adl yang bias ras. Namun ternyata tidak. Dia menulis dengan mengusahakan inklusivitas terhadap BIPOC. Bahkan juga mengutip konsep feminisme bell hooks dari buku Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (aku sudah pernah mereviewnya di Instagram) serta beberapa kali menyebut nama Nimko Ali & praktik FGM (aku juga sudah mereview bukunya di Instagram).
Buku ini seru untuk dibaca. Aku seperti punya teman julid ngata-ngatain 5 ekosistem itu. Dan berkat penjelasan Bates, aku jadi tahu mengapa bisa 5 ekosistem tersebut tidak inklusif.
Sebuah bacaan yang nggak tebal. Nggak sampai 200 halaman yang sekiranya bisa dilahap untuk membuka wawasan kita terhadap ketimpangan gender.
Fix the System, Not the Women sudah bisa dibeli di @periplusid
Kali ini pilihanku jatuh kepada buku barunya Laura Bates yang berjudul Fix the System, Not the Women. Sebuah kritik tertulis dari Bates kepada 5 ekosistem institusi yang menindoktrinasi, memaksakan, dan menormalisasi inequality.
Pada bab pertama, Bates sudah membuatku mendidih. Dia menuliskan pengalamannya serta perempuan lain yang ada dalam Everyday Sexism Project miliknya. Sebagian besar tentang pelecehan hingga kekerasan seksual yang dialami oleh perempuan. Bagaimana agak nggak mungkin ada perempuan yang nggak pernah jadi korban pelecehan. Coba ngaku, siapa di sini yang nggak pernah diluncah (catcall) oleh mas-mas/om-om/bapak-bapak? 👀
Dari input yang masuk melalui situs Everyday Sexism Project, Bates kemudian memetakan setidaknya ada 5 ekosistem yang seharusnya bebenah. Bukan malah sibuk menyalahkan & "mengamankan" perempuan.
Fix the System, Not the Women merupakan buku Laura Bates pertamaku. Namanya sudah cukup sering aku dengar sbg aktivis kesetaraan gender yg juga rajin menulis esai dan buku. Tapi, baru kali ini aku beneran tertarik buat baca & dalam waktu singkat aku langsung menyukainya.
Aku sempat skeptis karena Bates adalah perempuan kulit putih. Khawatir kalau feminisme yg diusungnya adl yang bias ras. Namun ternyata tidak. Dia menulis dengan mengusahakan inklusivitas terhadap BIPOC. Bahkan juga mengutip konsep feminisme bell hooks dari buku Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (aku sudah pernah mereviewnya di Instagram) serta beberapa kali menyebut nama Nimko Ali & praktik FGM (aku juga sudah mereview bukunya di Instagram).
Buku ini seru untuk dibaca. Aku seperti punya teman julid ngata-ngatain 5 ekosistem itu. Dan berkat penjelasan Bates, aku jadi tahu mengapa bisa 5 ekosistem tersebut tidak inklusif.
Sebuah bacaan yang nggak tebal. Nggak sampai 200 halaman yang sekiranya bisa dilahap untuk membuka wawasan kita terhadap ketimpangan gender.
Fix the System, Not the Women sudah bisa dibeli di @periplusid
April 29, 2026
“It feels safer to blame the women because then we can keep a handle on the problem. If the women cause it, it’s nobody else’s responsibility to fix it. […] If the women are to blame, we don’t need to overhaul our institutions, root out our ingrained, structural problems or, crucially, ask anything of men.”
3,5 stars. A concise and well researched book about how injustice and gender inequality is woven into the systems that rule our day-to-day life. If you are interested in feminist literature, much of the information discussed in this book won't be new, but it never hurts to be reminded that this sh*t is still happening and worth getting angry over.
Bates's writing is a captivating blend of shocking statistics and real-life examples, sarcastic remarks about the offered 'helpful advice', and showing the (lack off) progress in changing dire situations.
I remember hearing about the murder of Sarah Everard in 2021, but to read about the response of the Metropolitan Police and what that reveals about the police system (and legal system) as a whole was horrifying; especially since a recent case shows the Dutch police isn't much better.
However, other chapters or subjects deserved more attention; we spend less than ten pages reading about 'Media misogyny' and Andrew Tate is only mentioned in the last chapter.
Moreover, I really missed a chapter that delved into the misogyny and (racial) injustice in the health care system, because there are plenty of recent publications about period poverty, pregnancy care, and mental health support in the UK.
But overall, Bates's novel is a rallying cry for individuals to pay attention to the world around them, "keep your eye on where the power is", and a call for action to the people in power to change systems for the better.
"The most important weapon we have as women is our voices, and the communities we create by using them to share our experiences are stronger than we can imagine."
March 12, 2024
I’m at a loss for words that books like this one even need to be written. This was a very powerful read, so many different topics were covered - media, intersectionality, politics, the police etc!
4.5 purely for the fact that I wish the statistics and evidence were more Australian based.
I’m on the hunt now for more reads by this author!!
4.5 purely for the fact that I wish the statistics and evidence were more Australian based.
I’m on the hunt now for more reads by this author!!
![Profile Image for Amy [adleilareads].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1652548137i%2F91470664._UY200_CR0%2C0%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
January 10, 2024
Required reading for all, especially men.
March 13, 2024
Some really shocking statistics in this book. A book everyone should read.
June 17, 2024
wish Laura Bates didn’t have to write this but grateful to her for doing so
October 3, 2022
I have nothing else to say apart from - AMAZING!
This is essential reading for absolutely everyone, it made my stomach turn and made me incredibly sad. It also showed the power of collective organising and raising women's voices from around the world.
PLEASE READ!
This is essential reading for absolutely everyone, it made my stomach turn and made me incredibly sad. It also showed the power of collective organising and raising women's voices from around the world.
PLEASE READ!
May 19, 2025
I will read EVERYTHING Laura Bates writes!
This was another great exploration of misogyny and every day sexism, it made me angry (but if it doesn't I am concerned for you!) and validated my daily struggles as a woman in this world!
This was another great exploration of misogyny and every day sexism, it made me angry (but if it doesn't I am concerned for you!) and validated my daily struggles as a woman in this world!
May 14, 2022
Essential and relevant reading for everyone.
June 2, 2022
Fuck the patriarchy
September 28, 2022
I bloody love Laura Bates
January 29, 2023
Should be required reading
March 4, 2024
Every man should be forced to read this book.
June 1, 2025
“Pick up your magnifying glass and shoulder your drink-testing kit. Strap on your anti-rape underwear. Make sure to remember your attack alarm, your pepper spray, your adorable pink ring that doubles as a small self-protection weapon. Better still, take a pack of highly trained dogs on short leashes and some kind of small explosive device capable of neutralising potential assailants. But, hang on, isn’t all that gear going to slow you down when you’re trying to run into the path of the nearest bus? You know what? To be on the safe side, just stay at home or, come to think of it, check yourself into the nearest police station and ask them to lock you in a cell for maximum security. Oh no, wait. You can’t be sure you’ll be safe there either, can you? What if one of Wayne Couzens’ WhatsApp mates happens to be on duty?”
Didn’t really learn anything new but still a slay.
Didn’t really learn anything new but still a slay.
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