Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny

by Kate Manne

you might think that the question “What is misogyny?” has a simple answer. According to a common, dictionary definition–style understanding of the notion, which I call the naïve conception, misogyny is primarily a property of individual agents (typically, although not necessarily, men) who are prone to feel hatred, hostility, or other similar emotions toward any and every woman, or at least women generally, simply because they are women. That is, a misogynist’s attitudes are held to be caused or triggered merely by his representing people as women (either individually or collectively), and on no further basis specific to his targets. Such a representation, together with the agent’s background attitudes toward women as, for example, disgusting, loathsome, fearsome, or mindless sexual objects is supposed to be enough to trigger his hostility in most, if not all, cases (i.e., admitting of only limited exceptions, such as for those few women who somehow manage to dispel his hostility). Misogynistic attitudes are thus unified by their psychological nature and basis—that is, their “deep” or ultimate psychological explanation. And a culture will be misogynistic to the extent that it contains, fosters, and is dominated by misogynists. I believe that the naïve conception of misogyny is too narrow in some respects and not focused enough in others. Although I think it is right to keep the emphasis on attitudes in the family of hostility, I argue that the targets of this hostility sho...