Misogyny: 9 attitudes that portray misogynistic people
Sexist behaviors that give away misogynist individuals.
Misogyny is a concept used to refer to hatred, more or less disguised, towards women and girls..
It should be kept in mind that misogyny is only an idea that describes real behaviors of real people, and therefore only exists through the actions of certain people.
Characteristics and attitudes of misogynistic people
Recognizing misogynist people is necessary to be able to relativize their behavior and to educate respect for all people, regardless of their physical characteristics.
Below you can see what are the main characteristics, attitudes and propensities of misogynist individuals are.
1. Reification of women's bodies
Perceiving women as objects is one of the main characteristics of misogynist individuals.. Reification means that, on the one hand, women are considered as objects used for pleasure and for breeding, and on the other, they are devalued as human beings, so that in the eyes of misogynists, women are only worthwhile because of their "functions" and not because of their human condition.
It should be noted that to objectify is not to recognize the physical attractiveness of a person, but to reduce her entire identity to aesthetic or functional properties, just as one would do with any household tool.
2. Selective Puritanism
Another characteristic of misogynist people is their tendency to selectively use their tendency to selectively use a Puritan-like morality with regard to sexuality; specifically, they apply it only to sexuality.In particular, they apply it only when judging the behavior of women. That is why they denigrate women who dress or act in a way that is considered provocative, while they ignore this phenomenon in the case of men.
The logic behind this type of thinking is simple: since a woman's value is basically related to aesthetics and her ability to bear offspring, anything that can be interpreted as a tendency to "share" these two qualities with someone other than a partner dilutes the value of the woman who does so. The man, however, has value beyond his appearance and reproductive role, so it is okay if he expresses his sexuality in a more or less visible way.
3. Tendency to encourage other people to objectify
Misogyny is not something that one is used to living in isolation, but is linked to a way of looking at the world. is linked to a way of seeing things that one tries to share with others.. This means, for example, that misogynistic people often encourage others to make derogatory or unpleasant comments about strangers passing by.
4. Use of male violence
The use of male violence, whether physical, verbal or symbolic, is the most obvious manifestation of misogyny. This type of violence is systematically directed against women because they are women, and is one of the main reasons why feminism claims the need to guarantee women's rights.
5. Systematic criminalization of victims of gender violence
Misogynists tend to look for the responsibility of male violence in the victims. They believe that these episodes of aggression are due to the fact that the woman is not careful enough or provokes others with the way she dresses, or they simply assume that the accusations of violence are false without having consistent evidence to suggest this possibility.
In this way, a twofold objective is achieved. On the one hand, violence against women is concealedOn the other hand, it legitimizes the power over women's bodies by defending the idea that they must adapt to well-defined gender roles.
6. Marginalization of women
It is not strange that misogynist people tend to reject the idea of relating to women beyond the professional sphere or economic transactions. Nowadays there is even a movement called Men Go Their Own Way in which a lifestyle away from women and traditional marriage..
7. Authoritarian tendencies with women
Whenever there is a chance to impose one's will on a woman, misogynistic people do so..... This does not mean that they use force; they may simply make capricious or absurd requests for the simple pleasure of seeing how she obeys. Somehow, they take advantage of contexts in which men have power over women (for example, at work) to use it far beyond what is justifiable. Similarly, it is acted as if there is a tacit agreement that the woman obeys, even in informal contexts where there is no superior and inferior position.
8. Rejection of female leadership
Under the influence of misogyny, female leadership, or anything that anything that implies giving visibility to women beyond their traditional roles, is viewed with disfavor.. This can be reflected both in the business and organizational environment and, for example, in the criticism of works of fiction. Last year, for example, there was some controversy when part of the Internet community called for a boycott of the movie Mad Max: Fury Road for giving the protagonist and hero role to a character played by Charlize Theron.
In this way, a traditional view of things in which the most relevant decisions are always made by men is defended, and attempts to change this are seen as strident attempts to attract attention.
9. Tendency to relate low forms of culture to the feminine
Another characteristic of misogynistic people is the propensity to consider that women consume lesser forms of culture: bad soap operas, bad TV shows, bad television programs.bad soap operas, bad TV shows, bad songs, etc. This critical look at what most women consume does not apply when it comes to analyzing the forms of culture massively consumed by men.
(Updated at Apr 12 / 2024)