***I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this opportunity.***

This was a great book. The story was captivating and kept me interested throughout. Can’t wait for more from this author.

I wanted to like this so much more than I actually did. I made it through most of the book (about 85%) but after pushing through this for months I'm not really compelled to go on. I read nonfiction to learn, and I picked this up hoping to learn more about the anti-feminist movement and why so many women want to use the freedoms that feminism has earned them in order to roll those freedoms back. But the analysis is mostly superficial and the few times that the author does engage with one of these individuals, they never really seemed to push them to get to the core of their ideology, just sort of relayed the talking points you can get from these people on twitter or blogs, and then moved on with maybe a few snarky side comments for the reader's benefit.
This is a more minor issue but there was a lot more "scene-setting" than I like in nonfiction (unless I'm reading a memoir). Whenever the author is at one of these pro-life or anti-feminist meetings, we have to read about what everyone is wearing, the crowd-size and demographics, what sort of merchandise they're handing out and I just couldn't have cared less. I was hoping for an incisive exploration of the anti-feminist mindset, but I feel I'm no closer to understanding this movement than I was when I picked this up. I think this book probably works for people who like a very prominent narrator and reads more like a person's journey through this cultural movement. rather than an exploration of it.

<p>(One of those reviews where I spend more time ruminating on my own mind than on the book in question.)</p>

<p>If the goal of <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20380766/book/156698026">F-Bomb</a> was self-reflection, than hurrah! It succeeded. Because I sit here and think and think and think and think about what I want to say about this book, about what didn't really work for me with it, and then I end up thinking about my twenties and then that day in my thirties where I just decided to take all the liberal feminism blogs off my RSS feed (yes, this was a while ago), mainly because there had been a whole string of <i>ewww breastfeeding is gross</i> and <i>yay I'm not pregnant</i> statements in articles* and it really hit me then that the feminism that these blogs was in very narrow focus, and me, non-USian, non-single, non-childfree, was not what they were ever going to focus on. <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20380766/book/156698026">F-Bomb</a> doesn't have that same teensy focus, but it has the same <i>feel</i> of trying to appeal to someone who isn't me. That's fine for me to not be in the audience -- I don't expect every book on every issue to cater to me (although I am awesome, so if you are looking for someone for your book to cater to, I do suggest me), but <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20380766/book/156698026">F-Bomb</a> does have a bit of an echo-chamber feel to it. Who is going to pick up this book? Middle (and up) class twenty somethings with an interest in liberal feminism. Who is going to say <i>hell yeah!</i> to the message in this book? Middle (and up) class twenty somethings with an interest in liberal feminism. Who is the audience for this book? Middle (and up) class twenty somethings with an interest in liberal feminism. Did it teach me (middle class and thirty something more aligned with non-liberal-feminism) anything I didn't already know? No. </p>

<p>Am I done posing questions? About <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20380766/book/156698026">F-Bomb</a>, no. Plus I have more to say.</p>

<p>Sometimes the book had snide quips for people, places, or things that McKeon holds in contempt. When it comes right down to it, that was what really annoyed me most about this book. But why? I know ridicule is a time-honoured tradition for revealing the <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/23157/how-superman-defeated-ku-klux-klan">sheer idiocy of idiotic movements</a>. So why did this grate so much in <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20380766/book/156698026">F-Bomb</a>? Because it was unnecessary, in which case I can blame McKeon, or because I found it catty -- which is such a loaded, gendered term -- in which case I have no one to blame but myself for falling prey to my own internalized misogyny. Am I mad at McKeon or am I mad at myself? If I am angry at myself, is that what is colouring my reaction to <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20380766/book/156698026">F-Bomb</a>? I just can't get past the feeling that <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20380766/book/156698026">F-Bomb</a> made me angry at the wrong things.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20380766/book/156698026">F-Bomb</a> by Lauren McKeon went on sale March 6, 2018.</p>

<p><small>I received a copy free from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">Netgalley</a> in exchange for an honest review.</small></p>


<p>* I actually emailed a complaint to the blog (I can't rightly remember which one it was now, but it was a relatively major one in terms of liberal feminist blogs) in question about how for some women pregnancy was a radical act (W/POC, people with disabilities, or any other people for whom body autonomy had been denied to them by governmental and/or social forces). The article in question disappeared, but there was no acknowledgement, not even an insincere mea-culpa, they didn't even email me back. Just <i>whoosh</i>, gone, no interest in engaging. It's shitty to be called out, yes, but these blogs had no problem calling out others, and I'd like to think I was polite about it. Didn't matter. No engagement back. Oh well.
Google Reader shuttered a few years later, so the golden age of RSS was coming to an end in any case.</p>

Basically, a study of women undoing all the progress that women have made so far. This book is a journalistic review of anti-feminism. Some of the stories McKeon shares are shocking and it made me angry to read this. She did a great job of researching, interviewing and reporting. Her writing is fast-paced and clear and enjoyable to read, but it was depressing to read because of the subject matter. *ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

'F Bomb' tackles an important subject that deserves attention--the pendulum-swing of feminist backlash--but it lacks some of the necessary gravitas to really get the point across. McKeon's style is enjoyable but insubstantial.

F-Bomb is pretty eye-opening, from trying to understand the women who loudly and proudly claim they are anti-feminist, to hearing what high school girls today think about feminism and the issues girls and women are still grappling with. It made me sad, angry, hopeful and proud all at the same time. I also really liked the emphasis that McKeon put on making modern feminism intersectional!

Closer to 3.5 stars. The information about the backlash against feminism was well explained and researched. I enjoyed the read, but sometimes there was a contemptuous undertone that I felt undermined the seriousness of the facts presented.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook.

Whilst F-Bomb was engaging, well-written and incredibly witty, it failed to bring anything new to the table when it comes to the discussion of why more and more women are rejecting feminism. This book isn’t targeted at the average Josephine, it is targeted at people already active within the feminist community and frankly, it does not tell them anything that they do not already know - we are aware of the misinterpretation of the feminist label, the rise of ‘white girl feminism’, the growing confidence of the voice that has been given to the alt-right by the election of Donald Trump, and the generational gap within the community itself as to how a feminist should look and act.
Really, F-Bomb does nothing more than hammer these points home and compile them all into one disheartening, horrifying book. This does not mean by any stretch that the information that it spouts is not important. Feminism does need to do so much more to be intersectional and inclusive, to work on its biases and its bigotries; and to continue to push forward against the issues that affect the unique everyday lives of all of the world's women. But all I wish is that Lauren McKeon could have said something new - anything at all that hasn’t been screamed in frustration by countless women before her.
And isn’t that the big issue? That so many people raise their voices to express frustration with feminism’s current topography, and yet, day to day, they don’t really do anything to make sure anything actually changes. However hard some may try, feminism as a whole has yet to get its act together, be more kind towards one another, and actually figure out what is important.
Who knows, maybe this will be the book that prompts them to do that.

Very eye opening. There is a lot to learn from this book. I'll definitely recommend it.

Couldn’t read this book due to a problem with the formatting which I am devastated about!

I was given an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. This book, as others have noted, is a millennial update of the 80s book Backlash. Millennial in the sense that it is written by and for Millennials, but also in that breezy personal anecdote style we associate with that generation and not Faludi's. . My experiences don't match the author's – but then I am from a different country in a different generation – but I believe her lived experience. she is writing from the perspective of a 34-year-old Canadian who reports that her liberal woke intellectual friends disdain the concept of feminism as unattractive or untrendy- she compares it to " gaining 20 pounds". She touches on the fact that many of us have some frustration with the movement as it is not sufficiently intersectional. It's well researched and flushed out . This book would be a good match for younger people who haven't read Backlash, and could relate to the Taylor Swift generation.

Women undoing the progress of women

I seem to be adding a new shelf: books that look at the unimaginable side. I was fascinated by What Slaveholders Think, and flabbergasted by Women Against Abortion. Now comes F-Bomb, in which Lauren McKeon ventures to interview and understand women vociferously against feminism. It gets ugly, but she handles it with aplomb. And thankfully, humor.

McKeon says the dictionary definition of feminist is “someone who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.” Yet only 5-20% of women consider themselves feminists. There is a huge anti-feminist movement across the continent. A lot of it is right wing, conservative and/or faith-based. But there are vast numbers of indoctrinated girls staking their futures on no say over their bodies, lower wages, and rape culture. This is the conundrum McKeon tackles.

From her base in Canada, McKeon, who teaches at Humber College and edits some of the biggest magazines in the country, takes a journalist’s approach. She went to conferences, and contacted groups, Youtube stars and ordinary schoolgirls to find out why they say what they do. She doesn’t hide her astonishment and distaste, but gives everyone respectful treatment. She doesn’t argue with them; she reports.

The lack of unity and non-symmetry of the feminist message becomes more apparent with every chapter. McKeon learned that everyone is a reductionist; they all want a simple, media-friendly message for this complex, hurtful issue. All groups and self-proclaimed leaders have the same fault; they generalize what “all women” want. If there is any general message here at all, it’s that all women do not want the same thing. There are groups that want to put men on pedestals and groups saying that women should not have the vote. Mostly, they hate the word feminist and whatever it conjures in their minds. It appears that feminists are learning the hard way that with any more than two people in the room, unanimity is all but impossible.

She describes in eloquent detail her own rape in high school, and how that changed everything. As well as how common it is. For boys too. She recites the failures of the justice system and government. And joined the Toronto bus to the Women’s March on Washington for Trump’s inauguration. McKeon is totally immersed in her subject.

One thing glaringly missing in F-Bomb is the failure of firms where women lead (either on the board or in executive positions, or from investment bankers who can set terms for client supplicants) to implement a feminist agenda. Is there still a wage gap at those companies? Are there still discrimination cases where women are discouraged for speaking up, or even fired? Are their boards 50% female? Are there family care benefits? Do they institutionalize equality? No word in F-Bomb.

Ironically, McKeon spends a lot of time fielding flak from older feminists who criticize millennials for dressing like sluts and not being feminists. She has coffee with a klatch of successful women in finance, now in their 60s. They say they fought for the breakthrough, and young women are abandoning it. They are disgusted by it every day. McKeon says she has no answers on behalf of her generation, but I do. It’s the older women’s fault. Why haven’t they mentored every generation in the importance of feminism? Why haven’t they used their senior positions to establish policy? Why haven’t they institutionalized equality so no one ever has to think about it again? Instead, we have the 70s generation whining about the millennials, while anti-feminists and male apologists take center stage. McKeon needs to throw it right back at them, especially with her far deeper understanding of the greater picture.

McKeon has a fast-paced style that is most accessible. The chapters of F-Bomb are focused and well-defined. The writing is clear, and the pacing is a pleasure. She puts her remarks on people and events in brackets, instead of footnotes (the ugly new trend I keep encountering, even in science books!), which is a great relief and helps keep up the pace. This is not a feminazi screed. It is not preachy. It provides far more insight than the referential We Were Feminists Once, by Andi Ziegler. McKeon is constantly surprised by what’s out there vying for acceptance, and so am I.

David Wineberg

Lauren McKeon gives us an in-depth view of feminism as it stands today in her book F-Bomb, looking at the emergence of new and popular anti-feminist groups, as well as the reason for women to leave the movement over the past decade. McKeon herself has been a feminist since her teens, a lot like me really, and has been an active and popular feminist writer in Canada for many years now, and adds her own personal account of how she has seen the movement splinter from the inside.
F-Bomb gives us an accurate and in-depth description of the issues that feminism faces today: terrible press, misinformation, lack of diversity, exclusive, online “schooling”, superiority from those who have “been around the block”, emergence of actual anti-feminist groups who sing a pretty song, etc. F-Bomb starts off with showing us that the movement will continue to lose both respect and view of concrete goals, as well as a continued mass exodus if we don’t focus on the core internal issues at hand.
McKeon isn’t scared of digging deep into her research, and I love that all of her points are backed up with real facts, as well as personal interviews with feminists, anti-feminists, and those in between. She does a great job with turning the anti-feminist and MRA movements inside out, and showing how they are able to take a narrative that seems pretty logical and sympathetic, and twist it, which is probably why they have gained so much appeal over the past few years. I have personally always dismissed the anti-feminist crowd as slightly stupid, but this actually showed me why so many people have jumped on the bandwagon. And while, yes, it will never be something that I will jump on, McKeon’s research really does point out that the holes in today’s feminism are much more glaring and large than I could see for myself.
I love that she brought up my biggest pet peeve with feminism, that of it often appearing as an exclusive club that only middle-class white women can join (and I have written about this before), drilling down to the absolute importance of intersectionality within the movement if it wants to stay alive and flourish. I also loved how McKeon took a whole chapter to discuss motherhood and feminism, and brought up all of the dualities that come with being a mother and a feminist. Again, I have no issues being both, but I can understand why a lot of women leave feminism behind when they become mothers, and McKeon makes some seriously excellent points.
After looking in the issues with feminism today in the first two parts, McKeon uses the third and last part of her book to show us what can change, and how we can help make the necessary changes needed to ensure that we continue to fight collectively for equal rights, against violence and abuse, and for an all-around better world for everyone. McKeon brings up the Women’s March, and shows that the next generations will be more inclusive and open to change, and there is a lot of hope in her tone. I did find that while F-Bomb did a great job researching all of the issues feminism faces today, there were no real concrete solutions in the final research (not that I was really looking for any anyway, I think looking at the issues gives a good example of where we need to work harder). So if you are looking for McKeon to tell you what you need to do, she doesn’t, but it should be pretty self-explanatory.
McKeon has a very specific style of writing: witty, funny, a little tongue in cheek. It sometimes sounds like she’s talking to you, which can get a little too much at times. I did find the book a little tough going in the beginning, but once I got used to how McKeon writes and gets her point across it’s actually pretty enjoyable. F-Bomb is a really well-researched, interesting book that brings home a lot of important points. I appreciate that this is not the only book that digs into the issues that feminism continues to face, but it does a great job showing all sides of the picture.
F-Bomb is set for release on March 6, 2018 through BenBella Books. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.