All We Want Is Everything - by Soraya Chemaly (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the award-winning author of a "battle-cry of a book" (The Guardian) Rage Becomes Her, comes a fearless and timely manifesto for identifying and rejecting male supremacy in our daily lives.

Drawing on her trademark skill, wit, clarity, and sharp insight, Soraya Chemaly walks us through how male supremacy operates, adapting dynamically in order to maintain cruel, exploitative systems of oppression.

Male supremacy, she asserts, isn't primarily about men dominating women; but rather a system that first and foremost violently pits men against each other using women and marginalized communities as resources in their competition for power. Under this system, anyone who isn't white, straight, CIS, and adhering to strict rules of traditional masculinity is considered inferior and rendered "other"--women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, immigrants, religious minorities, the disabled, and Black and Indigenous communities. Being feminized defines vulnerability, exploitability, and disposability.

There is no justice for any community until we confront this defining injustice. Most men don't have to benefit from this system or feel powerful for this system to work, indeed only a relatively few do. While women, particularly those with multiple marginalized identities, are hurt the most, men, too, need liberation from this oppressive system.

All We Want Is Everything offers both unflinching analysis and genuine hope, informed by the bold and revolutionary potential of feminist imagination. From private relationships to global politics, Chemaly shows how naming and refusing male supremacy is essential to resisting the forces tearing democracy apart. This fresh, timely, clear-eyed, and necessary manifesto is a call to refuse supremacist identities, relationships, and values in order to build more just, healthy, and sustainable worlds for everyone.

Review Quotes

"A painful, funny, and necessary book for uncertain times. Soraya Chemaly uses the past to teach us about the present and potential futures. She proves once again that equality is the only way forward for a functional society even as it feels like the world is collapsing around us because of escalating misogyny."
-- Mikki Kendall, author of Hood Feminism

"With razor-sharp insight and analysis, Soraya Chemaly slices through the cultural narrative about the decline of men in America and argues that our rights and advancement are not a zero-sum game. If you've ever heard issues of 'abortion' or the 'gender pay gap' dismissed as merely 'women's issues, ' Chemaly turns that dismissal on its head and tosses it out the door. She effectively argues that issues of gender are the very building blocks of our society, underpinning everything from the economy to education. All We Want is Everything is a necessary myth-buster that will revolutionize the way you see not just your own life, but American democracy. Rooted in research and compellingly argued, Chemaly makes a case for the liberation of men and women from the chains of patriarchy. This book is astonishingly revelatory, eloquent, and incisive. Like a skilled surgeon, Chemaly cuts through the rot of our cultural logic and shows us not just what the problem is but offers us all a way out, if we choose it."
-- Lyz Lenz, author of This American Wife

"Chemaly's best work yet. Every chapter is a mic drop. From girls' earliest experiences of violence to the myriad ways women experience discrimination in the workplace to the steady rollback of women's healthcare and reproductive rights, Chemaly details a devastating intersectional crisis presided over by powerful men who benefit from maintaining the status quo. She takes accepted societal narratives and explodes them with precise, righteous logic and, yes, entirely justified rage. But she also offers a tantalizing vision for what a different world could look like. We must heed her warning now, before it is too late."
-- Laura Bates, author of Men Who Hate Women

"With the sharp insight and wit that made her previous work, Rage Becomes Her, a rallying cry for women's anger, Chemaly now turns her attention to the urgent need for collective action and systemic change. Drawing on her expertise as an award-winning writer and activist, she guides readers through the history and mechanics of male dominance, exposing how it underpins political, cultural, and social crises, especially in the wake of recent rise in authoritarianism. Chemaly's writing is both incisive and hopeful, offering readers practical tools to recognize, name, and challenge the status quo. She not only diagnoses the problem, but inspires with a vision for a more equitable future for all genders. Essential reading for anyone committed to justice, equality, and the ongoing fight for true democracy."?
-- Shannon Watts, author of Fight Like A Mother

"All We Want is Everything is unapologetically feminist and brilliantly argued, like all of Soraya Chemaly's writing. It's also highly engaging and compulsively readable. She manages to pack a wide-ranging critique of the many ways in which male supremacy continues to blunt women's voices and diminish their lives into one concise volume - quite a feat. She names the problem, provides user-friendly analysis, and issues a call to action. Some of this material can be especially challenging for some men, but isn't that the point? Male supremacy shouldn't make any of us comfortable because it's incompatible with democracy and any notion of a just society. This urgent, powerful book should be widely read."
-- Jackson Katz, author of The Macho Paradox

"Once again, Soraya Chemaly invites us to dig deep as we examine the structures around us and how male supremacy harms us all. Through thoughtful anecdotes, life experiences, and research, Chemaly investigates how male supremacy poisons our daily lives and offers us the antidote towards gender liberation."
-- Renee Bracey Sherman, co-author of LIBERATING ABORTION

"All We Want Is Everything carries forward Soraya Chemaly's remarkable ability to identify an invisible but harmful structure by dissecting and exposing its pernicious ubiquity throughout our society. Weaving a tapestry of personal experience and data-driven evidence, Chemaly has forged a compendium on male supremacy that is accessible -- and essential -- to all readers wanting to make sense of seemingly intractable issues that stymie gender equality.?"
-- Marcie Bianco, author of Breaking Free

About the Author

Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning writer and activist whose work focuses on the role of gender in culture, politics, religion, and media. She is the director of the Women's Media Center Speech Project and an advocate for women's freedom of expression and expanded civic and political engagement. A prolific writer and speaker, her articles appear in Time, The Verge, The Guardian, The Nation, HuffPost, and The Atlantic. Follow her on X at @SChemaly and learn more at SorayaChemaly.com.