Even though we’re living in the twenty-first century, the world is still grappling with societal demons of gender inequality and misogyny. Misogyny is one of those prevalent topics today that will never fail to attract debates among all kinds of people and societies. But, who are misogynists? Who are the men around us that deserved to be labeled as misogynists? How do these misogynists behave? Do they have some sort of a particular behavioral pattern?
How can one spot a misogynistic person coming at you from miles away?
Misogyny is not only the hatred, hostility and superiority a man may tend to feel against one, several or all women. Misogyny entails the practice of controlling, suppressing, policing, punishing and banishing women who challenge male dominance.
is often treated as an indispensable, regular part of a social setting. Ignoring the prevalent existence of misogynistic values exercised by so many men around us would be consciously living in denial. The personal antagonism men feel towards women is a mode of thinking, behaving and living that is formed in the early years of a male n most cases of misogyny. It is often the result of a negative, traumatic experience they have undergone at the hands of women that were once close to them.
However, this is the only explanation of misogyny. It is a product of the society a man is brought up in. Some cultures in the world are less pro-gender equality than other societies even today. There are people in the world that carry with them the archaic notion of women being less superior human beings to men that do not deserve equal treatment as human beings. Some men still believe that women are meant to be subjected to oppression and inferiority.
These are the kind of traditional beliefs that are actively past down from generation to generation, and they result in men developing sentiments of hatred and dislike towards women instead of love, care, and respect. Others, as stated above come to believe such things from personal firsthand experiences. A man like that never learns to love or respect a woman.
Misogyny may not be as easy to detect in a man’s actions as we may expect. But, something like hatred, ingrained scorn for women cannot be contained within for too long. Once the misogynistic behavior of someone starts to get out of hand, here are some signs that can help spot the misogynist in a room full of otherwise rational people.
1. He will sugarcoat his hatred for women at first:
To keep his feelings of misanthropy towards women undercover, he will be kind, sweet, fun and even flirt at first while all his efforts and attention directed at finding reasons and chances to be hostile towards women.
2. His misogynistic behavior will begin to show eventually:
Then, as time goes by, this woman-hater will begin to either intentionally or unintentionally show his true colors as he will not be able to resist treating women with contempt for too long. You will notice such men quickly going from wonderfully pleasant to rude, and this cycle will go on for a long time.
3.The niceness will vanish.
Then, even the “pleasant, friendly and charming” factor will vanish into the air. When he’s around women, all he will spend his energy on will be making them feel inferior to himself and proving them wrong in anything and everything. You will catch this man being self-centered, cocky and downright ill-mannered around women. He will not bother with respect and civility. He will interrupt a woman while she’s talking, he will find ways to demean her in front of people and call it “joking” or “good humor”, he will pass remarks on her body and he will do everything he can to make women feel beyond uncomfortable not to mention, unsafe in his presence.
4.He will treat men way differently than women.
How he treats men will be entirely different from how he treats women. He will be very friendly with men. If his male family member or co-worker does something that a female one has also done, he will be quick to praise the man for it while criticizing the woman for that same thing. It’s a misogynist’s way of making sure he’s making women realize they aren’t as capable, sensible and generally as likable as men.
5. He can’t stand successful women.
When he crosses path with a woman who has greater personal and professional achievements than him, he immediately addresses her mere existence as a threat to his ego and his image in the society. For a misogynist, a woman more successful than him is poison. He can’t stand being less than a woman in any way possible. He will find ways to disrespect her endeavors and make it look like there’s entirely nothing noteworthy or special about where this woman is in her life.
6. He will make women feel worthless.
A misogynistic man will leave no stone unturned when it comes to making women feel miserable and worthless. For instance, this kind of a man will demand sex instead of asking for it, and he will do it while he shows zero interest in the woman herself. He will make sure to make the woman feel like she’s only being used for his sexual pleasure. This is always because misogynistic thoroughly enjoy putting women down. Consider it as fuel for his mind.
7. He physically and verbally abuses women.
He is very quick to resort to verbal abuse and physical violence in situations involving women. He will not be reasonable, rational or patient. To him, that’s the kind of treatment women deserve.He will do everything in his power to make women feel weak and helpless around him.
Watch out for a man who is maltreating women and deliberately creating all kinds of hurdles for them while he takes great pleasure in it. He is a misogynist who wants women to be treated as people who deserve zero respect and equality in the society.
