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Source link : https://archive.ph/G9gaF
Feminists need to stop thinking of misogyny as 'hatred'. Whoever came up with the slogan 'just say you hate women and go' did irreparable damage to the advancement of women's liberation, a damage that the movement will NEVER recover from fast enough for a proper fourth wave in our lifetimes. Not unless we recognize the true origins of the sentiment baked into the formation of the bedrock that is Male Supremacy.
Thanks to the misconstrued meaning of misogyny, nobody believes sexism applies to any of the following behavior anymore:
Sexually harrassing women
Using gendered slurs that specifically target women or femininity
domestic abuse
Mass rape of women by soldiers during war
Haming women for their sexual history
Policing women's bodies and appearances
Downplaying the existence of rape culture and rushing to discredit/ostracize any woman who comes forward with allegations about domestic abuse
Harrassing feminists for speaking up for women's rights
The only thing that counts as legitimate sexism in their eyes is a guy specifically coming out and saying 'I hate women', point blank.
To quote Tumblr user @whothefuckisjerma,
Jesus fuck, I just saw a post that said 'I don't care that Andrew Tate is a misogynist. that's the least interesting thing about him... I do care that he's participating in human trafficking' like ?????
Have people really become so afraid of feminism that they don't understand what misogyny means anymore?? It's not just calling a white lady a bitch, you empty-headed f*cks, the human trafficking is KINDA RELATED
Following up with this quote from Tumblr user, @evilsanlang:
It's alarming that the definition of misogyny has been watered down so far that people will position 'misogyny' and 'sex trafficking women' as separate things, as if the latter isn't an expression of the former.
Confining misogyny to 'inconsequential' slights, lesser unimportant internet wank, while treating the violence clouding women as this clouded, unnamed mystery without rhyme or reason has done irreparable damage to discussions of misogyny among online leftists, from denying the patriarchal role marginalized men play within their own communities, to branding the violence against gnc women as a sign that men are oppressed for being masculine.
To framing feminism and the trans rights movement as inherently antithetical to each other (i.e 'your feminism isn't REEAAL feminism unless it centers TiMs!'), to the ridiculous notion that misogyny is the least serious form of oppression. It's like basic feminist points have completely flown out the f*cking window.
Furthermore, if you ask a misogynistic man why he hates women, he'll just laugh in your face and say 'tell that to my wife' (who is most likely a Pickmeisha more than happy to cheer on her husband's vileness). There are plenty of misogynistic men who have daughters they would gladly take a bullet for.
Does no one find it even the slightest bit contradictory that a group of people who hate women so much still wants to be around us? Why do misogynistic men still want to have sex with/ jerk off to us so badly that enough are willing to pay for porn and prostitution (supplying both industries with enough predominantly male consumers for each to rake in billions each year)? Why do misogynistic men attempt to socially coerce us into marrying them by ruthlessly dog piling on any single woman who promotes her lifestyle on social-media?
Why do they attempt to make women more dependent on the men who impregnate them by enacting/supporting laws banning abortion? Why is your average redpill rightoid homophobic towards gay men instead of lauding them as the ultimate 'alpha males' completely free of the shackle of sexual attraction towards females that weighs the rest of the heterosexual male populace down?
The answer is simple: Misogyny has less about hatred and more about contempt and entitlement. It's not that sexist men genuinely dislike women, they just don't consider us human beings, and believe we were put on this Earth for them to do with however they see fit.
For proof, look no further to the political compass of misogyny. I can't find a direct link to a picture of it, but for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, depending on where a man lands on the standard compass, you can use this one to determine his attitude towards women having rights, as well as his beliefs regarding how society should use them as a resource. Top to bottom is labeled 'women should be controlled' to 'women don't deserve protection (either way, women are held in contempt) and left to right ranges from 'women are public property' to 'women are private property' (i.e varying degrees of entitlement to objectify, control, and exploit us)
In fact, men's contempt and entitlement towards women feed into each other like a mobius strip. Men's collective disdain towards our humanity is used to rationalize their sex's claim to our bodies/labor/ reproductive capacity. Because misogynistic men see us as subhuman and inferior, they believe they are entitled to exploit us however they see fit and restrict our rights in order to make it easier for them to carry out said exploitation.
This sense of entitlement further feeds into their sense of contempt by fostering a sense of disdain towards women's individuality. Because men don't believe we're good for anything beyond being their slaves/incubators, they don't understand why qualities of uniqueness like intelligence, creativity, inner worlds, emotions, or wants and needs (beyond appealing to men) would be wasted on such lesser beings, hence their need to ruthlessly devalue women for all of these qualities (i.e claiming women are 'too emotional', disparaging our hobbies as pointless, 'basic', or stupid, having a favorite porn-star, but no favorite female artist/writer/scientist, insisting that motherhood is the only truly meaningful contribution a woman could make to society).
It's also why misogynistic men cannot stand being around women in any context beyond sex/ domestic servitude. Because they see themselves as the rightful owners of women's bodies, they view our sentience as an insubordinate thief who blocks them from fully doing with their property as they please, and it irritates them to be reminded of it. They would much rather prefer to think of us as a hive-mind that only cares about the things men want women to care about.
Valerie Solanas herself took note of this as referenced from this passage in the SCUM Manifesto
The female's individuality, which he is acutely aware of, but which he doesn't comprehend and isn't capable of relating to or grasping emotionally, frightens and upsets him and fills him with envy.
So he denies it in her and proceeds to define everyone in terms of his or her function or use... and tries to convince himself and women (he's succeeded best at convincing women) that the female function is to bear and raise children and to relax, comfort and boost the ego of the male; that her function is such as to make her interchangeable with every other female.
Anyways, once you start thinking of misogyny as not hatred but as contempt and entitlement, you start to properly recognize how it manifests through different forms of male violence/ male supremacy.
Men who beat their wives are simply taking their sense of contempt and entitlement towards women to their logical conclusion. Case in point: the following quotes from Lundy Bancroft.
Abuse grows from attitudes and values, not feelings. The roots are ownership, the trunk is entitlement, and the branches are control.
...while a small number of abusive men do hate women, the great majority exhibit a more subtle—though often quite pervasive—sense of superiority or contempt toward females
Men who participate in the sex trade like Andrew Tate are also taking their sense of contempt and entitlement to it's logical conclusion.
Men who commit sexual assault against women are once again, taking their sense of entitlement and contempt to it's logical conclusion.
Male serial killers who primarily target women are (you guessed it) taking misogyny to it's logical conclusion.
Men who believe 'feeling like a woman' (i.e getting off on being 'sissified' and humiliated) is all the justification they need to encroach on women's spaces and legally erode all our sex-based class protections are (say it with me) taking their sense of contempt and entitlement to it's logical conclusion!
(None of this is to say that there aren't a decent number of men out there who genuinely do hate women, but that hatred is most likely a by-product of misogyny, rather than the root cause of it, and the two should not be conflated imo).
I agree with the point of the essay in general, but I also wonder if this is just an issue about semantics. For instance, Wikipedia defines hate as: "Hatred or hate is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust." I mean, I think that describes most men accurately, including those married to or partnered with women, maybe even especially the latter. It's just that I don't think they can apprehend that and I think most women are indoctrinated to give men the benefit of the doubt, so they don't apprehend it either.
Like, yeah, I guess we can call it entitlement and contempt, but most men aren't going to say: "yeah, man, I feel contempt toward women and entitled to them!" So, we'd just move the problem to the next level. If you look at the actual actions of men, all of these words, whether hate, entitlement or contempt, are obviously in play. But people- and I mean both men and women- seem to obsessively want to focus on what men say about themselves and not what men do to women.
Utterly brilliant.
Your post really made me think. I’m still processing it. Part of me agrees, but part of me doesn’t.
Here are some of my thoughts:
When I see the “woman being ripped apart by the bear” cartoon, with men gleefully sharing and knee-slapping, that looks like hatred to me. Those men enjoy the thought of women suffering and dying
Men know that women are superior. JFC they’re around other men all the time, and they know that men suck. They realize that women are intellectually, emotionally and inner-strength-wise superior. This is why men have worked SO hard to keep us down: out of education, careers, financial independence, control over our own bodies and minds. Read the book “The Woman They Could Not Silence” - her husband legally threw her into an insane asylum because she was smarter than him, and he couldn’t deal with it. He hated her, and so he focused on revenge against her, for decades
Maybe it’s a “sour grapes” or jealousy type of hatred that men have? I don’t know. But I do believe it is a deep disgust
Men gross out about women’s miraculous bodies: our vaginal smell, our periods, the moment of birth, our ability to create life, our breastfeeding capabilities. They literally want porn-star hairless no-skin pussies, rather than a real woman’s body. They hate women’s bodies
They draw their dicks on walls, photograph their dicks, worship their bros and other men. They join groups of men who want to force women to be their slaves. This is hatred
Yes - men want to control women, and they whine that they’re lonely and want domestic servitude from women. And this IS entitlement. But I believe it’s hatred and FEAR of women that caused men to create patriarchy in the first place: they want supremacy over us, they hate our personal power, so they used force to murder, conquer and kidnap women (forced marriage - the original marriage). I think entitlement and contempt are byproducts of the patriarchy, which originated from hatred and fear
Abusers (like the Lundy Bancroft quote), don’t see women as autonomous human beings. So they don’t hate us, they think we are part of their body and should obey them as an arm or a leg. This isn’t hatred, as much as it is, objectification. And yes entitlement. I don’t think abusers hate their victims - they see them as a doll or knickknack that should do their bidding. And they get angry and punish, when the “thing” doesn’t obey
Serial killers hate women. They target women for torture and death
“Not All Men,” is a defense mechanism, when men realize we have begun to identify the core problem: Men Hate Us. So they knee jerk try to wriggle out of it. But the murder rates, rape rates, sexual harassment rates, GamerGate + internet harassment, etc prove that men want to control, humiliate, and silence women. Because they hate us. Again, I think the root of hatred is jealousy & fear. But it’s still hate
Nazis were jealous of and fearful of Jewish people. They hated and murdered them. The Khmer Rouge were jealous of a fearful of the educated classes. They hated and murdered them, systematically. Afghan men hate women, so they oppress, beat, abuse and control women, refusing them school and work. Religions hate women - they made up Eve “the evil women” and “women’s uncleanness” so they could control & punish women. Hatred and jealousy
In ancient times (we’re talking 5000 BCE) the Goddess / Earth Mother was the supreme being, adored by all. Women were revered as givers of life, the Creators. Society was nurturing, artistic, advanced (indoor plumbing!!), with skilled artisans and plenty of nutritious food. Weapons weren’t invented, because war wasn’t on their radar. Ships were amazing, because trade was paramount. Then, degenerate Men from the North came down with weapons. They began murdering the men and kidnapping the women and children as sex slaves. And so, advanced societies were wiped out, art & trade took a huge step back, and religion was twisted into a power-hungry male God. Those men hated women. They hated anyone they couldn’t control. And they formed the hate-filled, backward, violent horrible world we live in, today