Misogyny is a dislike for or hatred of women. There are various points of view on whether it's distinct from Sexism and whether one is rooted in the other. But misogyny typically carries a more visceral implication of specific negative and hostile feelings towards women, whereas sexism also describes attitudes or behaviour that are discriminatory but which might also be unconscious or conducted with neutral or even benevolent feelings towards women.
Misogyny often arises in the context of sexist incidents or the discussion of them. Sometimes it is not initially apparent, but emerges or becomes explicit as the discussion goes on.
One common silencing tactic used to brush off an act of misogyny is to disingenuously characterize the behaviour as as unmeaning or benignly meant. For example threats of sexual violence, no matter how hostile and overt, are sometimes defended as deriving from admiration for women's attractiveness.
Examples
Incidents
The following geek community incidents were notable for the presence of violent imagery and cruelty towards women targets:
Blog comments
A complete catalogue of blog comments expressing contempt for or hatred of women would be completely impossible. However, here are some example entries about geek feminism which have attracted very negative comments about women:
- Leaving Ubuntu-UK by Caroline Ford about the Ubuntu Code of Conduct incident, including "What a tantrum! Time of the month?" (anonymous commenter)
- A Good GCDS Beginning (with a significant disappointment) by David Schlesinger about the EMACS virgins joke incident including "This kind of whiny bullshit about unimportant details is exactly why women should be left out in the cold. Not just in the open source movement but in every job..." (anonymous commenter)
