Why misandry doesnt exist

Women are not in a socially higher position than men, and hence, it not possible for women to oppress men.

This simply implies that both men and women can be sexist towards each other. Women can, as Melissa A. Fabello writes in her essay, Why Reverse Oppression Simply Cannot Exist , make stereotypical assumptions about men, they can be prejudiced towards men, they can discriminate against men based on those prejudices. But women simply cannot be sexist towards men. Their assumptions or prejudices about men do not give them a higher social position and nor is it based on years of oppression.

This does not mean that prejudice or discrimination against men is morally correct or justified. Nor is it a solution to sexism. However, the concept of sexism is based on the fact that there exists a diverse social arrangement that privileges men over women and enables their automatic access to intellectual, material and spiritual resources.

In simple words, these basic resources are something women have to fight for, whereas, they are more or less given to men. Related to this is another concept that sexism benefits men. Garda Lerner in her study The Creation of Patriarchy has argued that patriarchal society was an important precondition of slavery. Humans first introduced permanent inequalities in their society by establishing unequal gender relations.

The subjugation of women provided the model for subjugating fellow human beings. Now, these permanent inequalities were established to gain control over another social class or group so that the group or class that is acting as the oppressor can benefit from it.

That is the whole point of oppression. Keeping in mind all the prejudiced notions that women have about men, women do not benefit from these notions. They do not put women on a higher social pedestal than men.

Women do not get the upper hand while it comes to obtaining material or intellectual dominance or superiority in society. However, the whole rejection of reverse sexism does not mean that men are not victims of sexism or patriarchy. We all are. There are unfair expectations and pressures on men in our society as a result of patriarchy.

In spite of all this, men are not culturally, politically, socially or economically oppressed by women. The fact remains that all men can and do lay claims to resources and power far more easily than the women in their society or communities. For example, gay men are highly discriminated against and looked down upon.

But as long as they do not defiantly display their sexuality, they continue to enjoy access to masculine and public spheres of influence and power. On the other hand, lesbians are oppressed not only because of their sexuality but also because of their gender. Here oppression works on two different levels. Obviously, equality is important and as human beings, everyone deserves it.

However, there are particular things that happen to me because I am a woman, not because I am a human being. By calling it a movement for equality, we are disregarding the struggles that women face on a day to day basis, because of their gender only and no other factor. This does not imply that other factors of oppression and discrimination are not important, but they are not gender specific.

All of our actions take place within intersecting social hierarchies which place some groups at the top and others at the bottom. Attempts to make misandry the equivalent of misogyny rely on two misconceptions: first, that gender is a spectrum as opposed to a hierarchy; and second, that victimhood is in fact a source of power and privilege. It is true that men and boys are harmed by the insistence that all male people be masculine. True, too, that it hurts for all members of a group to be judged by the actions of a violent minority.

Nevertheless, these are the conditions upon which the perpetuation of male supremacy relies. To ask that the negative side-effects of being a member of the oppressor class be granted the same status as those of being a member of the oppressed class is to miss the point. Any suffering that comes from wielding power can only be relieved once that power has been relinquished. Feminists are accused of milking historic oppressions in order to appropriate power and resources in a world where positive discrimination in favour of women is rife.

This, it seems to me, is what usually happens when men complain of misandry. Women take an inch and all male onlookers see are miles and miles. I suspect it is unlikely that misandry will ever be made into a hate crime. That there is even the slightest possibility that it could be remains hugely concerning.

Women and girls face enough censure for any failure to accommodate men and boys. Where would we be if the latter could start to claim our treatment of them was motivated by anti-male bigotry? Misogyny should recognised as a hate crime for the same reason that misandry should not be: women and girls are systematically oppressed and exploited by men and boys. They are threatened with violence and rape for kindly turning down dates and killed in the street for rejecting sexual advances.

At the time of writing this article the Republican nominee for President of the United States is currently under fire for joking about sexual assault. A man whose public misogyny has been well-documented and fact-checked is one step from the White House and he refuses to concede to his continued legacy of bigotry.

Is there any wonder that a woman living in this world might opine that men are the problem. Performative misandry has allowed women a way to voice their displeasure with the patriarchy in a manner that is relatively safe and harmless. Hurt feelings suck, but they pale in comparison to large-scale institutional slights.

Displaying misandrist tendencies as a badge of pride seems to be an easy and compelling method for Western feminists to signal to one another that they understand the crushing reality that is womanhood in a patriarchal society. It harms no one, and gives us a brief respite in a world where serious contemplation of the harm that women face daily can overwhelm us with despair.

The rising prominence of feminism in mainstream discourse does mean that fewer men will automatically have access to unearned privilege. That is, after all, the goal: To convert our society into the meritocracy we have long claimed already existed. Cate Young is a freelance film and culture critic. Get Bitch Media's top 9 reads of the week delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning!

Sign up for the Weekly Reader:. I was called a man-hater when I was in high school. I never disputed it. I was just very aware of how men treated women - and their bizarre belief that exploitation, control and abuse are entitlements. As a senior, now, I've seen more and more horrors against women by men.

Things haven't improved. I'll stop being a man-hater when they do Search form Search. Culture gender The Chaos Issue Misandry. But why?