Entitled by Kate Manne does an excellent job of explaining complex concepts in accessible language without ever seeming to talk down to the reader. She provides compelling examples for every point she makes as she breaks down the different types of male entitlement prevalent in Western societies. By utilising sources from social media, other books and relevant studies, Manne show just how damaging pandering to male entitlement is to everyone; it limits what is possible for women based on nothing more than the arbitrary basis of gender.

I appreciated how inclusive Manne was in her language always ensuring that she highlighted the unique challenges faced by marginalised groups including trans and non-binary people and people of colour. The impressive amount of research she did for the book is evident in the sizeable notes section full of further explanation and additional resources for those who wish to dig even deeper into male entitlement, its roots and how we can work towards a more inclusive society.

I'm not entirely surprised that I loved this book since I strongly agree with Manne's stance on feminism and inclusivity - in my case, she was very much preaching to the converted. Unfortunately, those who most need to read this work are probably the ones least likely to read it - the men whose sense of entitlement has proven to be so damaging to men, women and everyone in between. While it is highly unlikely, I hope Manne's book makes its way into at least a few entitled men's hands, they could certainly learn a thing or two from it if they could only put their sense of entitlement aside for long enough to hear what it is she is trying to say.

A remarkable and important book

"Together, we must fight for a world in which girls and women are valued, cared for, and believed, within our social, legal, and medical institutions. Together, we must fight for a world in which the bodies of girls and women are not routinely controlled, sexualized, harassed, assaulted, and injured - or even destroyed altogether. Together, we must fight for a world in which every girl and woman is safe and free to be her own person, rather than consigned to be predominantly a human giver of sex, care, and love to which privileged boys and men are tacitly deemed entitled."

Kate Manne is an associate professor of philosophy at Cornell University. In “Entitled”, she explains how males (especially white males) have been the entitled social group for generations. She touches on misogyny, male entitlement, male privilege and toxic masculinity. Her language is remarkable, and I love the way she presents the data in this book. This book is not easy to read. It touches on several important subjects that are quite difficult to write or read about, for example sexual assault. Also, the data presented is at times quite dense. I find it very hard to review this book, as Manne’s language is so beautiful and well-written that my words could never compare. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and took lots of notes while going through it. This is a book that everyone, male or female, should read. I am planning to read “Down girl” soon, and I expect it to be equally fascinating and well written. Please, Professor Manne, do not let this be your last book!

In philosopher Kate Manne’s latest book, Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women, she does a deep dive into male entitlement, an aspect of misogyny that prioritizes what men believe they deserve and what women should give them, which is, obviously, problematic. From Brett Kavanaugh to incels to husbands who are oblivious to their what needs to happen in their own household, leaving the chore to their wives, Manne calls for an end to sexism by dismantling men's entitlement to women's affections, labor and deference.

I enjoyed this but I found it hard going at times, that’s not to say I thought it was going to be light and fluffy, I just meant I found the writing and information quite clinical and factual at times, not all the time, but enough that it made it hard to absorb easily at times. However, that said I thought it was a really important book and it needed writing, there needs to be more study, more books before than can be effectual change. It’s an important needed book and I hope there are more to come with it.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women is an exploration of male privilege, including male entitlement, both individual and systemic, to sex, power, and knowledge, and how this entitlement causes grave and deadly consequences for society at large, and women more specifically; this is the sophomore offering from prominent and well-respected Australian philosopher Kate Manne. From the dawn of time, misogyny has been an issue, albeit the term was not coined to describe the rampant inequality between the sexes until 1615 in a play written by Joseph Swetnam. Since then there has been a battle raging on many different fronts and here Manne scrutinises recent case studies of male privilege and misogyny deftly illustrating the consequences such behaviours have on society as a whole.

Gender should not be a prerequisite to success and it's time people realised that patriarchal structures are just as oppressive as any other form of discrimination. One of the reasons I feel there are quite a few detractors to the feminist cause of late is because it's meaning has slowly morphed into something that it was never intended to be — this move towards being wary of the cause was incontrovertibly brought about by radical feminists and those who have altered the meaning of feminism from a cause seeking equality between genders to one seeking to bestow superiority upon women and therefore merely subverting the status quo. From politics to medicine, consent to domestic chores, Manne creates a vast portrait of the ways in which male entitlement and misogyny intertwine.

This is an incisive and profoundly perceptive read which delivers a hard-hitting dose of reality to those who are asleep to the problems patriarchy causes. Just as I am writing this I noticed that on the author's Twitter she has stated that a pinned tweet advertising this book had been mass reported and then removed; I feel this is a damning indictment of those who wish the prejudice against women to continue unabated and will stop at nothing to ensure women do not feel empowered to fight for their rights instigated by inspiring, engaging and brutally honest books such as this. An accessible must-read for those interested in the way in which society currently works, Entitled teaches us to remember our value in a world that fails to reflect what we deserve back at us.

Women have won some hard-fought mini-battles, for the vote for instance, however, we are still fighting to be equal on other fronts, such as the right to equal pay in the workplace for two employees carrying out the same tasks. It is clear that we have achieved many smaller worthwhile victories but we are still yet to win the war. Many thanks to Allen Lane for an ARC.

Lots of complicated feelings about this one. First of all, I think this is an important book that will benefit many readers, especially those interested in the problem of misogyny, but who perhaps have not yet had a chance to read a lot of feminist theory.

"Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women" continues the work Manne started in "Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny." It does so while being more accessible than this latter, but also less focused. In "Down Girl," and "Entitled," Manne puts forth an ameliorative analysis for how we are to understand and define misogyny, moving away from the commonplace description of misogyny as simply "hating women for being women." Manne sees misogyny as something more systemic and less individualistic; she isn't interested in the intentions of those who perpetuate misogyny as much as she is interested in the consequences of misogyny on the lives of women and girls. This allows her not to get stuck in the quagmire that is trying to understand an oppressor's "true feelings" at the expense of the victims's experiences under an oppressive system. According to Manne, as she reiterates in this book too, misogyny is the backlash women face when they "step out of their lane," when they refuse to provide men with the moral goods that men think they are entitled to, or when they move to acquire these same moral goods for themselves.

As the title belies, in "Entitled," Manne looks specifically at the entitlement side of the equation: what do men think they are entitled to and how does that sense of entitlement harm women. I didn't always agree with Manne. While entitlement is definitely part of the problem, I felt that at times she bent the evidence to fit the argument, ignoring other elements at play. I also didn't understand the reason for some of the subdivisions: why talk about the entitlement to sex as separate from the entitlement to consent, when the only consent Manne addresses in this book is consent to sex?

Despite my misgivings, I think it is a book worth reading because it articulates the problem of misogyny by tracing the roots of misogyny back to men's entitlement to things like consent, sex, admiration, and even medical care. In doing so, it tackles a number of issues that pertain to women's experiences: from sexual assault, to how women's pain is ignored by the medical community, and how women continue to bear the brunt of domestic work even when married or partnered to self-identified feminist men. It also provides evidence for many of those things we think we know, but have never bothered to look up.

I particularly appreciated the book's last chapter where Manne outlines a manifesto for the future, an open letter, in a sense, to her daughter and the kind of person she wishes her daughter to become: one who knows that she is entitled to a lot more than society will probably teach her to feel entitled to, but also a person well aware of her privileges and the duties her privileges will confer upon her.

So, definitely pick this up if you are looking for something well-argued and engaging, without being too academic.

I went into this book thinking it would be interesting and an accessible read but this was just too dry and it was not that accessible. The writing was dry and i found this too dry and far too preachy in what it was saying. This had promise but it completely missed the mark for me.