City Journal contributing editor and former New York Times columnist John Tierney has written a terrific piece debunking what he calls the misogyny myth, namely, the claim that contemporary western societies are riddled with prejudice and discrimination against women. On the contrary, John argues, it is men that get the short end of the stick.
Here’s how John summarises his article
Contrary to what you see in the press (or Barbie), misogyny is not rampant in modern societies. There is no evil patriarchy oppressing women. Quite the reverse: Both men and women are guilty of misandry, a bias against men. My City Journal article reviews the overwhelming evidence (ignored or suppressed by misandrist journalists and scholars) of bias against men, from the ‘women are wonderful’ effect reported by psychologists to the discrimination against men in the legal system, government, schools, corporations, and academia.
This misandrist bias is probably innate, and it’s being exploited by a diversity industry that falsely blames sexism for any gender gap not favouring women. Yes, women are ‘underrepresented’ in some fields, especially at the top, but it’s not because of discrimination. It’s because of factors like the ‘gender productivity gap’ and the ‘competition gap’ (which explains why scientists in the 99th percentile of productivity are disproportionately male, and why 95 of the top 100 Scrabble players are men). The misogyny myth serves the interests of the diversity industry, but it’s enormously damaging to the rest of society — women as well as men — because it poisons relations between the sexes and undermines the system that has provided unprecedented opportunities and prosperity to everyone: meritocracy.
And here’s an extract:
‘Toxic masculinity’ and ‘testosterone poisoning’ are widely blamed for many problems, but you don’t hear much about ‘toxic femininity’ or ‘estrogen poisoning’. Who criticises ‘femsplaining’ or pretends to ‘believe all men’? If the patriarchy really did rule our society, the stock father character in television sitcoms would not be a ‘doofus dad’ like Homer Simpson, and commercials wouldn’t keep showing wives outsmarting their husbands. (When’s the last time you saw a TV husband get something right?) Smug misandry has been box-office gold for Barbie, which delights in writing off men as hapless romantic partners, leering jerks, violent buffoons, and dimwitted tyrants who ought to let women run the world.
Numerous studies have shown that both sexes care more about harms to women than to men. Men get punished more severely than women for the same crime, and crimes against women are punished more severely than crimes against men. Institutions openly discriminate against men in hiring and promotion policies – and a majority of men as well as women favour affirmative-action programs for women.
The education establishment has obsessed for decades about the shortage of women in some science and tech disciplines, but few worry about males badly trailing by just about every other academic measure from kindergarten through graduate school. By the time boys finish high school (if they do), they’re so far behind that many colleges lower admissions standards for males – a rare instance of pro-male discrimination, though it’s not motivated by a desire to help men. Admissions directors do it because many women are loath to attend a college if the gender ratio is too skewed.
Gender disparities generally matter only if they work against women. In computing its Global Gender Gap, the much-quoted annual report, the World Economic Forum has explicitly ignored male disadvantages: if men fare worse on a particular dimension, a country still gets a perfect score for equality on that measure. Prodded by the federal Title IX law banning sexual discrimination in schools, educators have concentrated on eliminating disparities in athletics but not in other extracurricular programs, which mostly skew female. The fact that there are now three female college students for every two males is of no concern to the White House Gender Policy Council. Its National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality doesn’t even mention boys’ struggles in school, instead focusing exclusively on new ways to help female students get further ahead.
Of course, females in the past did suffer from outright discrimination, but most American institutions eliminated those barriers at least 40 years ago. Women have been a majority of college graduates since 1982 and dominate by many other key measures. They not only live longer than men but also benefit from a higher share of federal funding for medical research. They’re much less likely to be fatally injured on the job or commit suicide. They receive the lion’s share of Social Security and other entitlement payments (while men pay the lion’s share of taxes). They decide how to spend most of the family income. Women initiate most divorces and are much likelier to win custody of the children. While men are ahead in some ways – politicians love to denounce the ‘gender pay gap’ and the ‘glass ceiling’ supposedly limiting women – these disparities have been shown to be largely, if not entirely, due to personal preferences and choices, not discrimination.
Yet most people still believe in the “myth of pervasive misogyny”, as the social psychologists Cory Clark and Bo Winegard concluded in Quillette after surveying the research literature on gender bias. Noting that a Google Scholar search for “misogyny” yielded 114,000 results, while a search for “misandry” yielded only 2,340, they write: “We suspect this difference in interest in misogyny over misandry reflects not the relative prevalence of each type of prejudice, but rather greater concern for the well-being of women than men. All of the arguments, anecdotes, and data forwarded to support the narrative that we live in an implacably misogynistic society, in fact, may be evidence of precisely the opposite.”
Yes, the misogyny myth persists because both sexes want to believe it. Our greater concern for women’s well-being is presumably an innate bias that evolved because it helped the species multiply. From a reproductive standpoint, individual males are ‘expendable’, but females are not. Men are expected to sacrifice their lives defending women in every culture, from hunter-gatherer bands to modern nations like Ukraine, which allowed millions of women to flee the Russian invasion and required all men under 60 to stay and fight.
This instinct to protect women has been essential for societies to survive, but it has also made us easy prey for a modern industry of academics, journalists, activists, lobbyists, and bureaucrats who falsely blame sexism for any gender gap that doesn’t favour women. The misogyny myth has served the interests of this diversity industry, but it is enormously damaging to the rest of society – women as well as men.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
I do reasonably often hear (mainly young) men in groups talking about women in what I would class as a disrespectful way. Some of this may be bravado, some may be a real reflection of their views and may or may not manifest in their behaviour towards women. In general these people are dickheads anyway who I (a man) would not choose to spend time with for many reasons. I suppose you could call that misogyny and I suppose it still exists, though how significant it is and whether the pendulum having swung so far the other way is a proportionate “response” (if response is needed) to this way of speaking and behaving, is debatable. I guess it’s animal instinct coming out and not being checked by any other mechanism. You’d think complete dickheads like this would die out for lack of a mate, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I don’t often overhear female conversations of this nature, but I expect they also exist – perhaps often females given to rather rude and gross ways of thinking about men are the ones who get with men of a similar mindset.
I’ve heard similar conversations from both. As you say, it’s the circles you choose to be in I suspect. I was always shocked to hear female friends in university outright “cooooor, look at his bum!”-ing and generally being exactly the same dick heads as the outright disrespectful men. And they absolutely do tend to attract each other.
Though as the article says, we obviously have a bias towards misandry and I often shrug off what women say when it’s anything that would be perceived as ‘toxic’ were the roles reversed. The amount of women in office work who are openly sexist is actually laughable (how many times have you heard “typical man…” from a female colleague!?). Again though, maybe I’m thick skinned, but I don’t actually give a shit, it’s community banter. What does bother me is the hypocrisy.
I reckon that the sort of bravado you mention is mostly harmless and part of the jostling amongst young men. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t assholes out there.
I think the best way to redirect that energy is towards encouraging them to be strong men, caring and protective of their families.
It’s a very Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson sort of message, so considered toxic, but it’s probably a very good message.
What you can’t do is try to suppress that energy, that’s definitely a bad strategy.
Yes I would agree with that.
I think it’s important not to get over-wrought about this kind of thing.
Why on earth is Transmissionofflame’s post getting so many thumbs-downs? Doesn’t seem very controversial to me! Jeepybee’s following post only gets 2. The two posts are not mutually exclusive…
I think because I am pointing out some limited way in which misogyny is NOT a myth but does indeed exist. Anyone who read carefully would have noticed I’m not really trying to contradict what I believe is a fine article which I largely agree with. I don’t think the misogyny I am talking about is hugely important – perhaps it was a long time ago, but not any more.
Yes that’s what I thought. Better reading standards required!
To be fair, the only misogyny that I am aware of from a female perspective, is that coming from the woke collective. ”Divide and conquer” is their aim and erasing not just women, but both sexes from relevance and society, is what they’re about. I refuse to partake in this ”my victim card is bigger than your victim card” game because it serves nobody. Not when we have a common enemy who is a very real threat to men, women and children.
I agree with you, though I do think it’s worth pointing out that the scales are weighted incorrectly. This is not some perceived victimisation from men, it’s actually ingrained in society.
And not in some “iNsTiTuTionAlLy rAciSt” way either. Until this is addressed, men can never be as powerful as they could be in the fight against the real enemy as you describe.
Great commitment in that comment – must’ve taken ages to type “institutionally racist” that way! Lol. Good comment though.
Spot on Mogs.
So, Mogwai, you’re a woman! I knew it! (No I didn’t)
Thank goodness for all the trans-women gaming the misandric system
Well they’re the ones that are 100% guilty of misogyny in my view. When do we ever hear men complaining about trans ‘men’ competing and unfairly stealing the trophies in men’s sports events or invading the changing rooms so they can flash their foofs ( or manmade phalluses ), ogle the men/boys changing or behaving like sex pest paedos and pervs? If I ever experience or read about a legit man invading the women’s locker room at the gym then I may retract that statement but until then the real threat is from men parodying women to gain entry to single-sex private spaces that they’ve never been allowed to in the past. Oh and if you do a JK Rowling and stand up for women’s sex-based rights you’re done for. Misogyny 101, right there. It’s these delusional loons that are the genuine culprits and threat to women, not the men.
Two khants for the price of one here;
https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1698805382527832128
I should walk over the hill to Crookes Social Club and see whether they’ve installed MFI toilets – Male, Female, Izzard. Thankfully he is now standing for a different Northern constituency – Brighton Pavilion.
And yet as a man, my reaction is – that’s fine, we can take it. I’m quite aware of many of the biases towards women, but don’t feel intimidated or set back by it.
Maybe that’s part of what makes men men.
As a much younger person, I spent a year or so reading feminist literature and then balanced it by reading the men’s literature of the day (Warren Farrell was a particular favourite of mine at the time – never quite got on with Iron John). My conclusion, both sexes have very good reasons for claiming victimisation status! I consider all this talk of misandry/mysogyny a distraction from the very real enemy who must be laughing at the rift that is developing between men and women. Please don’t fall for it.
Quite agree, DS99. I mean, sexism in and of itself towards both genders always has and always will exist and to just keep banging on about that whilst ignoring the bigger picture is just playing into ‘their’ ( the architects of society’s gradual disintegration ) hands. They want a fragmented populace that lacks social cohesion with no sense of community ( the Covid restrictions were proof of this effective strategy ) it makes their job of controlling us and setting us against each other easier. That’s why the immigration will never stop, the woke virus will always be with us as will the eco and trans extremist fruitcakes. Anything that causes trouble and strife, all of the various narratives of which not a single one benefits us, will remain indefinitely, because it serves the globalists’ agenda. I think unity of the masses is the best weapon we have in order to oppose them but it’s precisely this that they seek to destroy for that very reason. The ever increasing censorship, both online and off, is another example. They just cannot let us unite, share information and mobilise any sort of meaningful resistance. But as long as this site is still up then hope springs eternal, eh?
Brilliant Mogs.
100%
I think that the perfect example of the bias against men is in the teaching profession, particularly of those children in what used to be called Infant and Primary schools. My grandson attended a very small school, 100 children, the majority being girls, where there were no male teachers or helpers. “Have you any male staff members?” was the regular question from parents. Bearing in mind how families have changed over the years, a lack male role models in that profession should be a source of serious concern.
Interestingly my daughter’s primary school has more male teaching staff than female, if you include the male Principle and gym teacher. This is the second male teacher in a row that she’s had. I don’t know if this school is an outlier, I’ve never really asked around, and I don’t know how the high schools compare yet. I also used to find it interesting that within the nursing profession children’s nurses were always female but mental health nurses were predominantly male. It just interests me which professions people gravitate towards and is this based on gender or personality traits, or does gender inevitably influence personality traits to some degree anyway?
I maintain that if you truly believe its ‘A Mans World’, then you have fundamentally misunderstood how the whole thing works…
Anyone who has had the misfortune of going through the family courts will probably have experienced the poor way fathers are treated. Some fathers are indeed pretty useless, but most of us love our children to bits and want what is best for them. My wife walked out and took our son after a traumatic birth and had definitely developed some form of postnatal depression. We had moved house and I had started a new job all at the same time too and so our stress levels were high. I tried everything to stop her divorcing me and to get to see my son, but she refused to talk to me, so we had to go through the courts. I was advised not to contest the divorce as I would lose, so I didn’t, but really regret that. Marriage doesn’t seem to mean anything these days.
Her barrister and solicitor, both female and the most obnoxious people I had met, clearly hated men and at no point was our son’s best interest anywhere in their thoughts. Their goal was to make sure I had the least contact possible with my son, preferably none. I didn’t have the money to be represented in court, so attended alone. This was the first of four separate court cases, in different parts of the UK over the years, each one consisting of a few court sessions and the scenario was pretty much the same each time. The reason for the repeated court hearings was that my wife kept moving house. I had representation in the latter ones. My son just wanted to see each of us as much as possible, live near both of us and stop moving house. He was interviewed on a few occasions, but completely ignored. If he said or wrote anything positive about me or negative about his mother, it was claimed I had trained him to say or write it, but if he said anything positive about his mother or negative about me that was focussed on. Total hell and completely unnecessary.
I’m sorry to read that JASA and hope you have contact with your son. Not all women are like your ex-wife and the Harpie lawyers but there are quite a few out there.
I worked with a woman who saw everything through the lens of misandry – she could see reasons for it everywhere. At the same time however, she was angry because she didn’t have a steady relationship which was not in the least surprising. She was vindictive and jealous of women who had relationships and children but couldn’t understand why it wasn’t happening her.
I have no idea how her life panned out as she was too toxic to keep in touch with.
Ayn Rand warned our society as far back as the 1950s that the strong, independent man was being targeted by the left and that, once he was destroyed, there could be an easy totalitarian takeover. Culturally, men have been belittled for decades, portrayed as football-obsessed, beer-swilling morons. Exams are biased towards women; one example highlighted some years back was that an English exam paper had a comprehension section which as all about a woman putting on make-up. This isn’t something male pupils will have any ability to relate to.
Meanwhile, in a case of self-fulfilment, many boys and young men have bought into the new stereotypes and have become sexist jerks, because they’ve been taught they aren’t valued as anything more. As someone who was bookish from early childhood, I’ve always found the stereotypes deeply offensive. More than that, there’s an aggression behind those portrayals, often written by women (or soy boy leftists!) that can only come from a deep, almost religious hatred of and contempt for men.
In my experience, when one girlfriend – who proclaimed herself a feminist – abruptly jilted me, her attitude was that I was a man and that I was barely more than an animal, so why was I so hurt? I looked back on how she and some others treated me down the years and realised I was often regarded as a pet at best. The contempt towards men and boys demonstrated by many girls and women is clearly something being taught, rather than coming from experience.
The current movements are the last big push to sideline men from the culture.Ironically, the trans cult is now sidelining normal women too. Men can be tied in legal knots very easily. One claim from a woman and the burden of proof is put on the man to prove his innocence. I read a magazine article in the dentist’s waiting room a few years ago. There was an article in it by a woman talking how she was bored one evening so she phoned her boyfriend, but she didn’t use the word ‘boyfriend’: she referred to him as ‘the penis’ throughout the article. That says it all. Imagine a man wrote an article and referred to his girlfriend in terms of her genitalia.
Would love to see the study that concludes ‘many women are loath to attend a college if the gender ratio is too skewed’. As for the misogyny/misandry search, couldn’t possibly be that more people are au fait with the word ‘misogyny’. As with climate change, anyone can find a bias in anything. It’s white noise. More Punch n Judy divide and rule shenanigans while the Bank of England steal our wallets.