(RNS) — Almost 40 years ago, the U.S. Congress declared March National Women’s History Month in the hope of “recognizing, honoring, and celebrating the achievements of American women.” But while Women’s History Month has done its work of raising awareness of American women’s remarkable contributions to the country, it has not succeeded in addressing, let alone dismantling, one of the major impediments to women’s future progress: misogyny.
Despite undeniable progress for women in the past century and more, misogyny — the contempt for, or prejudice against, women — continues to be so deeply embedded and so widespread that society has learned to overlook or excuse it as normal. The current president regularly demeans women, as do other politicians; crude public comments are downplayed. Men who sexually harass or assault women are protected even within the church, while their victims are blamed and shamed. Entire denominations block talented women from leadership positions.
Misogyny is real. It exists in every culture and harms all of us—including men and boys. Perhaps most importantly, it contradicts the reality that God loves women and wants them to flourish.
Perhaps part of the issue is that we lack a robust, working definition of misogyny. The literal meaning is “the hatred of women,” but if we continue to define misogyny by such narrow standards, we will fail to see how systemic it is. Most men do not hate women, so classifying it as hatred allows men to distance themselves from the conversation and to leave their own behavior unexamined. Linguist Ben Zimmer notes that “misogyny has more to do with ingrained prejudices against women than a pathological hatred of them.”
To fully understand the scope of misogyny, we need a more expansive definition.
I define the term in my book “For the Love of Women” as “a persistent, insidious belief that men’s wants, needs, and experiences are more important than women’s, and that political, religious, and social systems, as well as intimate relationships, should uphold this principle. These belief systems subsequently influence the laws, practices, and ethos of a given culture, eventually harming everyone—especially women and children.”
Misogyny fuels discrimination, sexism and other forms of unjust or illegal treatment due to women’s biological sex. It blinds both individuals and entire cultures from recognizing women as equal bearers of the image of God, as the first chapters of the Bible tell us they are. Misogyny fosters male-centered hierarchies and disdains vulnerability.
Cornell University philosopher Kate Manne calls misogyny “the system that operates within a patriarchal social order to police and enforce women’s subordination and to uphold male dominance.” It is a man-made construct sustained by ongoing abuses of power and male entitlement.
Misogyny is among the most time-honored prejudices, whose roots have spread far into human civilization. As the founding fathers were creating the Constitution, they modeled their system on ancient Greece, which partially explains why misogyny was woven into America’s DNA. Though Greece was the birthplace of modern democracy, women were excluded from participating in it, were not permitted to receive formal education and were seen as men’s property. Unwanted baby girls could be left on doorsteps or in garbage dumps where they would either die of exposure or be raised as slaves. The Greeks eventually coined the word misogyny, presumably because no other word adequately described their treatment of women and girls.
Most cultures since the dawn of history have been both patriarchal and hierarchical. In her 2017 book, “Gender Roles and the People of God,” theologian Alice Mathews writes, “Whenever we find any arrangement … in which one person is ‘under’ the other person, we have some kind of hierarchy. When that hierarchy has the woman under a man’s direction or rule, it’s called patriarchy.”
Patriarchies and hierarchies perpetuate misogyny through control — gaslighting, intimidation, punishment, withholding resources, giving the silent treatment, and physical and sexual abuse. Male-dominated societies micromanage women’s day-to-day lives, dictating who they socialize with and how they dress. In certain cultures, this means concealing every inch of skin from the neck down; in others, looking “smokin’ hot” but not slutty.
Some men in conservative religious communities exert control by teaching that women must relinquish their bodily autonomy, defer to and respect them and never challenge their secondary positions (see: Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson or former Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll).
Misogyny shows up in doctors’ offices, courtrooms, boardrooms and bedrooms. Though misogyny seems to prefer militaristic or dictatorial styles of governance where unbridled power rules, it’s adaptable and can flourish in democracies and other settings that purport to value gender equality.
Some expressions of misogyny are blatant, as when militant extremists shot Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in the face for daring to advocate for girls’ education, when teenage girls are sex-trafficked by powerful men (see the Epstein Files) or when mainstream media glorifies sexualized violence against women. It takes a bit more intention to spot the subtler forms. Misogyny is at play when girls are raised in religious communities that limit their educational options and funnel them toward becoming tradwives. When adults tell boys they shouldn’t cry, labeling emotions as feminine, that’s an expression of misogyny.
It’s important to name misogyny as an expression of evil. Evil is a powerful presence that has the capacity to influence entire cultures. Gisèle Pelicot of France, to mention just one example, was drugged and systematically raped over 10 years by more than 70 men who were recruited by her husband. Such crimes cannot be explained apart from the existence of an extrinsic force that entices people to behave in a cruel, inhumane fashion. The apostle Paul explains this in his Letter to the Ephesians: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” While acts of misogyny may be motivated by evil forces, its presence must never excuse anyone’s actions.
When women and men forge collaborative partnerships as two equal but distinct image bearers, they reveal God more fully. The enemy of humanity does not want God to be fully or accurately revealed and therefore uses misogyny to thwart this goal.
The best way for Americans to honor and celebrate women would be to work to diminish misogyny with the ultimate goal of eliminating it. Imagine what women could accomplish if they did not have to contend with misogyny every day. To move in that direction, more men will need to love women like Jesus loved women: by protecting them, listening to them, honoring them and ensuring that they flourish.
When this happens, we will have a fighting chance to make misogyny part of U.S. history.
(Dorothy Littell Greco is the author of “For the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America,” from which this essay is adapted. She writes on Substack at “What’s Faith Got to Do with It?” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)
