pleasure and power among the privileged groups, Brown argues that excess and overindulgence inherently destroys the spiritual nature of pleasure. Pleasure, according to Brown, only truly exists in moderation. This assertion begs the question, “Do powerful white cisgender-heterosexual men paradoxically have problems experiencing pleasure due to an excess of power?” As a reader, I wasn’t entirely convinced that pleasure as a form of power can only exist in a temperate ecosystem of moderation. In fact, this line of conceptual thinking led me to wonder if privileged groups can derive pleasure from forms of domination and control, such as white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, and imperialism. Do men not only benefit from the patriarchy but also derive pleasure from it? Is it harder to give up or reallocate power if it is experienced as pleasurable? When we say that a dominant group benefits from oppression, as opposed to saying that they derive pleasure from the oppression of others, does the use of the word benefit obfuscate or sterilize a relationship to power that is more complex and insidious? Instead of pleasure being an inherently good or bad force, I conclude that it, instead, be conceptualized as a morally neutral form of power that can sustain both liberating and oppressive projects. Although, as a reader, I differed from Brown’s conceptualization of pleasure, I appreciate the rich space that Pleasure Activism provides for deeply thought-provoking analysis of the relationship between pleasure, power, race, oppression, and privilege within our society. Overall Brown’s Pleasure Activism is a welcoming and engaging intellectual space for discussion, analysis, and reflection around the liberating potential of reclaimed pleasure. Social workers who utilize numerous critical anti-oppression frameworks to dismantle systemic and structural forms of inequalities would benefit from concepts within Brown’s Pleasure Activism, as well as further exploration of how pleasure is relevant to radical practices within clinical work, policy, and research.

the axes of risks for mental health stigma (such as being racially minoritized, female gendered, largebodied, living in a devalued neighborhood, or belonging to a marginalized or disadvantaged social group) do not act alone (p. 185), and they call for a new agenda to minimize mental health stigma that replaces the “emphasis on public education that has been favored in the past” with the “identif[ication] and creat[ion] of social roles in which people with mental illnesses can contribute to and participate in society and the economy” (p. 169). Brewis and Wutich end the book with an important message: “stigma should not be used in any way, for any reason, to promote public health” (p. 187) and, relatedly, “shame in all its forms needs to be removed from the public health tool kit” (p. 188). The authors provide a multistep approach to addressing stigma in global health that includes (1) increasing practitioner’s awareness of stigma and the way it manifests in health; (2) tracking the nature and depth of stigma experiences, the systems and mechanisms that create and perpetuate stigma, the ways in which stigma reinforces or generates inequalities and injustices, and the ways in which those who are stigmatized find hope and improve their lives; and (3) connecting the evidence to policy. Brewis and Wutich’s invitation to focus on systemic approaches to preventing and undoing stigma in global health—for example, interventions and policies focused on adequate provision of water and sanitation for all (hygiene), better access to public transportation (obesity), and creation and identification of social roles where people with mental illness are valued (mental illness)—is refreshing. In their efforts to shift the narrative away from individual-level public health approaches and, relatedly, the shaming and stigmatization of marginalized individuals and communities, however, Brewis and Wutich do seem to minimize the importance of individual-level efforts to undo stigma in our own lives and direct spheres of influence. There is an important balance to be struck that both recognizes systemic-level intervention while not minimizing the role that individuals play in perpetuating stigma —one that also highlights how we, individually and collectively, can work toward destigmatization in global health. It is not an oversight in the book but an area for future work in this field. Overall, this is a social justice–informed and critically important book for students, scholars, professionals, and policy makers in public health, medical anthropology, health-related social work, and health justice.

However, there is little evidence that our global society does, in fact, want to change its treatment of justice-involved women. In order to implement the innovative, evidence-based solutions that Michalsen outlines, we must first figure out how to allow state administrators, elected officials, and the general public to care about the 700,000 women who live in cages throughout the world. Reading this excellent book is a powerful step toward that goal.