How Misogyny Kills Men?

How Misogyny Kills Men?

Virginia Woolf very rightly defined the concept of misogyny in one of her movies, Orlando, that, as long as a woman thinks of a man, nobody objects a woman thinking. In layman’s terms, misogyny is nothing but the hatred of women. Defining a woman based on if she is a virgin or not is misogyny. It’s somehow different if she’s a mother, a daughter or a sister, but other than that, a non virgin is simply a whore. This very belief is regarded as misogyny. The sordid practices of selling one’s wife, honour killing (to some extent), domestic violence, and promoting objectivity of a woman through music and critiques, is all misogyny.

It is not just an important basis for the oppression of females in a male dominated society but way more than that. We encounter, and moreover, enjoy misogyny in our daily lives without even realizing having done so. The mere existence of a woman in the entertainment world, and now even further, has reduced to a number. There is a size zero, a size two and yet a size ten, beseeching for recognition. The objectification of “Sheila” along with her jawaani, and “Munni” going badnaam for God knows who, is treated as a means of shaking one’s leg, without even considering the promotion of misogynistic feelings happening through it.

Coming to the point, it is quite evident how misogyny kills women, thanks to cases of women getting raped in moving buses, being attacked with acids and women being abused orally and sexually in numerous circumstances. However, the much unsung traumas lie behind how misogyny kills men. A special mention to Elliot Rodger of California, who set out on a killing spree way back in 2004, the sole reason being denial of sex to him from his female counterparts. He combined his masculinity with sexual aggression and envied other men whom the girls made out with, and finally resulted in killing two women, five men including himself, and wounding thirteen others. This is proof of how misogynistic feelings are not only a threat to womanhood, but to men and humanity as a whole too. The feeling of resentment in a sex deprived male corrodes him to the core giving rise to disastrous misogynistic feelings. This resentment is for those men whom the “victim” feels standing in way of him and his much prized possession. These are the men often bullied at some points in their life, who resort to ill practices to get back at life. These are not mad men, but simply normal sons, husbands and boyfriends who confuse woman’s empowerment in being a threat to their. This is not an issue to be prevented, or cured, but being taken up in schools and within families to frame a person’s mind to be able to digest equality and care for all irrespective of gender or other social factors. I’d like to quote Dorothy L. Sayers from Gaudy Night, “Wherever you find a great man, you will find a great mother or a great wife standing behind him — or so they used to say. It would be interesting to know how many great women have had great fathers and husbands behind them.” With this, I rest my case.     ————–

About the Author: This article is contributed by Bhavya Poddar, our Intern.

Ishita Kapoor

Ishita Kapoor