The Feminist Dissident: Sexism on Men’s Rights Websites (Part I)
"Assuming the worst possible motivation in women is a big part of misogynist criticism."
The purpose of "The Feminist Dissident" is to give feminists a chance to speak directly to my audience, and my audience to debate the issues with them in a civil manner. To read previous entries, click here. If you are a feminist and are interested in submitting a blog post, please email me at glenn@glennsacks.com.
Misogyny among MRAs
By Hari Narayan Singh Khalsa
Misogyny among MRAs is a reliable but irregular thing. It is like the tides. An MRA site can go for days with barely a splash of misogyny in its comments, then batter the shore with waves for as long. It has been a lull recently, so my examples are pretty general here. It is also abstract--my focus is on why certain categories of statements are misogynist rather than claims that certain of them are used too much or why MRAs might use them. That will be a later post.
When I accuse MRAs of misogyny, they often reply that women are not exempt from criticism, and that society and feminism criticize men. While that is a clear argument for two wrongs making a right, I should clarify that I don’t think all generalizations about one gender or another are necessarily misogynist or misandrist. They are usually at least a bit sexist toward men and/or women, and mostly based on credulous and tacky essentialism.
The relatively harmless criticism is about esoteric things outside the core of one’s humanity. For example, I used to think women were better role players than men, that they focused more on being in character rather than powergaming their characters to monstrous and imbalanced capability. It turns out that nearly every role player has a frustrating amount of powergamer in him or her. My perception was sexist but probably not misandric, because it did not really touch on the character or other central characteristics of either sex.
Likewise, the claim that women are worse drivers than men (whether true or not) does not define who they are as people. The idea that women are a bunch of spoiled children does. The idea that women are too stupid, dishonest, or cowardly to participate in the public sphere is a misogynist one. Saying women were happier with fewer rights is a dishonest way of saying the above, as well as, paradoxically, an expression of resentment toward women for demanding rights.
Women are not manipulative harpies looking for husbands just so they can divorce them. Nor are they vengeful flakes who lie about rape in huge numbers just to ruin men’s lives. Assuming the worst possible motivation in women is a big part of misogynist criticism.
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