Misogyny
Misogyny (/mɪˈsɒdʒɪni/) is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practised for thousands of years. It is reflected in art, literature, human societal structure, historical events, mythology, philosophy, and religion worldwide.
"Woman hater" redirects here. For other uses, see Woman Hater (disambiguation).
An example of misogyny is violence against women, which includes domestic violence and, in its most extreme forms, misogynist terrorism 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. Sometimes misogyny manifests in obvious and bold ways; other times it is more subtle or disguised in ways that provide plausible deniability.
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. Racism and other prejudices may reinforce and overlap with misogyny.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary the English word "misogyny" was coined in the middle of the 17th century from the Greek misos 'hatred' + gunē 'woman'.[1] The word was rarely used until it was popularised by second-wave feminism in the 1970s.
Origins
Misogyny likely arose at the same time as patriarchy: three to five thousand years ago at the start of the Bronze Age. Monotheism—the belief in one, usually male god—began to replace pantheism and matriarchal religions. The three main monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam promoted patriarchal societal structures, and used misogyny to keep women at a lower status.[19][13] Misogyny gained strength in the Middle Ages, especially in Christian societies.[20]
In parallel to these developments, misogyny was also practised in societies such as the tribes of the Amazon Basin and Melanesia, who did not follow a monotheistic religion. Nearly every human culture contains evidence of misogyny.[21]
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.[15]
Angela Saini notes that a large proportion of women in ancient societies were kidnapped brides from other cultures. Such a woman was often forced to marry a man who had killed her family. Misogynistic suspicion in ancient Greece and elsewhere is to some degree explained by male anxiety that women would some day revolt against their captors.[22]: 139 Saini argues that patriarchy and gender stereotyping emerged at the same time as the state.[22]: 118–119
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.[71]
Misogynist terrorism is terrorism intended to punish woman. Since 2018 counter-terrorism professionals such as ICCT and START 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 are the 2014 Isla Vista killings and the 2018 Toronto van attack.[72] 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.[72] However, misogyny is common among mass killers, even when it is not the primary motivation.[73]
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.[92]
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.[102]
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.[103] Over two years (April 2016-March 2018) there were 174 reports made, of which 73 were classified as crimes and 101 as incidents.[104]
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, should be treated as a hate crime.[105][106]
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.[107] 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".[108]
In September 2020 the Law Commission proposed that sex or gender be added to the list of protected characteristics.[109] 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.[110]
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.[111]
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-inspired[112] 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.[113] Christian Groes-Green has argued that misogyny must be seen in relation to its opposite which he terms philogyny. Criticising R. W. Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinities, he shows how philogynous masculinities play out among youth in Maputo, Mozambique.[16]