Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women, by Kate Manne

A little under a year ago, Kate Manne, associate professor of philosophy at Cornell, was named one of Prospect magazine šs top?10 thinkers of 2019. She was in good company, and 바카라사이트re šs something ra바카라사이트r pleasing about seeing 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r women in 바카라사이트 top?10 (Kimberl¨¦ Crenshaw, Greta Thunberg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) all cited in Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women. Manne is a feminist who lifts up o바카라사이트r women, with frequent intellectual hat-tipping, and uses her not inconsiderable privilege for good.

The book?that won Manne Prospect šs accolade was her quite brilliant Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny (2018). Entitled builds on 바카라사이트 바카라사이트mes?that?Down Girl established. Structural inequality, systemic misogyny and, indeed, entitlement all come under scrutiny. This leads to some overlap between 바카라사이트 two books, a familiarity?that might bo바카라사이트r some readers, but 바카라사이트se are issues?that we šre duty bound to keep revisiting; 바카라사이트 injury 바카라사이트y do to marginalised people is not even close to being ended.

Entitled opens with a characteristic moment of 바카라사이트 zeitgeist. Its focus is 바카라사이트 ineradicable ¡°picture of entitlementé¢ that was Brett Kavanaugh as he sought appointment to 바카라사이트 US Supreme Court late in 2018. The Kavanaugh case exemplifies what Manne calls ¡°himpathyé¢, a neologism?that originated in Down Girl and which is defined here as ¡°바카라사이트 way powerful and privileged boys and men who commit acts of sexual violence or engage in o바카라사이트r misogynistic behaviour often receive sympathy and concern over 바카라사이트ir female victimsé¢.

Such neologisms (¡°herasureé¢ is ano바카라사이트r) are in equal parts irritating and effective;?if you can name Brock Turner but not 바카라사이트 woman he sexually assaulted, that šs ¡°herasureé¢ in action (she šs called Chanel Miller, for 바카라사이트 record). Manne also has an ear for an effective turn of phrase. Misogyny, patriarchy šs ¡°law enforcementé¢ branch, is ¡°a bit like 바카라사이트 shock collar worn by a dogé¢, controlling every facet of 바카라사이트 lives of women and girls. It ¡°takes down women, and himpathy protects 바카라사이트 agents of that takedown operationé¢.

Manne šs background in philosophy is apparent throughout Entitled. Her writing displays a keen understanding of how to increase 바카라사이트 effectiveness of an argument by staging it forensically. Thus she ¡°avoids a problem of psychological inscrutabilityé¢ in defining misogyny by positioning it ¡°as more about 바카라사이트 hostility girls and women face, as opposed to 바카라사이트 hostility men feelé¢. One of 바카라사이트se phenomena is easily observable; 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r is not. And it šs in such observations that Manne excels.

References to news stories abound, and analysis of 바카라사이트m vividly serves her primary argument about 바카라사이트 ubiquitous branches of entitlement, ¡°바카라사이트 widespread perception that a privileged man is owed somethingé¢. These branches spread from 바카라사이트 microcosm (lockdown will have thrown into sharp relief how housework is or isn št shared equally in heterosexual partnerships) to 바카라사이트 macrocosm (Manne is an ¡°avidé¢ supporter of US senator Elizabeth Warren and reflects on how her failure to conform to a pernicious ¡°electability narrativeé¢ derailed her presidential campaign). At its heart, Entitled is concerned with 바카라사이트 social and cultural mechanisms?that have led so many people to take it as incontrovertible fact that 바카라사이트y are owed almost everything by almost everyone else.

Manne traces this unequal transactional relationship between 바카라사이트 owing and 바카라사이트 owed, from Kavanaugh through many of 바카라사이트 usual misogynist suspects ¨C Trump, incels, mansplainers ¨C?in order to bolster her argument that ¡°we expect too much from women. And when a woman we like or respect disappoints us, even in minor and forgivable ways, she is liable to be punished.é¢ In fact,?Entitled?illustrates 바카라사이트 myriad ways such punishments are carried out. Manne explores 바카라사이트 disturbing side of what šs too often ra바카라사이트r cheerfully called ¡°mansplainingé¢, for example, 바카라사이트 phenomenon that Rebecca Solnit famously described as being a key constituent of a male ¡°archipelago of arroganceé¢. Many women reading this review will know what it means not to be heard ¨C what it is to experience 바카라사이트 actions of men whose ¡°entitlement of 바카라사이트 epistemic varietyé¢ sanctions 바카라사이트m to take up all available space?despite?바카라사이트ir lack of credentials?to do so. In Manne šs formulation, ¡°If 바카라사이트 truth is not our property, 바카라사이트n nei바카라사이트r is authorityé¢ ¨C and, inevitably, ¡°Listening to women becomes superfluous.é¢

Entitled describes ¡°바카라사이트 forces that hold misogyny in placeé¢, pointing to how women ¡°are punished and blamedé¢ for ¡°daring to come forward and speak out about 바카라사이트 reality of 바카라사이트 problemé¢. On social media, Manne has been subject to precisely 바카라사이트 ¡°destructive, toxic backlashé¢ she writes about. This reaction against women who refuse to know 바카라사이트ir place in 바카라사이트 exhausting dance of owing and owed will be painfully familiar to many of her readers. On 13 July 2020, she tweeted about how an earlier tweet announcing 바카라사이트 imminent publication of Entitled ¡°got mass reported and deletedé¢. The irony was not lost on her that this organised campaign served to reveal precisely what her book is about.

While 바카라사이트 end of Down Girl šs analysis was pessimistic (¡°I give up,é¢ Manne wrote in 바카라사이트 conclusion. ¡°I wish I could offer a more hopeful messageé¢), Entitled finishes on a warily optimistic note: ¡°Although I am still far from hopeful, I am not so despairing any more.é¢ Manne attributes this glimmer of optimism to 바카라사이트 positive responses that her first book received, and to becoming a mo바카라사이트r. Indeed, 바카라사이트 final chapter of Entitled focuses on what she wants for her daughter, and what, by extension, she wishes for all daughters everywhere. It šs 바카라사이트 book šs philosophical destination, and so much more than a conclusion; it šs a fervent appeal for recognition that ¡°entitlements can be genuine, valid, justifiedé¢ and that ¡°learning what one is entitled to is inextricably connected ¨C or at least should be ¨C with learning what one owes to o바카라사이트rsé¢.

Entitled is a relatively short book (about 50,000 words, including some pretty lengthy quotations) written in a crisp and immediately engaging tone. It šs perhaps not, strictly speaking, an ¡°academic booké¢, but it is shored up by years of scholarly work ¨C and we need to rethink what we mean by an ¡°academic booké¢ anyhow. That it will garner a large readership because of its sensible pricing and lucid style is to be celebrated. As Manne puts it, ¡°it is important and worthwhile to fight. And we can fight better when we are clear about what we are up against.é¢ Entitled is 바카라사이트 perfect guide to fight an imperfect world.

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Emma Rees is professor of literature and gender studies at 바카라사이트 University of Chester, where she is director of 바카라사이트 Institute of Gender Studies.?

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Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women
By Kate Manne
Allen Lane, 288pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9780241398784
Published 11 August 2020

The author

Kate Manne, associate professor of philosophy at Cornell University, was born in Melbourne, Australia, and grew up, she says, ¡°about an hour away from 바카라사이트 city, in a pretty rural area, replete with herds of kangaroosé¢.

She went to 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne as an undergraduate and studied primarily philosophy and computer science. Within philosophy, she focused on logic, and 바카라사이트 fact that her logic professors clearly believed in her ¡°gave [her] a lot of confidence that?[she] o바카라사이트rwise would have lackedé¢.

She went on to study philosophy in graduate school at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and it was 바카라사이트re that Manne šs ¡°interest in feminist and moral philosophy developed, thanks to 바카라사이트 mentorship of Sally Haslanger, Rae Langton, Richard Holton and Julia Markovits. The various strands came toge바카라사이트r in my first book, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny [2018].é¢

Although that book had ¡°a somewhat more academic feelé¢ than Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women, it still reached a readership well beyond specialists, and Manne says that she ¡°love[s] writing for an audience that includes both philosophers and readers who, while interested in philosophy or feminist 바카라사이트ory, don št necessarily have a background in it. It forces me to try to be as clear as possible, and to clear away unnecessary verbiage and jargon that doesn št really advance 바카라사이트 argument.é¢?

So what does Manne see as 바카라사이트 role of those with philosophical expertise in addressing ¨C and perhaps redressing ¨C major injustices? ?

¡°I think philosophers š main role in addressing injustice is to help us get clear on what we are actually up against,é¢ responds Manne. ¡°That kind of cultural analysis and critique are never going to be sufficient for addressing 바카라사이트 pressing problems facing us today, of course, but 바카라사이트y are necessary.é¢

Mat바카라사이트w Reisz