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"Woman hater" redirects here. For other uses, see Woman Hater (disambiguation).

A woman hater is a misogynist. This is someone who passionately feels loathing for or aversion to women, and is usually applied to a man.

A synonym for this term is a male chauvinist, which is a man who believes women are inherently inferior to men and that they don't deserve equal treatment to men. Sexism also is another word that is heavily related to woman-hating.

This page will go on to talk about the history and the origin of the term woman hater, and will proceed to talk about socialization and why people use the term.

History and Origin of 'Woman Hater'

Cover of Joseph Swetnam's Essay titled, The Arraignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women, 1615

Swetnam the Woman-hater

In 1615, English writer Joseph Swetnam wrote an influential pamphlet titled The Arraignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women This misogynistic text describes women as inferior, incompetent, lazy, and all around burdensome for their husbands and other men in their lives. It sparked multiple responses. In 1617, poet and polemicist Rachel Speght wrote a response called A Mouzell for Melastomus (meaning "A Muzzle for the Evil-Mouth") in which she refutes Swetnam's claims and provides arguments for why women are equal to men. In the subheading, the author includes the description, "Or an Apologetical Answer to that Irreligious and Illiterate pamphlet made by [Joseph Swetnam] and by him entitled, The Arraignment of Women." Another response was written in 1620 by an anonymous author, a play titled, Swetnam the Woman Hater. This play includes the first known use of the term misogyny.

Cover of response to The Arraignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women tiled Swetnam, the Woman-hater, 1620

Mark Twain's Letter to his Fiancée

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) wrote a letter to his fiancée Olivia Langdon in 1869 which includes his critisism of the pathetic nature of those he calls "women-haters." Clemens writes, "Their pet vanity is to be considered “men of the world”—& they generally know about as much of the world as a horse knows about metaphysics. They are powerfully sustained in their [woman-hating]& kept well up to the mark by the secret chagrin of observing that no woman above mediocrity ever manifests the slightest interest in them... I do pity a woman-hater with all my heart." Twain expresses not only distaste, but also pity. He writes how these woman-hating men are ignorant to their wrong beliefs until they are at a point in which they realize they've wasted many years of their lives.

Socialization and Misogyny

Defining Socialization

Socialization is the process of copying the influences, habits, and attitudes of a surrounding society starting from the moment a person is born. In other words, the people and objects surrounding a person will sway their views and create opinions and thoughts based on what they see and hear. Misogyny related to socialization since many families, schools, and other socialization agents encourage the idea that men are stronger and more powerful than women. These institutions also tend to raise children into believing that acting and thinking in this matter is helpful when learning how to treat others.

Gender Socialization in Boys and Men

The term "women hater" mainly relates to how men are socialized. In Katharine McCarthy, Martha Brady, and Kelly Hallman's report, Investing When It Counts: Reviewing the Evidence and Charting a Course of Research and Action for Very Young Adolescents, one of the most significant arguments they make is the idea that socialization is most effective when a child is in the age range from ten to fourteen: "Focusing attention on young adolescents is a smart investment, as this is the period where lifelong health behaviors are formed, when pathways of opportunity or risk emerge, and when the future life course begins to take shape." McCarthy, Brady, and Hallman's report also focuses on the idea that children mature at different ages, yet a child is most vulnerable to gender norms and socialization during preadolescence and adolescence. As an adolescent, most boys are exposed to—and therefore reenact—violent acts, which tend to be against girls. Violence against women is usually found in relationships and is commonly sexualized. However, men who use aggression toward women are more likely to engage in violent acts toward other men as well. These types of violence connect at the source: socialization. From birth, boys and men are taught that masculinity means being in charge, potentially leading to violence to see who is most manly. In the article, "From work with men and boys to changes of social norms and reduction of inequities in gender relations: a conceptual shift in prevention of violence against women and girls," the authors focus on the violent acts that are exposed to young men, and how those acts are all socially constructed due to the feeling of needing to be the most manly:

Violence is not necessarily a part of masculinity, but the two are often linked. If women are expected to fall under men's control, then physical or sexual force and threat are ways to achieve this. This control also includes punishment of acts of resistance to, or transgression of, gender norms (eg, anti-lesbian violence). Physical strength and toughness are very frequently associated manly attributes, and violent competition between men is often used in demonstrations of this, such as fights for honour and territory.

Interpersonal violence is used in order to assert dominance over another person. The idea of "toxic masculinity" emerged from the belief that men need to be superior in relation to the rest of the world. Using violence to seem more masculine is often seen as a type of hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is defined as the condition in which men are dominant and privileged. These privileges and self-absorbed thoughts are often invisible in socialized societies. Commonly today, hegemonic masculinity is tied with attributes like physical fitness, finance, education, and knowledge/involvement in sports.

While being tough and superior is a challenging issue for adolescent men, it is also important to understand that men and boys are also socialized into this type of masculinity. Feminists argue that it harms men to suggest that they need to be tough all the time and cannot let their emotions show. This can lead to mental illness and lower moods that are usually hidden in fear of seeming feminine, so that a man will often try to participate in acts of violence to take back his masculinity. Christopher Liang once said, “A man who is feeling some loss of power at work may cope with their loss of power by reasserting power at home. It could be through physical violence or sexual violence.” This construct of gender socialization tying to men needing to be dominant has lead to men accounting for three-quarters of all suicides.

Gender Socialization in Girls and Women

Gender socialization in modern societies has caused a gap in equality that may never close. Women have been consistently mistreated due to gender and have been socialized into a corner. The world has socialized women as dummies for male pleasure, and into a pattern of being dominated by men. In the same way that men are seen as tough, women are told they need to be dainty, quiet, and resourceful for men. Even though gender roles and socialization are problems for everyone, some argue that girls are affected the most. This form of socialization tells girls and women they are inadequate and weak, and that the only power they have is the power to be beautiful. This thought can lead to mental illnesses, eating disorders, and fear of being shamed. Gender socialization tells women to change their appearance and change the ways they act in order to accommodate a one-size-fits-none mold. The difference between the binary genders is that men are told they are strong and almighty while females are told that they need to keep changing in order to be desirable.

Gender Roles

Perhaps one of the biggest struggles with gender socialization is the idea that gender roles are fixed, and offer no flexibility. These stereotypical concepts only fit the basic binary and often make people who are non-binary feel even worse than if they were placed into one of the standard groups. According to the US-based organization Planned Parenthood, there are four types of gender roles: personality traits, domestic/household behaviors, occupations, and physical appearance. These gender roles have been around for centuries, and used to tie genders into specific habits. After being implemented for so long, whenever a person stereotypically fits a gender does not follow these roles, they are seen as strange and alarming. These roles are usually tighter on women, causing a split between how women want to act. On one hand, some women will fit the roles and do what she is told; on the other, women fight the stereotypes, endure the term "women hater," constantly fight the gender roles for equality, and embrace the idea that they are different than other women.

Woman Hating in Pop Culture

C.K. Louis an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and filmmaker is one of the most notorious comedians for making demeaning jokes about the opposite gender. There is a set where he is talking about being in the film Louie and in the film, his character attempts to rape another comedian and an audience member was not a fan of that. They told him, “you are making jokes about rape”. He proceeds to say, “You don’t like rape? That’s really weird because you wouldn’t even exist if your mom hadn’t raped that homeless Chinese guy…. Can you do me a favor? Can you please just die of AIDS? Does anybody have AIDS that can put their dick in her face and get her started on that?” and even after that he continues to lecture her after the set and tells her things like, “men like me only get those 15 minutes on stage, who are you to ruin that for me?” As a comedian, you have to almost assume that stuff like this can happen, it is a given, but to go out of your way to demean someone is completely irrational.

Another comedian, Daniel Tosh, known for his hit tv show Tosh.0, had made a gang rape joke to a heckler. She had posted about it on her blog and she recalled, "After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, 'Wouldn't it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…'" One of his pals Jim Norton tweeted out “Some attention-seeking woman heckled a comedian, so if anything, she owes him an apology for being a rude brat.” Tosh had people backing him up for what he said to a woman at his set, making a very inappropriate joke to a woman in general.

definitions of woman hating

male chauvinest definition

definition of sexist

The Arraignment of Women

A Mouzell for Melastomus

Swetnam the Woman Hater

Mark Twian letter

Definition of Socialization

Agents of socialization

Woman Inadequacy

Evidence of learning in adolesence pg 1-3

Evidence of learning in adolesence pg 2-5

Michael Flood article

Dalton Conley book

Gender roles

Impacts of gender roles

Non binary and gender roles

Harm of gender norms

Men in comedy

Danial Tosh rape joke