Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against
women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
. It is a form of
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers prima ...
that is used to keep women at a lower
social status
Social status is the level of social value a person is considered to possess. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. S ...
than
men, thus maintaining the societal roles of
patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced for thousands of years. It is reflected in art, literature, human societal structure, historical events,
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
,
philosophy, and
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural ...
worldwide.
An example of misogyny is
violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against woman, women or Girl, girls, usually by Man, men or Boy, boys. Such ...
, which includes
domestic violence and, in its most extreme forms,
misogynist terrorism
Misogynist terrorism is terrorism motivated by the desire to punish women. It is an extreme form of misogyny, the policing of women's compliance to patriarchal gender expectations. Misogynist terrorism uses mass indiscriminate violence in an atte ...
and
femicide. Misogyny also often operates through
sexual harassment, coercion, and psychological techniques aimed at controlling women, and by legally or
socially excluding women from full citizenship. In some cases, misogyny rewards women for accepting an inferior status.
Misogyny can be understood both as an attitude held by individuals, primarily by
men, and as a widespread cultural custom or system.
In
feminist thought, misogyny also includes the rejection of feminine qualities. It holds in contempt institutions, work, hobbies, or habits associated with women. It rejects any aspects of men that are seen as feminine or unmanly. Misogyny may or may not include hate towards
LGBT people, in the forms of
homophobia and
transmisogyny.
Racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
and other prejudices may reinforce and overlap with misogyny.
According to the
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
the English word "misogyny" was coined in the middle of the 17th century from the Greek misos ‘hatred’ + gunē ‘woman’. The word was rarely used until it was popularised by
second-wave feminism in the 1970s.
Background
Misogyny likely arose at the same time as
patriarchy: three to five thousand years ago at the start of the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
.
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxf ...
—the belief in one, usually male god—began to replace
pantheism
Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ...
and
matriarchal religions. The three main monotheistic religions of
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
,
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...
and
Islam promoted patriarchal societal structures, and used misogyny to keep women at a lower status.
Misogyny gained strength in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, especially in Christian societies.
In parallel to these developments, misogyny was also practiced in more primitive global societies such as the tribes of the
Amazon Basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...
and
Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, ...
, who did not follow a monotheistic religion. Nearly every human culture contains evidence of misogyny.
Anthropologist David D. Gilmore argues that misogyny is rooted in men's conflicting feelings: men's existential dependence on women for
procreation, and men's fear of women's power over them in their times of male weakness, contrasted against the deep-seated needs of men for the love, care and comfort of women—a need that makes the men feel vulnerable.
Definitions
English and American dictionaries define misogyny as "hatred of women" and as "hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women".
The American
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
distinguishes misogyny "a hatred of women" from
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers prima ...
, which denotes sex based discrimination, and "behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex."
In 2012, primarily in response to
a speech in the Australian Parliament, the
Macquarie Dictionary
The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is generally considered by universities and the legal profession to be the authoritative source on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand ...
(which documents
Australian English and
New Zealand English
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
) expanded its definition to include not only hatred of women but also "entrenched prejudices against women".
Social psychology research describes overt misogyny as "blatant hostile sexism" that raises resistance in women, as opposed to "manifestations of benevolent sexism" or
chivalry
Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed b ...
that lead women to behave in a manner perpetuating patriarchal arrangements.
According to sociologist
Allan G. Johnson
Allan G. Johnson (1946–2017) was an American writer and public speaker who worked in the fields of sociology and gender studies. One of his nonfiction works is '' The Gender Knot: Unraveling our Patriarchal Legacy'', about the detrimental effect ...
, "misogyny is a cultural attitude of hatred for females because they are female". Johnson argues that:
Sociologist
Michael Flood
Michael G. Flood is an Australian sociologist and an associate professor at the Queensland University of Technology School of Justice. Flood gained his doctorate in gender and sexuality studies from the Australian National University. His areas ...
at the
University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment ...
defines misogyny as the hatred of women, and notes:
Philosopher
Kate Manne of
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...
defines misogyny as the attempt to control and punish women who challenge male dominance.
Manne finds the traditional "hatred of women" definition of misogyny too simplistic, noting it does not account for how perpetrators of
misogynistic violence may love certain women; for example, their mothers.
Instead, misogyny rewards women who uphold the
status quo and punishes those who reject women's subordinate status.
Manne distinguishes
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers prima ...
, which she says seeks to rationalise and justify
patriarchy, from misogyny, which she calls the "law enforcement" branch of patriarchy:
''Misogynous'' and ''misogynistic'' can both be used as an adjectival form of the word. The noun ''misogynist'' can be used for a woman-hating person. The counterpart of misogyny is
misandry, the hatred or dislike of men. Misandry is a minor issue, not equivalent to the widespread practice and extensive history of misogyny.
The
antonym of misogyny,
philogyny—love or fondness toward women—
is not widely used. Words derived from the word ''misogyny'' and denoting connected concepts include
misogynoir, the intersection of anti-black
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
and misogyny faced by
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
women;
transmisogyny, the intersection of misogyny and transphobia faced by
trans women
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may Gender transitioning, transition; this process commonly includes Feminizing horm ...
and
transfeminine people; and transmisogynoir, the confluence of these faced by black trans women and transfeminine people.
Historical usage
Classical Greece
In his book ''City of Sokrates: An Introduction to Classical Athens'', J.W. Roberts argues that older than tragedy and comedy was a misogynistic tradition in Greek literature, reaching back at least as far as
Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
. He claims that the term ''misogyny'' itself comes directly into English from the Ancient Greek word ''misogunia'' (), which survives in several passages.
The earlier, longer, and more complete passage comes from a moral tract known as ''On Marriage'' (''c''. 150 BC) by the
stoic philosopher
Antipater of Tarsus.
[A recent critical text with translation is i]
Appendix A
to Will Deming, ''Paul on Marriage and Celibacy: The Hellenistic Background of 1 Corinthians 7'', pp. 221–226.
''Misogunia'' appears in the accusative case
The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...
on page 224 of Deming, as the fifth word in line 33 of his Greek text.
It is split over lines 25–26 in von Arnim. Antipater argues that marriage is the foundation of the state, and considers it to be based on divine (
polytheistic) decree. He uses ''misogunia'' to describe the sort of writing the tragedian
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars ...
eschews, stating that he "reject
the hatred of women in his writing" (ἀποθέμενος τὴν ἐν τῷ γράφειν μισογυνίαν). He then offers an example of this, quoting from a lost play of Euripides in which the merits of a dutiful wife are praised.
According to
Tieleman other surviving use of the Ancient Greek word is by
Chrysippus, in a fragment from ''On affections'', quoted by
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be on ...
in ''
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history o ...
on Affections''. Here, ''misogyny'' is the first in a short list of three "disaffections"—women (''misogunia''), wine (''misoinia'', μισοινία) and humanity (''misanthrōpia'', μισανθρωπία). Chrysippus' point is more abstract than Antipater's, and Galen quotes the passage as an example of an opinion contrary to his own. What is clear, however, is that he groups hatred of women with hatred of humanity generally, and even hatred of wine. "It was the prevailing medical opinion of his day that wine strengthens body and soul alike."
[Teun L. Tieleman, ]
Chrysippus' on Affections:
Reconstruction and Interpretations'', (Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2003), p. 162. So Chrysippus, like his fellow stoic Antipater, views misogyny negatively, as a
disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
; a dislike of something that is good. It is this issue of conflicted or alternating emotions that was philosophically contentious to the ancient writers. Ricardo Salles suggests that the general stoic view was that "
man may not only alternate between philogyny and misogyny, philanthropy and misanthropy, but be prompted to each by the other."
In the ''Routledge philosophy guidebook to Plato and the Republic'', Nickolas Pappas describes the "problem of misogyny" and states:
''Misogynist'' is also found in the Greek—''misogunēs'' ()—in ''Deipnosophistae'' (above) and in
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ...
's ''Parallel Lives'', where it is used as the title of
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adopt ...
in the history of
Phocion. It was the title of a play by
Menander, which we know of from book seven (concerning
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...
) of
Strabo's 17 volume ''
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...
'',
[ Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, '']A Greek–English Lexicon
''A Greek–English Lexicon'', often referred to as ''Liddell & Scott'' () or ''Liddell–Scott–Jones'' (''LSJ''), is a standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language originally edited by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, He ...
'' (''LSJ''), revised and augmented by Henry Stuart Jones and Roderick McKenzie, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940). and quotations of Menander by
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen an ...
and
Stobaeus that relate to marriage. A Greek play with a similar name, ''Misogunos'' (Μισόγυνος) or ''Woman-hater'', is reported by
Marcus Tullius Cicero (in Latin) and attributed to the poet
Marcus Atilius Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to:
* Marcus (name), a masculine given name
* Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name
Places
* Marcus, a Asteroid belt, main belt asteroid, also known as List of minor planets: 369001–370000#088, ( ...
.
Cicero reports that Greek philosophers considered misogyny to be caused by
gynophobia, a fear of women.
[ Marcus Tullius Cicero, '' Tusculanae Quaestiones'', Book 4, Chapter 11.]
In summary, despite considering women as generally inferior to men, Greek literature considered misogyny to be a
disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
—an
anti-social condition—in that it ran contrary to their perceptions of the value of women as wives and of the family as the foundation of society. These points are widely noted in the secondary literature.
English language
According to the
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
the word entered English because of an anonymous
proto-feminist play, ''
Swetnam the Woman-Hater
''Swetnam the Woman-Hater Arraigned by Women'' is a Jacobean era stage play, an anonymous comedy that was part of an anti-feminist controversy of the 1615–20 period.
Performance and publication
''Swetnam the Woman-Hater'' was first publish ...
'', published in 1620 in England. The play is a criticism of anti-woman writer
Joseph Swetnam, who it represents with the pseudonym Misogynos. The character of Misogynos is the origin of the term misogynist in English.
The term was fairly rare until the mid-1970s. The publication of
feminist Andrea Dworkin's 1974 critique ''
Woman Hating
''Woman Hating: A Radical Look at Sexuality'' is the debut nonfiction book by American radical feminist writer and activist Andrea Dworkin. It was first published in 1974 by E. P. Dutton.
Background
While Dworkin was living in Amsterdam, she ...
'' popularised the idea. The term misogyny entered the lexicon of
second-wave feminism. Dworkin and her contemporaries used the term to include not only a hatred or contempt of women, but the practice of controlling women with violence and punishing women who reject subordination.
Misogyny was discussed worldwide in 2012 because of a
viral video
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan ...
of a speech by Australian Prime Minister
Julia Gillard. Her parliamentary address is known as the
Misogyny Speech. In the speech, Gillard powerfully criticised her opponents for holding her policies to a
different standard than those of male politicians, and for speaking about her in crudely sexual terms.
She was criticised for systemic misogyny because earlier in the day her Labor Party had passed legislation cutting $728 million
in welfare benefits to single mothers.
Gillard's usage of the word "misogyny" promoted re-evaluations of the word's published definitions. The ''
Macquarie Dictionary
The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is generally considered by universities and the legal profession to be the authoritative source on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand ...
'' revised its definition in 2012 to better match the way the word has been used over the prior 30 years. The book ''
Down Girl'', which reconsidered the definition using the tools of
analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United ...
, was inspired in part by Gillard.
Religion
Ancient Greek
In ''Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice'',
Jack Holland argues that there is evidence of misogyny in the
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
of the ancient world. In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...
according to Hesiod, the human race had already experienced a peaceful, autonomous existence as a companion to the gods before the creation of women. When
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, know ...
decides to steal the secret of fire from the gods,
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...
becomes infuriated and decides to punish humankind with an "evil thing for their delight". This "evil thing" is
Pandora, the first woman, who carried a jar (usually described—incorrectly—as a box) which she was told to never open.
Epimetheus (the brother of Prometheus) is overwhelmed by her beauty, disregards Prometheus' warnings about her, and marries her. Pandora cannot resist peeking into the jar, and by opening it she unleashes into the world all evil;
labour,
sickness,
old age
Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...
, and
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
.
Buddhism
In his book ''The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender'', professor Bernard Faure of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
argued generally that "Buddhism is paradoxically neither as sexist nor as egalitarian as is usually thought." He remarked, "Many feminist scholars have emphasised the misogynistic (or at least androcentric) nature of Buddhism" and stated that Buddhism morally exalts its male monks while the mothers and wives of the monks also have important roles. Additionally, he wrote:
Christianity
Differences in tradition and interpretations of scripture have caused sects of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...
to differ in their beliefs with regard to their treatment of women.
In ''The Troublesome Helpmate'', Katharine M. Rogers argues that Christianity is misogynistic, and she lists what she says are specific examples of misogyny in the
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...
. She states:
In K. K. Ruthven's ''Feminist Literary Studies: An Introduction'', Ruthven makes reference to Rogers' book and argues that the "legacy of Christian misogyny was consolidated by the so-called 'Fathers' of the Church, like
Tertullian
Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of ...
, who thought a woman was not only 'the gateway of the devil' but also 'a temple built over a sewer'."
Several Christian institutions exclude women. For example, women are excluded from the
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...
region of Greece and from the governing
Hierarchy of the Catholic Church
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons. In the ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy ordering" of the Church, the Body of Christ, so to respect the diversity of gif ...
. Some Christian theologians, such as
John Knox
John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Born in Giffordga ...
in his book ''
The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women'', have written that women should be excluded from secular government institutions as well for religious reasons.
However, some other scholars have argued that Christianity does not include misogynistic principles, or at least that a proper interpretation of Christianity would not include misogynistic principles. David M. Scholer, a biblical scholar at
Fuller Theological Seminary, stated that the verse
Galatians 3:28 ("There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus") is "the fundamental Pauline theological basis for the inclusion of women and men as equal and mutual partners in all of the ministries of the church."
In his book ''Equality in Christ? Galatians 3:28 and the Gender Dispute'', Richard Hove argues that—while Galatians 3:28 does mean that one's sex does not affect salvation—"there remains a pattern in which the wife is to emulate the church's submission to Christ and the husband is to emulate Christ's love for the church."
In ''Christian Men Who Hate Women'', clinical psychologist Margaret J. Rinck has written that
Christian social culture often allows a misogynist "misuse of the biblical ideal of submission". However, she argues that this a distortion of the "healthy relationship of mutual submission" which is actually specified in Christian doctrine, where "
ve is based on a deep, mutual respect as the guiding principle behind all decisions, actions, and plans". Similarly, Catholic scholar
Christopher West argues that "male domination violates God's plan and is the specific result of sin".
Islam
The fourth chapter (or ''
sura
A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...
'') of the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...
is called "Women" (''
an-nisa''). The
34th verse is a key verse in feminist criticism of
Islam. The verse notes men's God-given advantages over women. They are consequently their protectors and maintainers. Where women are disobedient "admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them...." In his book ''
No god but God'',
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8. ...
, Professor
Reza Aslan wrote that "misogynistic interpretation" has been persistently attached to An-Nisa, 34 because commentary on the Quran "has been the exclusive domain of Muslim men".
In his book ''Popular Islam and Misogyny: A Case Study of Bangladesh'', Taj Hashmi discusses misogyny in relation to Muslim culture, writing:
Sikhism
Scholars William M. Reynolds and Julie A. Webber have written that
Guru Nanak
Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also referred to as ('father Nānak'), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated ...
, the founder of the
Sikh faith tradition, was a "fighter for women's rights" that was "in no way misogynistic" in contrast to some of his contemporaries. However, unconscious misogynistic attitudes in Sikh men have steadily reduced the power of women in Sikhism, such that the Sikh community has been observed to contain
toxic masculinity.
Misogynistic ideas among prominent Western thinkers
Numerous influential
Western philosophers have expressed ideas that have been characterised as misogynistic, including
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...
,
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathe ...
,
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book '' Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influ ...
,
John Locke,
David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment phil ...
,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revol ...
,
G. W. F. Hegel,
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
,
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
,
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
,
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
,
Otto Weininger,
Oswald Spengler
Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (; 29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German historian and philosopher of history whose interests included mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best k ...
, and
John Lucas.
Because of the influence of these thinkers, feminist scholars trace misogyny in Western culture to these philosophers and their ideas.
Aristotle
Aristotle believed women were inferior and described them as "deformed males".
In his work ''
Politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
'', he states
as regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject 4 (1254b13-14).
Another example is ''Cynthia's catalog'' where Cynthia states "Aristotle says that the courage of a man lies in commanding, a woman's lies in obeying; that 'matter yearns for form, as the female for the male and the ugly for the beautiful'; that women have fewer teeth than men; that a female is an incomplete male or 'as it were, a deformity'.
Aristotle believed that men and women naturally differed both physically and mentally. He claimed that women are "more mischievous, less simple, more impulsive ... more compassionate
... more easily moved to tears
... more jealous, more querulous, more apt to scold and to strike
... more prone to despondency and less hopeful
... more void of shame or self-respect, more false of speech, more deceptive, of more retentive memory
nd... also more wakeful; more shrinking
ndmore difficult to rouse to action" than men.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revol ...
is well known for his views against equal rights for women for example in his treatise ''
Emile'', he writes: "Always justify the burdens you impose upon girls but impose them anyway... . They must be thwarted from an early age... . They must be exercised to constraint, so that it costs them nothing to stifle all their fantasies to submit them to the will of others." Other quotes consist of "closed up in their houses", "must receive the decisions of fathers and husbands like that of the church".
Arthur Schopenhauer
Based on his essay "On Women" (Über die Weiber),
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
has been noted as a misogynist by many such as the philosopher, critic, and author Tom Grimwood.
In a 2008 article published in the philosophical journal of ''Kritique,'' Grimwood argues that Schopenhauer's misogynistic works have largely escaped attention despite being more noticeable than those of other philosophers such as Nietzsche.
For example, he noted Schopenhauer's works where the latter had argued women only have "meagre" reason comparable that of "the animal" "who lives in the present". Other works he noted consisted of Schopenhauer's argument that women's only role in nature is to further the species through childbirth and hence is equipped with the power to seduce and "capture" men.
He goes on to state that women's cheerfulness is chaotic and disruptive which is why it is crucial to exercise obedience to those with rationality. For her to function beyond her rational subjugator is a threat against men as well as other women, he notes. Schopenhauer also thought women's cheerfulness is an expression of her lack of morality and incapability to understand abstract or objective meaning such as art.
This is followed up by his quote "have never been able to produce a single, really great, genuine and original achievement in the fine arts, or bring to anywhere into the world a work of permanent value".
Schopenhauer condemned what he called "Teutonico-Christian stupidity" on female affairs. He argued that women are "by nature meant to obey" as they are "childish, frivolous, and short sighted".
He also argued that women did not possess any real beauty:
Nietzsche
In ''
Beyond Good and Evil'',
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
stated that stricter controls on women was a condition of "every elevation of culture". In his ''
Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', he has a female character say "You are going to women? Do not forget the whip!" In ''
Twilight of the Idols'', Nietzsche writes "Women are considered profound. Why? Because we never fathom their depths. But women aren't even shallow." There is controversy over the questions of whether or not this amounts to misogyny, whether his polemic against women is meant to be taken literally, and the exact nature of his opinions of women.
[Robert C. Holub, ''Nietzsche and The Women's Question'']
Coursework for Berkeley University.
/ref>
Hegel
Hegel's view of women can be characterised as misogynistic. Passages from Hegel's '' Elements of the Philosophy of Right'' illustrate the criticism:
Violence
Terrorism and hate crimes
Femicide is the name of a hate crime, the intentional killing of women or girls on account of their sex. It is ideological misogynist killing, and in some cases may also be an example of domestic violence.
Misogynist terrorism
Misogynist terrorism is terrorism motivated by the desire to punish women. It is an extreme form of misogyny, the policing of women's compliance to patriarchal gender expectations. Misogynist terrorism uses mass indiscriminate violence in an atte ...
is terrorism intended to punish woman. Since 2018 counter-terrorism professionals such as ICCT and START
Start can refer to multiple topics:
*Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air
* Starting lineup in sports
* Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race
Acronyms
* ...
have tracked misogyny or male supremacy as ideologies that have motivated terrorism. They describe this form of terror as a "rising threat". Among the attacks designated as misogynist terrorism
Misogynist terrorism is terrorism motivated by the desire to punish women. It is an extreme form of misogyny, the policing of women's compliance to patriarchal gender expectations. Misogynist terrorism uses mass indiscriminate violence in an atte ...
are the 2014 Isla Vista killings and the 2018 Toronto van attack. Some of the attackers have identified with the incel movement, and were motivated to kill by a perception of being entitled to sexual access to women. However, misogyny is common among mass killers, even when it is not the primary motivation.
Online misogyny
Misogynistic rhetoric is prevalent online and has grown more aggressive over time. Online misogyny includes both individual attempts to intimidate and denigrate women, denial of gender inequity ( neosexism), and also coordinated, collective attempts such as vote brigading and the Gamergate antifeminist harassment campaign. In a paper written for the '' Journal of International Affairs'', Kim Barker and Olga Jurasz
Olga may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha
* Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga"
Places
Russia
* Olga, Russia ...
discuss how online misogyny can lead to women facing obstacles when trying to engage in the public and political spheres of the internet due to the abusive nature of these spaces. They also suggest regulations and shut downs of online misogyny through both governmental and non-governmental means.
Andrew Tate, an influencer and kickboxer known for his outspoken misogyny, has said in videos that women belong in the kitchen, should not drive, and are a man's financial and physical property. His posts on social media often contain him talking about attacking women and saying he is superior to these women. He has said women need to "bear responsibility" for their attacks including rape. Romanian authorities have said that Tate is under investigation in sex trafficking; he has said he moved there from the United Kingdom partly to avoid the possibility of sexual abuse charges.
Coordinated attacks
The most likely targets for misogynistic attacks by coordinated groups are women who are visible in the public sphere, women who speak out about the threats they receive, and women who are perceived to be associated with feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
or feminist gains. Authors of misogynistic messages are usually anonymous or otherwise difficult to identify. Their rhetoric involves misogynistic epithets and graphic or sexualised imagery. It centres on the women's physical appearance, and prescribes sexual violence as a corrective for the targeted women. Examples of famous women who spoke out about misogynistic attacks are Anita Sarkeesian, Laurie Penny, Caroline Criado Perez, Stella Creasy
Stella Judith Creasy (born 5 April 1977) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for the London constituency of Walthamstow since 2010.
She served in the frontbench teams of Ed Miliband and Harriet ...
, and Lindy West.
These attacks do not always remain online only. Swatting was used to bring Gamergate attacks into the physical world.
Language used
The insults and threats directed at different women tend to be very similar. Jude Ellison Sady Doyle, who has been the target of online threats, noted the "overwhelmingly impersonal, repetitive, stereotyped quality" of the abuse, the fact that "all of us are being called the same things, in the same tone".
A 2016 study conducted by the think tank Demos found that the majority of Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
messages containing the words "whore" or "slut" were advertisements for pornography. Of those that were not, a majority used the terms in a non-aggressive way, such a discussion of slut-shaming. Of those that used the terms "whore" or "slut" in an aggressive, insulting way, about half were women and half were men. Twitter users most frequently targeted by women with aggressive insults were celebrities, such as Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
.
A 2020 study published in the journal '' New Media & Society'' also discusses how language on the internet can contribute to online misogyny. The authors specifically criticise Urban Dictionary, claiming the language used in the definitions are misogynistic and anti-feminist, rather than simply being a collaborative dictionary.
A 2021 study published at the meeting of the '' Association for Computational Linguistics'' notes that online misogyny presents differently in different contexts. For example: Spanish online discussions show a stronger presence of Dominance; Italian misogyny has a plurality of stereotyping & objectification; English online misogyny most frequently involves discrediting women; and Danish discussions primarily express neosexism.
With white supremacy
Andrew Anglin uses the white supremacist website '' The Daily Stormer'' as a platform to promote misogynistic conspiracy theories, claiming that politically active " ite women across the Western world" are pushing for liberal immigration policies "to ensure an endless supply of Black and Arab men to satisfy their depraved sexual desires." In July 2018, Anglin summarised his misogynistic views, writing: "Look, I hate women. I think they deserve to be beaten, raped and locked in cages." The term misogynoir describes misogyny directed towards Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
women where prejudice based upon race and gender play reinforcing roles.
Psychological impact
Internalised misogyny
Women who experience internalised misogyny may express it through minimising the value of women, mistrusting women, and believing gender bias in favour of men.[Szymanski, Gupta, and Carr. 2009. "Internalised Misogyny as a Moderator of the Link between Sexist Events and Women’s Psychological Distress." ''Sex Roles'' 16, no. 1-2: 101–109.] A common manifestation of internalised misogyny is lateral violence
Lateral violence is displaced violence; that is anger and rage is directed towards members within a marginalised or oppressed community rather than towards the oppressors of the community – one's peers rather than adversaries. Developed by scho ...
.
Abuse and harassment
Misogyny has taken shape as sexual harassment.
Misogynist attitudes lead to the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse of gender nonconforming boys in childhood.
Feminist theory
"Good" versus "bad" women
Many feminists have written that the notions of "good" women and "bad" women are imposed upon women in order to control them. Women who are easy to control, or who advocate for their own oppression, may be told they are good. The categories of bad and good also cause fighting among women; Helen Lewis identifies this "long tradition of regulating female behaviour by defining women in opposition to one another" as the architecture of misogyny.
The '' Madonna–whore dichotomy'' or ''virgin/whore dichotomy'' is the perception of women as either good and chaste or as bad and promiscuous. Belief in this dichotomy leads to misogyny, according to the feminist perspective, because the dichotomy appears to justify policing women's behaviour. Misogynists seek to punish "bad" women for their sexuality. Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie observes that when women describe being harassed or assaulted (as in the #MeToo movement) they are viewed as deserving sympathy only if they are "good" women — nonsexual, and perhaps helpless.
In her 1974 book ''Woman Hating
''Woman Hating: A Radical Look at Sexuality'' is the debut nonfiction book by American radical feminist writer and activist Andrea Dworkin. It was first published in 1974 by E. P. Dutton.
Background
While Dworkin was living in Amsterdam, she ...
'', Andrea Dworkin uses traditional fairy tales to illustrate misogyny. Fairy tales designate certain women as "good", for example Sleeping Beauty and Snow White
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as ...
, who are inert, passive characters. Dworkin observed that these characters "never think, act, initiate, confront, resist, challenge, feel, care, or question. Sometimes they are forced to do housework." In contrast, the "evil" women who populate fairy tales are queens, witches, and other women with power. Further, men in fairy tales are said to be good kings and good husbands irrespective of their actions. For Dworkin, this illustrates that under misogyny only powerless women are allowed to be seen as good. No similar judgement is applied to men.
In her book '' Right-Wing Women'', Dworkin adds that powerful women are tolerated by misogynists provided women use their power to reinforce the power of men and to oppose feminism. Dworkin gives Phyllis Schlafly and Anita Bryant as examples of powerful women tolerated by antifeminists only because they advocated for their own oppression. Women may even be worshiped or called superior to men if they are sufficiently "good", meaning obedient or inert.
Philosopher Kate Manne argues that the word "misogyny" as used by modern feminists denotes not a generalised hatred of women, but instead the system of distinguishing good from bad women. Misogyny is like a police force, Manne writes, that rewards or punishes women based on these judgements.
The patriarchal bargain
In the late 20th century, second-wave feminist theorists argued that misogyny is both a cause and a result of patriarchal social structures.
Economist Deniz Kandiyoti has written that colonisers of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia kept conquered armies of men under control by offering them complete power over women. She calls this the "patriarchal bargain". Men who were interested in accepting the bargain were promoted to leadership by colonial powers, causing the colonised societies to become more misogynistic.
Contempt for the feminine
Julia Serano defines misogyny as not only hatred of women per se, but the "tendency to dismiss and deride femaleness and femininity." In this view, misogyny also causes homophobia against gay men because gay men are stereotyped as feminine and weak; misogyny likewise causes anxiety among straight men that they will be seen as unmanly. Serano's book '' Whipping Girl'' argues that most anti-trans sentiment directed at trans women
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may Gender transitioning, transition; this process commonly includes Feminizing horm ...
should be understood as misogyny. By embracing femininity, the book argues, trans women cast doubt on the superiority of masculinity.
Culture rewards traits that are considered masculine and devalues traits that seem feminine, according to Tracy M. Hallstead at Quinnipiac University. From childhood, boys and men are told to "man up" to appear tough by distancing themselves from feminine things. Boys learn that it is shameful to be seen as emotional, dependent, or vulnerable. Men raised in this way may disown femininity and may even learn to despise it. In this view, misogyny is directed not only at women, but at any feminine qualities that men see within themselves.
This contempt for the feminine causes men feel that they must assert their dominance over women by controlling them, Hallstead writes. She illustrates this with the ancient story of Pygmalion, a sculptor who hated "the faults beyond measure which nature has given to women." Pygmalion creates a sculpture of a woman that magically comes alive. Pygmalion is very gratified by the complete control he has over the woman, Galatea, because this control reenforces his masculinity. He considers Galatea the perfect woman, in spite of his contempt for women, because of his absolute power over her.
English and Welsh law
In recent years, there has been increasing discussion in England and Wales of misogyny being added to the list of aggravating factors that are commonly referred to by the media as " hate crimes". Aggravating factors in criminal sentencing currently include hostility to a victim due to characteristics such as sexuality, race or disability.
In 2016, Nottinghamshire Police began a pilot project to record misogynistic behaviour as either hate crime or hate incidents, depending on whether the action was a criminal offence. Over two years (April 2016-March 2018) there were 174 reports made, of which 73 were classified as crimes and 101 as incidents.
In September 2018, it was announced that the Law Commission would conduct a review into whether misogynistic conduct, as well as hostility due to ageism, misandry or towards groups such as goths
The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Euro ...
, should be treated as a hate crime.
In October 2018, two senior police officers, Sara Thornton, chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council, and Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, stated that police forces should focus on more serious crimes such as burglary and violent offences, and not on recording incidents which are not crimes. Thornton said that "treating misogyny as a hate crime is a concern for some well-organised campaigning organisations", but that police forces "do not have the resources to do everything".
In September 2020 the Law Commission proposed that sex or gender be added to the list of protected characteristics. At the time of the Law Commission's proposals seven police forces in England and Wales classed misogyny as a hate crime, but that definition had not been adopted across the board. The commission plans to make its official recommendations to the government in 2021.
A Home Office spokesperson in October 2021 stated that police forces had been requested to record any crime the victim understood was driven by hostility to their sex.
Criticism of the concept
Camille Paglia, a self-described "dissident feminist" who has often been at odds with other academic feminists, argues that there are serious flaws in the Marxism
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialec ...
-inspired["Marxist feminists reduced the historical cult of woman’s virginity to her property value, her worth on the male marriage market.", Paglia, 1991, ''Sexual Persona'', p. 27.] interpretation of misogyny that is prevalent in second-wave feminism. In contrast, Paglia argues that a close reading of historical texts reveals that men do not ''hate'' women but ''fear'' them.[Paglia, Camille (1991). '']Sexual Personae
''Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson'' is a 1990 work about sexual decadence in Western literature and the visual arts by scholar Camille Paglia, in which she addresses major artists and writers such as Donatello ...
'', NY: Vintage, Chapter 1 and passim. Christian Groes-Green has argued that misogyny must be seen in relation to its opposite which he terms philogyny. Criticising R. W. Connell
Raewyn Connell (born 3 January 1944), usually cited as R. W. Connell, is an Australian sociologist. She gained prominence as an intellectual of the Australian New Left. She was appointed University Professor at the University of Sydney in 2004, ...
's theory of hegemonic masculinities, he shows how philogynous masculinities play out among youth in Maputo, Mozambique.
See also
* Exploitation of women in mass media
The exploitation of women in mass media is the use or portrayal of women in mass media (such as television, film and advertising) as objects to increase the appeal of media or a product to the detriment of, or without regard to, the interests of ...
* Gender studies
* Honour killing
* Misogyny and mass media
Examples of misogyny exist in many published forms, within multiple cultures and well-observed works. Technological advances in the modern era have contributed proficient means to media and marketing to the resultant mass media in the 21st century. ...
* Misogyny in hip hop culture
* Misogyny in horror films
* Misogyny in sports
Misogyny in sports refers to different discourses, actions, and ideologies present in various sporting environments that add, reinforce, or normalize the objectification, degrading, shaming, or absence of women in athletics.
Male bias
Misogyny ...
* '' The Bro Code: How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men''
* Wife selling
* Women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countr ...
Notes and references
Bibliography
* Boteach, Shmuley. ''Hating Women: America's Hostile Campaign Against the Fairer Sex''. 2005.
* Brownmiller, Susan. ''Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975.
* Dijkstra, Bram. ''Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil''. New York: Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, 1987.
* Chodorow, Nancy. ''The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender''. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, 1978.
* Ellmann, Mary. ''Thinking About Women''. 1968.
* Forward, Susan, and Joan Torres. ''Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them: When Loving Hurts and You Don't Know Why''. Bantam Books, 1986.
* Haskell, Molly. '' From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies''. 1974. University of Chicago Press, 1987.
* Kipnis, Laura. ''The Female Thing: Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability''. 2006.
* Klein, Melanie. ''The Collected Writings of Melanie Klein''. 4 volumes. London: Hogarth Press, 1975.
* Lewis, Helen. ''Difficult Women: A History Of Feminism In 11 Fights''. Jonathan Cape, 2020.
* Marshall, Gordon. 'Misogyny'. In ''Oxford Dictionary of Sociology''. Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, 1998.
* Millett, Kate. '' Sexual Politics''. New York: Doubleday, 1970.
* Morgan, Fidelis. ''A Misogynist's Source Book''.
* Patai, Daphne, and Noretta Koertge. ''Professing Feminism: Cautionary Tales from the Strange World of Women's Studies''. 1995.
* Penelope, Julia. ''Speaking Freely: Unlearning the Lies of our Fathers' Tongues''. Toronto: Pergamon Press Canada, 1990.
* Smith, Joan. ''Misogynies''. 1989. Revised 1993.
* ''World Health Organisation Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women''* 2005.
External links
Misogyny, Misandry, and Misanthropy
{{Authority control
*
Gender-related prejudices
Sexism
Feminist terminology
Prejudice and discrimination by type