Misandry

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Categorism focused on targeting men. (In Swedish: misandri)

Please note that in this context, the word misandry refers to any facet of categorism targeting men as a category. Also note that this is on any level of categorism, be it individual or structural or otherwise. Some people may instead use the word in a slightly different way, such as limiting it to bigotry against men (thus excluding prejudice and discrimination). Or as limiting the word to referring only to a dichotomy between privilege and oppression where misogyny is constructed as monolithic while misandry is constructed as something which cannot exist.

Note that the word "misandry" should be used with caution, as some people use this word in extremely problematic ways. Up to and including accepting the "either privileged or oppressed" dichotomy while introducing conspiracy theories to "disprove" the historical fact that society has been male dominated for thousands of years - replacing it with a fake history where women are claimed to have secretly ruled the world throughout the millennia. Thus awkwardly constructing misandry as monolithic while absurdly constructing misogyny as something which cannot exist.


Examples of facets expressed through this focus

  • Category Agency: Assuming that all men want the same things, simply for being men. Also, giving individual contemporary men blame for historical developments (or mythological narratives) that happened (or was supposed to happen) before they were even born, based on them having the same gender as the people who were in charge back then. For example, blaming contemporary men for the fact that medieval laws ensured that almost all rulers were male (AKA classical patriarchy).
  • Dehumanization: Talking about men as if they were robots or monstrous beasts. Statements such as "To call a man an animal is to flatter him; he's a machine, a walking dildo."
  • Demonization: Talking about one gender or another (in this case men) as being immoral, driven by selfishness and dark emotions.
  • Infantilization: Constructing men as being less intelligent and rational than women. Often conveniently limited to when he happens to be horny, and combined with Denial of Agency (and to some extent Dehumanization) into the idea that a sexually aroused man can't be responsible for his own actions. Note that while this attitude is clearly misandrist, it is also misogynistic although in different ways.
  • Malpractice: Stereotypes about how "a real man can take care of himself" sometimes lead to persons being directly or indirectly denied treatment for being male. Note that the same stereotype may in other cases lead to male persons getting better care - based on the assumption that if he seeks help in spite of being a man, then it must really be serious. Stereotypes are fickle like that.