Book review: Lisa Sugiura, The Incel Rebellion: The Rise of the Manosphere and the Virtual War Against Women

Abstract

and led by Black women (including Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and Mariame Kaba), abolitionism challenges a variety of interlocking oppressive institutions, from chattel slavery to the modern Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) (p. 91). Rather than advocate for “best practice” and “fairer outcomes” to improve policing, abolitionists seek to defund, disarm, disband, and disempower policing altogether (p. 84). In its place, abolitionists promote an “infrastructure of care, welfare and community support” (p. 93). While often viewed as “naive, utopian, fanciful, idealistic and unrealistic” (p. 79), abolitionist practices remain prominent. During the Black Lives Matter (BLM) uprisings of 2020, protesters drew connections between structural racism and police, housing, and healthcare. In rallies, attendees provided hand sanitizer, masks, food and water, and physical protection, creating safety and support without—and against—the police. In concluding, the authors recommend maintaining safety without police; promoting organizations against state and police violence; and conducting “research on not for the police” (p. 111). Policing the Pandemic is succinct, accessible, and informative for students and professionals alike. It is, of course, a timely piece, as just over 6 million people have died from COVID-19 at the time of this writing. Analyzing the police’s role in exacerbating the crisis by treating “the public as the virus” is critical (p.1). Even as COVID-19 rates begin to decline and restrictions lift, the pandemic reveals the vast scope of police power. To that, I would have liked to see a bit more engagement with police practices and technologies used to enforce COVID-19 protocols, including the development of immunity passports, implementation of aerial drones to enforce lockdowns, or spit hoods ostensibly meant to protect police from cough and spit attacks but have also been used as a restraint method. Nevertheless, the broader historical analysis of policing, public order, and public health is invaluable; indeed, it allows for connections to be made between police power and a variety of public health crises. I am reminded of police carrying naloxone (Narcan) for opioid overdose reversal or social workers meant to assist police for crisis intervention. In this, Policing the Pandemic is key for imagining an abolitionist present and future that promotes care, community, and safety disentangled from policing’s security and order.