Thursday, January 10, 2008

This Post is Misogynist

At least, to some, probably it is.

Or, to answer the question posed by trinityva in a post titled "Is this just me..." no, it isn't just you.

Though I'd take it a notch further, and say that it isn't just that people inappropriately and inaccurately label less loaded forms of sexism as "misogyny" - I think it is overused to the point that all one needs to do be be labeled "misogynist" is to be male and say something that isn't 100% in agreement with the most radical feminist in a given forum.

And thus it is used to label someone to silence them, because obviously anyone who is a misogyst, well, we can just ignore what they have to say. Every word out of that person's mouth is just vile poison, and if you read between the lines they just want to see all women exterminated because they are so full of hatred of women. Sorry, I call bulshit.

I do not hate women. I have never hated women. Misgony means "hatred of women". Therefore, use of that label with me is 100% innacurate. And yet for the reasons noted above, I have been labeled a misognyst.

And just because someone doesn't agree with your own personal form of feminism, whatever that may be, does not mean they are a misogynist, even if they also have the gall to have a set of male sex organs concurrent with that disagreement.

So I'm not a misogynist. Sorry to disappoint. I rather like women. In many ways, I like women better than men, though I don't hate men, either.

So in my not so humble opinion, "misognyst", like "patriarchy" before it, needs to be retired from its overuse.

P.S. On the flip side of that coin, not all feminists or those who criticize the male elements of society are misandrysts, though there is plenty of misandry in the feminist movement.

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