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Because power corrupts. Males have bodies that are adapted for domination, fighting, and physical strength. In modern humans, there are competing forces of empathy and a desire to dominate. Sometimes the desire to dominate wins out over the empathy, resulting in rape and other abuse.
There is truth in that. I remember some years ago when a popular women's talk show was discussing a recent news item about a woman who sliced off her husband's penis and put it in the kitchen sink's garbage disposal. One of the women on the show (I won't name her but she's a well-known celebrity wife of a rock star) simply couldn't contain her laughter. The other women on the talk panel merely smiled tolerantly and rolled their eyes, or covered their mouths to hide their smirks. I thought it was disgusting, and my first thought was: "How would these women react to a story about a man mutilating his wife's private parts?"
Well, we know how they would react -- with horror, as it happens more frequently to women than to men and is often a serious topic of discussion on talk shows and in the news. But simply because it doesn't happen as frequently to men, does this justify anyone's amusement? Does this justify the abuse of one man because some women believe that other men deserve this kind of punishment? I say "absolutely not!" And I have to admit that I felt that the giggling women on that talk show were absolutely vile and an embarrassment to those of us who oppose such violence.
Misogyny is not just the hatred and disgust for women but the power to act to control their bodies, mind, and life, to silence their voices. Misogyny is marbleized into the patriarchy. Women may hate men but there is no systemic misandry simply because women lack that power.
Quote:
Sociologist Allan G. Johnson argues in The Gender Knot: Unraveling our Patriarchal Legacy that accusations of man-hating have been used to put down feminists and to shift attention onto men, reinforcing a male-centered culture.[44] Johnson posits that culture offers no comparable anti-male ideology to misogyny and that "people often confuse men as individuals with men as a dominant and privileged category of people" and that "[given the] reality of women's oppression, male privilege, and men's enforcement of both, it's hardly surprising that every woman should have moments where she resents or even hates men".
Marc A. Ouellette argues in International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities that "misandry lacks the systemic, transhistoric, institutionalized, and legislated antipathy of misogyny"; in his view, assuming a parallel between misogyny and misandry overly simplifies relations of gender and power.[12] Anthropologist David D. Gilmore also argues that misogyny is a "near-universal phenomenon" and that there is no male equivalent to misogyny,[45] further defending manifestations of perceived misandry as not "hatred of men's traditional male role" and a "culture of machismo". He argues that misandry is "different from the intensely ad feminam aspect of misogyny that targets women no matter what they believe or do".[45] Michael Kimmel states of misogyny and misandry that "claiming some sort of equivalent parallel is, of course, utterly tendentious."[17]
...and that "[given the] reality of women's oppression, male privilege, and men's enforcement of both, it's hardly surprising that every woman should have moments where she resents or even hates men".
Sorry, but no. I am a woman who has had moments of extreme dislike for various individuals, and I have even had moments of extreme aversion to certain individuals who have banded together to form hateful social and political groups, but I have never channeled that dislike into an overarching hatred of all people belonging to a particular gender, race, or religion. I am a Jew who has experienced antisemitism, but I do not hate Christians. I am a woman who has experienced injustice in the workplace, but I do not hate men. I can truthfully say that I have not given into any such "moments" of indiscriminate hatred.
I am well aware of "systemic, transhistoric, institutionalized, and legislated" injustice -- not only to women but to other marginalized people as well. Nevertheless, I will not allow that to color my view of all humanity. There are far better ways to address issues of injustice than to demonize an entire gender. Educate people, certainly, but don't alienate the student, because you're not going to achieve any positive goals by making enemies of those who could be allies.
Another reason is politics. More men than women are conservative, and more women than men are liberal. Fair enough. But because the respective political beliefs are at odds with each other, it causes feelings of animosity. Which translates into dislike toward the opposite gender. However, misogyny is looked down upon almost universally, while misandry is practically celebrated.
No. This is not a reason. The suppression and oppression of women began centuries before mankind had political parties.
No. This is not a reason. The suppression and oppression of women began centuries before mankind had political parties.
Never mind that in most countries, most people haven’t had the right to vote for very long. 100-200 years is not very long in the overall scheme of things. I think in the past, you’d also see women taking on the political affiliations of their husband, but now that no longer happens.
Through out history women have in fact shown great strength and stamina be it hard manual labor on the farms and factories, or the integrity to hold a family/tribe/community together, rear and teach, make a home, nurture, heal, struggle for better wages and equal rights and win.
It is not their weakness, as there is none, it is their strength that misogynists fear. What you fear you hate and want to destroy, dehumanize, find any reason to justify it.
Men have been doing this through history as well, it is not a gender issue at all. Better wages and equal rights are among other things men have spent in some cases well over 1000 years trying to obtain. Virtually every major revolution to get these rights in the first place, have been instigated by men. People seem to forget that modern democracy as we know it did not really exist until the French revolution/American independence.
Men have been doing this through history as well, it is not a gender issue at all. Better wages and equal rights are among other things men have spent in some cases well over 1000 years trying to obtain. Virtually every major revolution to get these rights in the first place, have been instigated by men. People seem to forget that modern democracy as we know it did not really exist until the French revolution/American independence.
Let us also not forget that there have been notable men who have been our allies in the women's struggle for equality. Seven decades of struggle to attain women's suffrage throughout all of the United States were about to finally be decided in the summer of 1920. The proposed 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, needed the backing of three-quarters of the states, and so far only 35 of these state legislatures had agreed to ratify the Amendment.
Much was hinging on the state of Tennessee, which could swing the ratification if the state legislature voted in its favor. But the state legislature's vote was tied. As the roll call was taken, with equal numbers of pro and con for the ratification (and the "no" voters demanding that the decision be tabled), it all came down to a single, deciding vote.
That decisive vote was to be cast by Harry T. Burn. At the age of 24, Harry was the youngest member of Tennessee's State Legislature. He had been advised by his political peers to go along with tabling the vote, and Harry was now wavering in his deciding vote. But that morning, a letter from his mother, a suffragist, had been delivered to him. Harry was wearing a red rose -- the symbol of those opposing the ratification and worn by the men who had already voted against the Amendment. Something made him pull his mother's letter out of his pocket to read once more. Her urgent words struck a responsive chord in Harry. Whether it was for love of his mother, or guilt in feeling that he might betray the hopes for equality of her and women like her (or maybe it was a little of both reasons), Harry made his decision. He yanked the red rose from his lapel and cast the deciding vote in favor of the Amendment.
True story.
May the memory of Febb Burn (Harry's mother) be a blessing to women everywhere. And, for the sake of a good son, may women everywhere acknowledge and honor our male allies.
Last edited by Rachel NewYork; 08-01-2021 at 07:54 PM..
Let us also not forget that there have been notable men who have been our allies in the women's struggle for equality. Seven decades of struggle to attain women's suffrage throughout all of the United States were about to finally be decided in the summer of 1920. The proposed 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, needed the backing of three-quarters of the states, and so far only 35 of these state legislatures had agreed to ratify the Amendment.
Much was hinging on the state of Tennessee, which could swing the ratification if the state legislature voted in its favor. But the state legislature's vote was tied. As the roll call was taken, with equal numbers of pro and con for the ratification (and the "no" voters demanding that the decision be tabled), it all came down to a single, deciding vote.
That decisive vote was to be cast by Harry T. Burn. At the age of 24, Harry was the youngest member of Tennessee's State Legislature. He had been advised by his political peers to go along with tabling the vote, and Harry was now wavering in his deciding vote. But that morning, a letter from his mother, a suffragist, had been delivered to him. Harry was wearing a red rose -- the symbol of those opposing the ratification and worn by the men who had already voted against the Amendment. Something made him pull his mother's letter out of his pocket to read once more. Her urgent words struck a responsive chord in Harry. Whether it was for love of his mother, or guilt in feeling that he might betray the hopes for equality of her and women like her (or maybe it was a little of both reasons), Harry made his decision. He yanked the red rose from his lapel and cast the deciding vote in favor of the Amendment.
True story.
May the memory of Febb Burn (Harry's mother) be a blessing to women everywhere. And, for the sake of a good son, may women everywhere acknowledge and honor our male allies.
An interesting piece of History, thank you.
I am surprised it took until 1920 in the USA. It was 1901 in Australia, when the federation was formed several states already had given women the right to vote and stand in parliament, and the national right was introduced upon formation of the country at the instance of those states.
South Australia is usually credited as the first constituency in the world to give women the power to vote and sit in parliament, in 1894, and it was not even a close vote 31 for and 14 against.
However it does go without saying and is far more on topic, to say that if men as a group really did fear women, or women in power, you would still be looking for the right to vote in 2021. As ultimately its men who gave them that power.
Men have been doing this through history as well, it is not a gender issue at all. Better wages and equal rights are among other things men have spent in some cases well over 1000 years trying to obtain. Virtually every major revolution to get these rights in the first place, have been instigated by men. People seem to forget that modern democracy as we know it did not really exist until the French revolution/American independence.
You are missing the point. It was in response to the arguement extended that women are weak as a reason to hold them in contempt and hate. In truth women are not weak, they have worked as hard in every sphere.
You are missing the point. It was in response to the arguement extended that women are weak as a reason to hold them in contempt and hate. In truth women are not weak, they have worked as hard in every sphere.
You were responding to a post that said women are physically (mod correction of typo) weaker. Now not all women are physically weaker than men true, however on average males are physically stronger, and their is really nothing a female or the feminist movement can do about this.
You gave some very good examples of how women can be stronger than men but none of them had anything to do with Physical strength, women did work in factories and farms etc that is true. However that is nothing compared to things like 19th century railroad construction, which not only required strength beyond that which most females have, but in vast countries like the USA and Australia, months, if not years of been away from family and friends while living in labor camps.
Still today almost all of the occupations that are more likely to kill you or involve long periods of separation from home/friends and Family etc are carried out by men, and if men truly had contempt and hate for women, its the women who would be doing these jobs, not the men.
Granted that women were were "not emotionally or intellectually capable of properly participating in politics" its often given as a reason why some men voted no to the initial female suffrage movement.
However people in power generally do not like giving it up regardless of who they are giving it to, there was also a lot of resistance to male voting rights which became a major issue in the 19th century as well.
Last edited by Rachel NewYork; 08-03-2021 at 08:08 AM..
Reason: Corrected typo that caused contentious misunderstanding.
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