Book Review: Whisper Network - Chandler Baker

I finished this book without 3 days, and that is no small feat amongst all the online distractions available on the internet.

In the midst of the #MeToo movement, this book comes at a time when victims of sexual harassment are still question and accused of trying to smear the reputations of their attackers.

The story is both a reflective look at the way women are expected to “have it all” in both work and family life. Some of the quotes were especially poignant for me.

Inescapable low-grade thought spirals that manifested in the at-least-once-a-week clammy feeling that spread out in our guts while we rode the elevator down to the lobby, the slow sense of dread building, that we’d left something undone, mishandled a situation, or fucked up royally. Not that we could quite put our finger on what, exactly, it was that we’d done wrong.

We were too busy doing the happy-pleasant-competent dance, smiling while we prayed no one would notice if we missed a step. But we couldn’t go on that way forever. What’s amazing now is that everyone expected us to.

I would tell you that predatory men like this exist, no matter which country, which industry, which level. I’ve once had a boss when I was working as a receptionist, there were always whispers about the manager who tend to allow his gaze to linger on the legs of female co-workers a second too long, inappropriate questions were asked. I was warned, too.

If we don’t help one another as women, who is going to?