Last week, I had a girlfriend throw the word “misogynistic” into a group chat about a joke. To be quite blunt, I’m not entirely sure she knew what the word meant or the implications of using it. As an English and journalism double major, this is one of my greatest pet peeves. I think people use “big words” to come across as being more knowledgeable on a topic than they actually are. The common result is attributing a word’s definition to an inappropriate situation.
Because of my friend’s comment, I started thinking about the definition of “misogyny.” Perhaps more importantly, what that definition looks like in today’s society, which is perpetuated by patriarchy.
In its most basic form, Merriam-Webster defines misogyny as the “hatred of, aversion to, or prejudice against women.” Specifically, being a misogynist is hating or discriminating against women.
While this definition is easily accessible, I wanted to go a step further to truly understand what misogyny is and what it looks like. I asked Dr. Elise Robinson, an instructor and program coordinator for the Women’s Studies department at the University of Georgia, for her professional opinion on the topic.
During our discussion, Robinson explained that patriarchy is the “ideological system that we all live in.” It’s kind of an umbrella term. She said that ideas such as sexism, sexual misconduct and assault, binary genderism and misogyny all fall under this umbrella.
“It’s not very useful to think about misogyny as being located in individual people, ” Robinson said. “Certainly, there are people that we can point out and say that person hates women or that person has a problem with women. But, if we think about misogyny just as an individual property, that doesn’t really help us resist it or understand how it works or push back against it.”
Viewing misogyny as an offset of a greater societal problem was eye-opening for me. I haven’t met a single woman in my life who hasn’t been victim to some form of unwanted sexual attention, catcalling, gender inequity at work or sexual assault. Despite these hardships, I’ve found camaraderie amongst other women and that opening up about these experiences is the best form of therapy.
Even more disheartening, a recent study found that in the United States, 40% of people believe that things have gone too far in achieving equal rights between men and women. Perhaps more worryingly, more younger generations of men believe this than older ones. Only a third of Americans identify as feminists.
Like misogyny, the word “feminism” gets thrown around a lot. This causes some individuals to associate feminism with radicalism or liberalism. Growing up and residing in the South, these ideals are rather taboo.
However, as a woman, I find that feminism is flexible to your situation. For me, feminism is a support system that so many women rely on, myself included. It’s a way to combat misogyny and patriarchy. Having that support system invalidated is a gut-wrenching feeling.
If not ourselves, who can women rely on to seek change? Certainly not government or law-based institutions, the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the attack on women’s reproductive rights are evident of that.
“We can typically look at big institutions like government, law enforcement, education, religion, media are going to tend to reinforce whatever the cultural sort of biases are,” Robinson said. “I think that in both education and in media, and social media, maybe in particular, there are lots of ways in which these institutions reinforce problematic notions and problematic sexism and misogyny.”
Indeed, with the country’s current political polarization, Robinson's idea makes sense. Government and law enforcement have always remained more traditional, relying on precedent.
From personal experience, I’m well aware that the justice system does not favor the victim. You’re innocent until proven guilty. Of course, this doctrine serves its purpose in a fair amount of cases. However, I think it’s time we start listening intentionally and believing women’s stories when they’re brave enough to share them.
Mass media, more specifically social media, has also perpetrated harm towards women. Our platform algorithms curate feeds based on our interests. If we’re perpetuating misogynistic, negative spaces and content, our feeds will showcase that.
“We're getting fed material with a specific agenda that the algorithm is privileged to. So, in some ways, social media algorithms are similar to patriarchy, they are kind of invisible,” Robinson said. “You don't know exactly how they're working, but they're definitely having an agenda and pushing stuff to you.”
Conversely, if we’re seeking out more positive and supportive content, the media algorithms are more likely to curate content that creates a more wholesome space. In this way, misogyny in social media follows a “choose your own adventure” principle.
Nonetheless, as women’s rights are continually attacked, where do we go from here? First, I think it’s important to understand why we are seeing this most recent push against women.
“We’re in a period of backlash right now where people that have been in power and that have been benefiting from this system of patriarchy are freaking out because they're starting to not so much,” Robinson said. “They're lashing out because of that, and that is happening because a lot of them are still in positions of power that's having this big effect.”
People are scared of the future. While more women become business leaders, politicians and professors, older generations will attempt to strike down societal norms that have been present for decades.
“In interacting with my kids and their friends and the students that I teach, I really see so much more recognition of systems of oppression and privilege and how that works,” Robinson said. “[They are] so much more willingness to be inclusive of all different kinds of bodies and genders and sexualities and political positions. I just think that, to me, there's a clear movement forward, generationally speaking.”
Changing society is no easy task and one that might not even take place in our lifetime. Therefore, it’s important to continue educating ourselves and our younger generations on misogynistic practices, especially against the rise of anti-women content creators that have begun to indoctrinate young men.
Nonetheless, understanding and combating misogyny remains an ongoing journey. One that demands both individual introspection and collective societal change to create a more equitable future.
