No…Not Everything is Misogyny

Let me introduce you all to one of the most overused words in the English language.

Misogyny – reflecting or exhibiting hatred, dislike, mistrust, or mistreatment of women.

You know what, over the top feminists? When you label everything as misogyny, nothing is misogyny. Misogyny becomes the new normal.

I saw a movie review today that labelled Seth MacFarlane’s most recent movie, A Million Ways to Die in the West, as misogynistic.

Bullshit. Personally, I think when it comes to hard hitting issues, Seth Macfarlane is actually one of the most PC people on the planet. You know why? Because he doesn’t shy away from the offensive to keep from hurting the delicate ladies’ sensibilities. Instead, he treats the women in his films like people who are capable of doing things wrong, being stupid, being promiscuous and in short, being human. He doesn’t pin a scarlet A on his character’s chests because they enjoy a good time. You know who really does?

You know what I find misogynistic? Lifetime “Television for Women.” Every damn movie on that channel deals with some woman being a victim because she’s a woman. Let me give you the formula for every Lifetime original movie ever written.

Innocent leading woman is living a normal, near Puritan style life. Then, the men with their evil man penises come along and destroy that independent lifestyle. When the woman goes for help, all the evil men with their man penises laugh at her weaknesses because she’s just a poor little woman. Then, through the power of prayer, therapy, macramé…fucking whatever, she rises above it.

Lifetime is the ideal example of misogyny, because they portray all women as either Madonnas or whores. Any woman who enjoys sex, or god forbid has nudie photos taken, has low self-esteem and daddy issues. She can never just be a chick who likes to have fun. Women are perpetual victims.

I have never seen a Lifetime movie that I did not find utterly obnoxious and condescending. Not only are they insulting to women, they also portray men in an unflattering, unreasonably evil way.

Let me give an example and a non-example of real misogyny.

Misogyny – a woman at a university gets raped and a police officer investigating the rape says women shouldn’t dress like sluts to avoid being attacked. That’s misogyny.

Not misogyny – A woman is raped at a university and the university hands out pamphlets warning women of the danger in a specific area. Nope, not misogyny. It’s actually just common sense.

I’ve seen several recent news stories lately where people actually complained about this. Women would say “why are they handing us pamphlets on how to not get raped? Shouldn’t they be handing out pamphlets telling rapists not to rape?”

I’m sure in some rainbow covered universe, that would be the best way to go about things, but again, that universe wouldn’t have rapists, now would it? The truth is that these sex offenders and criminals know they’re wrong. No amount of pamphlets are going to fix them.

But a warning might remind a woman to be vigilant to avoid becoming a victim.

So why the hell is it misogyny or ‘promoting a rape culture’ to warn women of the dangers?

When I park in a parking garage in Orlando, and a sign warns me to lock up my car and take my valuables with me, I don’t accuse the city of Orlando of perpetrating a ‘theft culture.’

I lock my fucking car and I take my valuables with me because I’m not stupid. I know bad things happen and I know that I need to be vigilant in order to prevent those bad things from happening to me.

Because the world isn’t misogynistic. It’s just filled with assholes.

Look, when you accuse every man of hating women, when you blame men for all the problems women have and when you accuse all people who don’t worship at the all-mighty temple of the vagina of being misogynists, you are part of the problem.

You are part of the problem because you dilute the real problem with a bunch of stupid problems based in rhetoric, gender neutral language and some desperate desire to be offended for any reason.

Stop over-using misogyny. Every movie that doesn’t portray a woman in a favorable light is not misogyny. Every person who suggests women learn how to defend themselves isn’t a misogynist and suggesting that every lady ever born is not some kind of saint/angel/vagina goddess is not ‘perpetrating a rape culture.’

It’s life. Some people are assholes. Some people aren’t. If you aren’t one of those assholes, it’s up to you to protect yourself from those who are.

That isn’t misogyny. It’s just common sense.