Misogyny

We explain what misogyny is, how it differs from machismo and what its history is like. In addition, we tell you what its causes are.

What is misogyny?

misogyny is the feeling of contempt, distrust or hatred towards women which manifests itself in very different behaviors, which can range from denigration and rejection, to sexual violence and gender violence. People who incur this feeling are called misogynists either misogynists.

The term “misogyny” comes from Greek words miséin (“hate”) and gyne (“woman”), and had its origin in Ancient Greece, around the 4th century BC. C. Misogyny in classical antiquity was represented in comedy and tragedy, and was considered a disease in the 5th century AD. C., whose main symptom was the inability of a man to obtain sexual enjoyment with a woman.

Can be considered misogynistic any attitude or reasoning that attributes inferior traits to women or that associates the feminine with a passive, subordinate, secondary role and submission to the male will. This applies to both work, academic and professional areas as well as interpersonal and sexual areas.

History of misogyny

Although it is not easy to find a starting point for the history of misogyny, some scholars suppose its beginnings in remote prehistory, before the Neolithic Revolution, at some point in which a matriarchal and primitive order was overthrown by patriarchy and the law of men. However, there is little concrete evidence in this regard and the topic is the subject of debate.

In any casemisogynistic attitudes were very common in ancient cultures even in those of great cultural development, such as Ancient Greece. At the time women were not citizens by law but rather second-class citizens, and were often distributed along with the spoils of war to serve as slaves or forced lovers. In fact, according to many ancient philosophers, love was a feeling that reached its intensity only between men, and woman's role was merely to produce offspring .

In other cultures, prejudice towards women was even worse, such as in the Hebrew tradition, whose founding story, Genesis attributes the loss of earthly paradise to the first woman and the punishment of the human being with death.

In the religious writings of Judaism (and in its Christian heirs) reference is often made to the due obedience of a woman to her husband and other traits of marked female submission, also present in Islam. In this last religion The subjugation of women can still be seen in fundamentalist nations that require women to cover their bodies or suffer penalties of physical punishment and social rejection.

The normalization of Misogyny was harshly combated in the modern West by feminist movements who vindicated the role of women in society and their right to have power over their bodies, their political opinions and to aspire to the same rewards as men. Thanks to these movements, great advances occurred over time, such as the female vote between the 19th and 20th centuries, or the visibility of the so-called “glass ceiling” that prevents the promotion of women to management positions in companies in the contemporary work world.

Causes of misogyny

Misogyny can have very different causes, since in some individual cases it may be due to the person's inability to overcome a trauma or some experience that has left them with an open or hidden aversion towards women.

But in general, misogyny It is the result of a long cultural tradition of sexist domination as many cultural scholars have pointed out. This cultural heritage can justify patriarchy in religious mandates, supposed evolutionary traits of the species or any other discourse that allows female subalternity to be naturalized or normalized.

Examples of misogyny

Examples of misogyny or misogynistic attitudes are:

• The idea that women are more fragile and emotional than men, and therefore cannot occupy roles that require a logical and rational mentality.
• Discrimination against a woman for a job position to grant it to a man, either for ideological reasons or for the economic convenience of the company (not wanting to cover costs during maternity leave).
• The idea that reproductive responsibility belongs exclusively to women and that the man should not be responsible for the unwanted pregnancies he causes.
• The fictional and erotic representation (pornography) of the woman as a disposable sexual object subject to the satisfaction of male desire, and not as a partner in a sexual act that must be mutually satisfactory.
• The refusal to address issues of interest to women and the feminine world because it is considered “banal” or “superficial.”
• The obligation imposed on women from fundamentalist countries of covering one's hair, face or entire body, under penalty of punishment .
• The elimination of voting rights in religious fundamentalist countries to the ownership of property and the free movement of women, to whom a “representative” (her husband, her father or her brother) is assigned.

Difference between machismo and misogyny

Although machismo and misogyny have many common grounds, since they are attitudes and logics that privilege men over women, they are not necessarily the same. Machismo is the tendency to privilege men over women in different circumstances of life, while misogyny is a rejection and devaluation of women for the simple fact of being a woman.

This difference can be summarized as follows:

• Machismo is a fairly general cultural trend, while misogyny tends to be an individual issue.
• Machismo can take on “kind” forms, which infantilize women by trying to protect them or treat them in a special way. Misogyny, on the other hand, is a form of aversion, that is, hatred, which rarely takes more discreet forms.
• In general, machismo is considered a phenomenon of a lower degree or less intensity than misogyny.

Internalized misogyny

There is talk of internalized misogyny to refer to the misogynistic attitudes and actions committed by women themselves, whether against others or themselves . Internalized misogyny is that which is not easily identifiable on the surface, but which, deep inside, continues to act, sometimes at an unconscious level, and which can lead women to accept mistreatment or reproduce sexist schemes, because despite Their gender suffers from a deep-seated and unconscious contempt for the feminine.

References

• “Misogyny” on Wikipedia.
• “Etymology of Misogyny” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
• “Misogyny” in the Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts of the Royal Spanish Academy.
• “Misogyny” in the Glossary for equality of the Government of Mexico.
• “What does misogyny look like?” by Nina Renata Aron in The New York Times in Spanish.