Social Inequailty in regards to sex/gender

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Quick, what is the word for "hatred or dislike of women"!

Misogyny, right? Most people know that word. The United States, hell all of the world, has had a problem in regards to women's rights. Less than a hundred years ago, women could not vote. It was just 30 years ago that a woman was nominated to be on the Supreme Court. And it was only 4 years ago that a woman had a serious chance of becoming the President. Clearly, there are a lot of problems that really do exist in regards to equality.

Quick, what is the word for "hatred or dislike of men or boys"!

Anyone that knows their Greek prefixes and suffixes will be able to figure it out. Looking at the word, I bet a pretty high amount of people could figure it out. Why is it that people immediately know what "misogyny" but seem to stop when the word "misandry " is thrown out? Why does my Spell Check know that misogyny is spelled correctly but gives the wonderful red line under misandry?

The reason is fairly obvious; the Western World doesn't really have a problem with men being treated unfairly. Speaking as, as I was once called by a fellow juror, a "upper middle class white boy" I don't really have a lot of room to complain when it comes to being treated unfairly. However, I am an egalitarian and I do believe that the inequalities that people do not notice are more insidious than the ones already noted. Just bare with me here: "In the United States, men are treated unfairly within society."

For those who can go into a room with several different people that don't necessarily share the same opinion (a classroom, work, a group of European backpackers that you have locked in your basement), try this little diddy. Say "Women are the better sex." Overall, no one is really going to voice their opinions against you. There won't be people throwing water bottles or insults at you. Say "Men are the better sex" and you better be prepared to get into an argument. Most people would argue with you that "everyone is the same; there is no better. Stop being a chauvinistic pig"; I am one of those people. But who here would honestly think that you would get resistance from the first statement?

Feminism. Wait, just wait. Disclaimer: As an egalitarian, I agree with the average feminist. Women should be payed the same as men, should not be discounted for their sex, and should overall get all the privileges the men do. I would also say that about any social group treated unfairly. Now there is the fringe in any group. They are the ones that are most vocal, shout the loudest, and are not representative of the core group. I have heard my grandmother, boss, several classmates, etc, state that a "woman should be in that position or office." I heard this fairly often in regards to Hillary Clinton's bid for President. Why is this acceptable? Not "I like her" but "she is a woman; I am voting for her." Imagine if me, again the "upper middle class white boy", stated that "A man needs to be President." I can feel the hatred steaming through the internet right now.

Just two days ago, I heard "Warren Buffet invests like a woman; carefully and patiently" from a psychologist. Does knowing the gender of the psychologist change how you feel about that line? The psychologist was female. The line seems to state that "women are less likely to take unneeded investment risks." This isn't a line that would send an army of bloggers into a fit of rage, but why not? It is essentially saying that women are better than men and is also making stereotypes about women as well.

It's not a horrible "THE SKY BE FALLING!! !" thing and I am generally not that concerned. I am just wondering why is it acceptable to be negative to men, but unacceptable to be negative to women? Why does everyone know misogyny but not misandry? Shouldn't all inequality be unacceptable?

Gee, dunno, but I sure dislike your avatar...

Dear AzernakO, Using the word 'should' in reference to contemporary culture is almost funny, like the kind of funny that isn't. Men are still the first suspects when there appears to be child abuse in the home, and it is STILL necessary to prove extreme incompetence for a man to get sole custody of kids. For a sickening example, Google Jerice Shockley. Google Sylvia Liken..if a man tortured her to death, he would have gotten the death penalty. Google Lois Jurgens...she tortured and finally killed a three-year-old, but was allowed to adopt four more children. Of course, the fact that her brother was a local police lieutenant probably had nothing to do with that. Sylkat

P.S....I thought the word was misanthropy

P.S..I'm not a man...I don't like anyone to take advantage or be treated differently due to gender.

Hi Sylkat! Misanthropric means you don't like anybody. Egalitarian hate!

I agree with you here. It's like no one needs to represent the "middle class white boy" because here, he is the "default". It's a problem in more ways than gender-wise, IMO. If you have one group so "secure" that they are considered the default, then everyone else is a minority, just like that. No one is being represented while we draw such arbitrary lines.

[img][800:630]http://img.chan4chan.com/img/2009-02-21/1235255069967.jpg[/img]

that being said i agree and have proven this to crowds of people in the past. it seems so long as you're the "middle class white boy" you pretty much have no rights. nowadays its all womens rights, non white rights, gay rights, etc. what ever happened to just regular people?

This is one of the reasons why I hang out with animals instead.

Dear TallyMan, I saw the original version of 'a Clockwork Orange' in a theater when it was first released. Very controversial for the time. Sylkat

I know, off-topic!

Back on topic, sort of:
Question: would Lizzie Borden have been convicted if she had been a man?

Dear Taupey, absolutely right, Alex and his Droogs were deliberately evil. One of them had low intelligence, but they all were completely aware of what they were doing. The book, by Anthony Burgess, is considered a classic by many.

Back to my pet peeve, different rules for men and women.

Melanie McGuire; If a man drugged, shot, dismembered his wife, dumped the parts in the ocean, he'd get the death penalty, she got 'life' and is still fighting the conviction!

Brookie Lee West, killed her mother, 2 husbands, one lover, got 'life', a man would have been executed!

Dorothea Puente: killed 9 (that are known), buried 7 of them in her yard, got 'life without parole'. a man would have gotten the death penalty for sure!

"Misogyny" is a more widely-known concept because it's far more popular in practice...
not because it's LESS common.

How many times does it have to be reapeated:

Equal, equitable and identical are not congruent words.

The appropriate metrestick for measuring the rights and privileges of men and women, or whites and non-whites, or straights and gays, or NTs and Aspies/Autistics, or any majority defined by a trait and the corresponding minority with a different trait is equitable treatment.

I don't want to be treated identically to women, and I don't expect women to be treated identically to me. What I do expect is that women and men will be treated equitably.

Let's look at the workplace. The truth of the matter is that identical treatment of men and women isn't always equitable.

Suppose two people, one male and one female, begin in a workplace at the same time, with comparable credentials. Each of them marries, and--in time--starts a family. Each of them has an identical privilege to take parental leave.

But which of them is more likely to take parental leave? Most families can afford to have one parent take parental leave, but not both. The exigencies of nursing dictate that more often than not it will be the mother who will take parental leave.

What are the consequences for the career of the person that takes parental leave? Promotion opportunities are missed, seniority is lost, and continuity is lost. To this day there continue to be professional firms that refuse to admit women to partnership until they have finished having children and there is no recourse for women passed over in this fashion to obtain redress.

Now, the OP is positing a much less dramatic issue of inequality, but I think that these issues must be understood within the larger context. An individual white, heterosexual, middle class male might not see any direct, personal benefit from his advantageous traits and feel himself hard done by. But taken together, as a group, white, heterosexual, middle class males still outscore their non-white, queer, working class or female peers in most indicia of political and financial power. And equity needs to continue to contemplate that.

Ah, the "separate but equal" take. ^

I will at least agree, however, that culturalizing and treating men and women differently on the basis of their sex is equally sexist.

Also,
the title of this thread is "social inequality", not "legal inequality".
The world is not a courtroom. I wonder why so many think it is, and cite legal codification,
as opposed to talking about economic disparity, the bombardment of gendered norms from the media, religion, and other institutions, sexist language, extreme disparities in sex among people in authority. Those are the things that make up daily life.