Misogyny

File:Swetnam, the Woman-hater, arraigned by women.jpg

Swetnam the Woman-Hater, printed in 1620. The work is credited with originating the English term misogynist.

Misogyny (Template:IPAc-en) 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.

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.Template:Undue weight inline At the same time, femininity researcher Rhea Ashley Hoskin maintains that one should distinguish between oppression based on female gender, and oppression based on feminine gender expression. The academic term for the latter is femmephobia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Racism and other prejudices may reinforce and overlap with misogyny.

The English word misogyny was coined in the middle of the 17th century from the Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'hatred' + {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'woman'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The word was rarely used until it was popularised by second-wave feminism in the 1970s.

Definitions

English and American dictionaries define misogyny as "hatred of women"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and as "hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The American Merriam-Webster Dictionary distinguishes misogyny, "a hatred of women", from sexism, which denotes sex-based discrimination, and "behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2012, primarily in response to a speech in the Australian Parliament,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the Macquarie Dictionary (which documents Australian English and New Zealand English) expanded its definition to include not only hatred of women but also "entrenched prejudices against women".<ref name="Macquarie">Template:Cite news</ref>

Social psychology researchTemplate:Vague describes overt misogyny as "blatant hostile sexism" that raises resistance in women, as opposed to "manifestations of benevolent sexism" or chivalry that lead women to behave in a manner perpetuating patriarchal arrangements.<ref name="The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy Is Asso">Template:Cite journal</ref>

According to sociologist Allan G. Johnson, "misogyny is a cultural attitude of hatred for females because they are female". Johnson argues that:

Misogyny .... is a central part of sexist prejudice and ideology and, as such, is an important basis for the oppression of females in male-dominated societies. Misogyny is manifested in many different ways, from jokes to pornography to violence to the self-contempt women may be taught to feel toward their own bodies.<ref>Template:Cite book, ("ideology" in all small capitals in original).</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Sociologist Michael Flood at the University of Wollongong defines misogyny as the hatred of women, and notes:

Though most common in men, misogyny also exists in and is practiced by women against other women or even themselves. Misogyny functions as an ideology or belief system that has accompanied patriarchal, or male-dominated societies for thousands of years and continues to place women in subordinate positions with limited access to power and decision making. […] Aristotle contended that women exist as natural deformities or imperfect males […] Ever since, women in Western cultures have internalised their role as societal scapegoats, influenced in the twenty-first century by multimedia objectification of women with its culturally sanctioned self-loathing and fixations on plastic surgery, anorexia and bulimia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Philosopher Kate Manne of Cornell University defines misogyny as the attempt to control and punish women who challenge male dominance.<ref name="Illing2020">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Manne2019" />Template:Rp Instead, misogyny rewards women who uphold the status quo and punishes those who reject women's subordinate status.<ref name="Illing2020" /> Manne distinguishes sexism, which she says seeks to rationalise and justify patriarchy, from misogyny, which she calls the "law enforcement" branch of patriarchy:

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Misogynous and misogynistic can both be used as an adjectival form of the word.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The noun misogynist can be used for a woman-hating person. The counterpart of misogyny is misandry, the hatred or dislike of men. Marc A. Ouellette argues in International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities that "misandry lacks the systemic, transhistoric, institutionalized, and legislated antipathy of misogyny".<ref name="Ouellette 2007">Template:Cite book</ref> Anthropologist David Gilmore argues that misogyny is a "near-universal phenomenon" and that there is no male equivalent.<ref name="Gilmore p10">Template:Cite book</ref> The antonym of misogyny, philogyny—love or fondness toward women—<ref name="Groes-Green 2011">Template:Cite journal</ref> is not widely used. Words derived from the word misogyny and denoting connected concepts include misogynoir, the intersection of anti-black racism and misogyny faced by Black women; transmisogyny, the intersection of misogyny and transphobia faced by trans women and transfeminine people; and transmisogynoir, the confluence of these faced by black trans women and transfeminine people.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Origins

Misogyny likely arose at the same time as patriarchy: three to five thousand years ago at the start of the Bronze Age. The three main monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam promoted patriarchal societal structures, and used misogyny to keep women at a lower status.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Manne2019"/> Misogyny gained strength in the Middle Ages, especially in Christian societies.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In parallel to these, misogyny was also practised in societies such as the Romans, Greeks, and the tribes of the Amazon Basin and Melanesia, who did not follow a monotheistic religion. Nearly every human culture contains evidence of misogyny.Template:Sfnp

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.Template:Sfnp

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.<ref name=Saini2023>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Saini argues that patriarchy and gender stereotyping emerged at the same time as the state.<ref name=Saini2023 />Template:Rp

Historical usage

Classical Greece

File:Chrysippos BM 1846.jpg

Roman copy of a Hellenistic bust of Chrysippus (British Museum)

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He claims that the term misogyny itself comes directly into English from the Ancient Greek word misogunia ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), 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.<ref>The editio princeps is on page 255 of volume three of Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta (SVF, Old Stoic Fragments), see External links.</ref><ref name="Deming">Template:Cite book</ref> pp. 221–226.

Misogunia appears in the accusative case 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.</ref> 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 eschews, stating that he "reject[s] 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.<ref name="Deming" /><ref>38-43, fr. 63, in von Arnim, J. (ed.). Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta. Vol. 3. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.</ref>

According to Tieleman other surviving use of the Ancient Greek word is by Chrysippus, in a fragment from On affections, quoted by Galen in Hippocrates on Affections.<ref>SVF 3:103. Misogyny is the first word on the page.</ref> 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."<ref name=Tieleman>Template:Cite book</ref> So Chrysippus, like his fellow stoic Antipater, views misogyny negatively, as a disease; 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 "[a] man may not only alternate between philogyny and misogyny, philanthropy and misanthropy, but be prompted to each by the other."<ref>Ricardo Salles, Metaphysics, Soul, and Ethics in Ancient Thought: Themes from the Work of Richard Sorabji, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005), 485.</ref>

In the Routledge philosophy guidebook to Plato and the Republic, Nickolas Pappas describes the "problem of misogyny" and states:

In the Apology, Socrates calls those who plead for their lives in court "no better than women" (35b)... The Timaeus warns men that if they live immorally they will be reincarnated as women (42b-c; cf. 75d-e). The Republic contains a number of comments in the same spirit (387e, 395d-e, 398e, 431b-c, 469d), evidence of nothing so much as of contempt toward women. Even Socrates' words for his bold new proposal about marriage... suggest that the women are to be "held in common" by men. He never says that the men might be held in common by the women... We also have to acknowledge Socrates' insistence that men surpass women at any task that both sexes attempt (455c, 456a), and his remark in Book 8 that one sign of democracy's moral failure is the sexual equality it promotes (563b).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Misogynist is also found in the Greek—misogunēs ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})—in Deipnosophistae (above) and in Plutarch's Parallel Lives, where it is used as the title of Heracles in the history of Phocion. It was the title of a play by Menander, which we know of from book seven (concerning Alexandria) of Strabo's 17 volume Geography,<ref name="Liddell">Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon (LSJ), revised and augmented by Henry Stuart Jones and Roderick McKenzie, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940). Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Strabo,Geography, Book 7 [Alexandria] Chapter 3.</ref> and quotations of Menander by Clement of Alexandria and Stobaeus that relate to marriage.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>He is supported (or followed) by Theognostus the Grammarian's 9th century Canones, edited by John Antony Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecarum Oxoniensium, vol. 2, (Oxford University Press, 1835), p. 88.</ref>

File:CiceroBust.jpg

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Cicero reports that Greek philosophers considered misogyny to be caused by gynophobia, a fear of women.<ref name="Cicero">Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, Book 4, Chapter 11.</ref>

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In summary, despite considering women as generally inferior to men, Greek literature considered misogyny to be a disease—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.<ref name="Deming" />

English language

File:Julia Gillard 2010.jpg

Julia Gillard

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word entered English because of an anonymous proto-feminist play, Swetnam the Woman-Hater, published in 1620 in England.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopaedia</ref> 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.<ref name="Aron2019">Template:Cite news</ref>

The term was fairly rare until the mid-1970s. The publication of feminist Andrea Dworkin's 1974 critique Woman Hating 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.<ref name="Aron2019" />

Misogyny was discussed worldwide in 2012 because of a viral video 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.<ref name="Lester 2012">Template:Cite magazine</ref> She was criticised for systemic misogyny, because earlier in the day her Labour Party had passed legislation cutting $728 million in welfare benefits to single mothers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Gillard's usage of the word "misogyny" promoted re-evaluations of the word's published definitions. The Macquarie Dictionary revised its definition in 2012 to better match the way the word has been used over the prior 30 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The book Down Girl, which reconsidered the definition using the tools of analytic philosophy, was inspired in part by Gillard.<ref name="Manne2019" />Template:Rp

Religion

Ancient Greek

File:Pandora - John William Waterhouse.jpg

Pandora by John William Waterhouse, 1896

In Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice, Jack Holland argues that there is evidence of misogyny in the mythology of the ancient world. In Greek mythology 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 decides to steal the secret of fire from the gods, Zeus 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, and death.<ref>Holland, J: Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice, pp. 12–13. Avalon Publishing Group, 2006.</ref>

Buddhism

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In his book The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender, professor Bernard Faure of Columbia University 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:

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Christianity

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File:Maria laach eva teufel.jpg

Eve rides astride the Serpent on a capital in Laach Abbey church, 13th century.

Differences in tradition and interpretations of scripture have caused sects of Christianity 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. She states:

The foundations of early Christian misogyny—its guilt about sex, its insistence on female subjection, its dread of female seduction—are all in St. Paul's epistles.<ref>Rogers, Katharine M. The Troublesome Helpmate: A History of Misogyny in Literature, 1966.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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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, who thought a woman was not only 'the gateway of the devil' but also 'a temple built over a sewer'."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Several Christian institutions exclude women. For example, women are excluded from the Mount Athos region of Greece and from the governing hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Some Christian theologians, such as John Knox 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 for religious reasons.

File:Personification of the seven deadly sins, Misogyny, Wellcome L0029327.jpg

Personification of the seven deadly sins, Mediaeval

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."<ref name=CBMW>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Hove, Richard. Equality in Christ? Galatians 3:28 and the Gender Dispute (Wheaton: Crossway, 1999), p. 17.</ref> 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<ref>The Holy Bible Template:Bibleverse</ref> and the husband is to emulate Christ's love for the church."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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 "[l]ove is based on a deep, mutual respect as the guiding principle behind all decisions, actions, and plans".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Similarly, Catholic scholar Christopher West argues that "male domination violates God's plan and is the specific result of sin".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Islam

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The fourth chapter (or sura) of the Quran is called "Women" (an-nisa). The 34th verse is a key verse in feminist criticism of Islam.<ref>"Verse 34 of Chapter 4 is an oft-cited Verse in the Qur'an used to demonstrate that Islam is structurally patriarchal, and thus Islam internalises male dominance." Dahlia Eissa, "Constructing the Notion of Male Superiority over Women in Islam Template:Webarchive: The influence of sex and gender stereotyping in the interpretation of the Qur'an and the implications for a modernist exegesis of rights", Occasional Paper 11 in Occasional Papers (Empowerment International, 1999).</ref> 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, 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".<ref name=issue>Template:Cite news</ref>

In his book Popular Islam and Misogyny: A Case Study of Bangladesh, Taj Hashmi discusses misogyny in relation to Muslim culture, writing:

[T]hanks to the subjective interpretations of the Quran (almost exclusively by men), the preponderance of the misogynic mullahs and the regressive Shariah law in most "Muslim" countries, Islam is synonymously known as a promoter of misogyny in its worst form.... we may draw a line between the Quranic texts and the corpus of avowedly misogynic writing and spoken words by the mullah having very little or no relevance to the Quran.<ref>Hashmi, Taj. Popular Islam and Misogyny: A Case Study of Bangladesh Template:Webarchive. Retrieved August 11, 2008.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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The economic and social position of men and women was reflected in blood money to the family of a victim. The financial loss for a woman was pegged at half that of a man.<ref name=CD>Caner Dagli, 2 The Cow al-Baqarah, Study Quran</ref>

Sikhism

Template:See also Scholars William M. Reynolds and Julie A. Webber have written that Guru Nanak, 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Misogynistic ideas among prominent Western thinkers

Numerous influential Western philosophers have expressed ideas that have been characterised as misogynistic, including Aristotle, René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, G. W. F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Otto Weininger, Oswald Spengler, and John Lucas.<ref name=Clack1999>Template:Cite book</ref> Because of the influence of these thinkers, feminist scholars trace misogyny in Western culture to these philosophers and their ideas.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Aristotle

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Portrait of Aristotle, copy of Lysippos, Louvre

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Aristotle believed women were inferior and described them as "deformed males".<ref name="Witt 2016">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Smith 467–478">Template:Cite journal</ref> In his work Politics, 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).<ref name="Smith 467–478"/>

Another example is Cynthia's catalog in which 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'.<ref name="Witt 2016" /> 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 [and] ... also more wakeful; more shrinking [and] more difficult to rouse to action" than men.<ref>History of Animals, 608b. 1–14Template:Full citation needed</ref>

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau 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".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Arthur Schopenhauer

File:Schopenhauer by Karl Bauer 3.jpg

Schopenhauer by Karl Bauer

Based on his essay "On Women" (Über die Weiber), Arthur Schopenhauer has been noted as a misogynist by many such as the philosopher, critic, and author Tom Grimwood.<ref name="Grimwood 2008">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name="Grimwood 2008" /> 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.<ref name="Grimwood 2008" /> 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.<ref name="Grimwood 2008" /> 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".<ref name="Grimwood 2008" />

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".<ref name="Clack1999" /> He also argued that women did not possess any real beauty:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

It is only a man whose intellect is clouded by his sexual impulse that could give the name of the fair sex to that under-sized, narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged race; for the whole beauty of the sex is bound up with this impulse. Instead of calling them beautiful there would be more warrant for describing women as the unaesthetic sex.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Nietzsche

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Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche stated that stricter controls on women was a condition of "every elevation of culture".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In his Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he has a female character say "You are going to women? Do not forget the whip!"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche writes "Women are considered profound. Why? Because we never fathom their depths. But women aren't even shallow."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="Holub">Robert C. Holub, Nietzsche and The Women's Question. Coursework for Berkeley University.</ref>

Hegel

Hegel's view of women has been characterised as misogynistic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Passages from Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right illustrate the criticism:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Women are capable of education, but they are not made for activities which demand a universal faculty such as the more advanced sciences, philosophy and certain forms of artistic production... Women regulate their actions not by the demands of universality, but by arbitrary inclinations and opinions.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref name="DiBranco2020">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name="DiBranco2020" /> However, misogyny is common among mass killers, even when it is not the primary motivation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Online misogyny

Template:See also-text Misogynistic rhetoric is pervasive online and has grown more aggressive over time.<ref name=jane>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Online misogyny includes both individual attempts to intimidate and denigrate women,<ref name="jane" /> denial of gender inequity (neosexism),<ref name="aom">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="neosexism">Template:Cite journal</ref> and also coordinated, collective attempts such as vote brigading and the Gamergate antifeminist harassment campaign.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In a paper written for the Journal of International Affairs, Kim Barker and Olga Jurasz 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Coordinated attacks

File:Anita Sarkeesian headshot.jpg

Anita Sarkeesian was the target of a coordinated misogynistic attack because of her feminist work.

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 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 people who spoke out about misogynistic attacks are Anita Sarkeesian, Laurie Penny, Caroline Criado Perez, Stella Creasy, and Lindy West.<ref name=jane />

These attacks do not always remain online only. Swatting was used to bring Gamergate attacks into the physical world.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Language used

The insults and threats directed at different women tend to be very similar. Jude 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".<ref name=jane />

A 2016 study conducted by the think tank Demos found that the majority of Twitter 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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 and objectification; English online misogyny most frequently involves discrediting women; and Danish discussions primarily express neo-sexism.<ref name="aom" />

Incels

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Incels, or involuntary celibates, is an online community of men who believe they cannot get into heterosexual relationships. They share a common belief that women pick partners based solely on looks, so due to their unattractiveness, they will be alone forever.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Due to this perception of themselves, incels in turn hate women, and believe that men are systematically discriminated against. Incels have a large network of male-oriented websites dedicated to the cyber hate of women, discrimination, and networking of misogyny.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In the incel form of misogyny, all women are discriminated against, however, women of colour are doubly denigrated by sexism and racism. Incels endorse and participate in sexism, racism, and mass violence.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> They are not only a threat in online communities, but they also carry their misogyny over to killing sprees, like the 2014 Isla Vista massacre that inspired other incel acts of violence.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Incel existence and rhetoric is a good example of misogyny online.

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 "[w]hite 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."<ref name="nbcnews">Template:Cite news</ref> 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."<ref name="msmag">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The term misogynoir describes misogyny directed towards Black women where prejudice based upon race and gender play reinforcing roles.

Psychological impact

Internalised misogyny

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Women who experience internalised misogyny may express it through minimising the value of women, mistrusting women, and believing gender bias in favour of men.<ref name="Szymanski 2009">Template:Cite journal</ref> A common manifestation of internalised misogyny is lateral violence.

Abuse and harassment

Misogyny has taken shape as sexual harassment.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Misogynist attitudes lead to the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse of gender nonconforming boys in childhood.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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.<ref name="Lewis 2020">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

File:ChimamandaAdichie.jpg

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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.<ref name="The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy Is Asso"/> 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: non-sexual, and perhaps helpless.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In her 1974 book Woman Hating, Andrea Dworkin uses traditional fairy tales to illustrate misogyny. Fairy tales designate certain women as "good", for example Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, 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.<ref>Template:Cite book

• For an interpretation, see: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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File:Dworkin on After Dark.JPG

Andrea Dworkin

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 anti-feminists only because they advocated for their own oppression. Women may even be worshipped or called superior to men if they are sufficiently "good", meaning obedient or inert.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref name="Manne2019" />Template:Rp

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.<ref>E.g., Kate Millet's Sexual Politics, adapted from her doctoral dissertation is normally cited as the originator of this viewpoint; though Katharine M Rogers had also published similar ideas previously.</ref>

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.<ref name="Fisher 2012">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

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.<ref name="Berlatsky 2014">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Serano's book Whipping Girl argues that most anti-trans sentiment directed at trans women should be understood as misogyny. By embracing femininity, the book argues, trans women cast doubt on the superiority of masculinity.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pygmalion and Galatea, ca. 1890.jpg

Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pygmalion and Galatea, c. 1890

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.<ref name="Hallstead2013">Template:Cite book</ref>

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."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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 re-enforces his masculinity. He considers Galatea the perfect woman, in spite of his contempt for women, because of his absolute power over her.<ref name="Hallstead2013" />

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.<ref name="Sentencing Council">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Over two years (April 2016-March 2018) there were 174 reports made, of which 73 were classified as crimes and 101 as incidents.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 2020 the Law Commission proposed that sex or gender be added to the list of protected characteristics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Androcentrism
• Exploitation of women in mass media
• Gender in horror films
• Gender studies
• Misogyny and mass media
• Misogyny in rap music
• Misogyny in sports
• Male chauvinism
• The Bro Code: How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men
• Wife selling
• Women's rights

Further reading

• 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, 1987.
• Chodorow, Nancy. The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, 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. Template:ISBN
• 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. Template:ISBN
• 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, 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. Template:ISBN
• 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