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paging memorable Inigo Montoya lines
Feb. 28th, 2009 11:26 pmFrom Merriam-Webster, Webster's, American Heritage, et. al.:
misogyny: 1656, from Gk. misogynia, from misogynes "woman-hater," from miso-, comb. form of misos "hatred" (from misein "to hate") + gyne "woman" (see queen). Misogynist is first recorded 1620. (Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper)
misogyny mi·sog·y·ny (mĭ-sŏj'ə-nē): n., Hatred of women.
Read it. Learn it. Memorize it. Know it. Use it correctly.
Nowhere in that definition is it defined as "questioning a woman." Or "disliking a woman for character traits other than being female." Or "questioning a woman's actions and motives."
I'm tired of seeing people - mostly other women and girls - slurred as "misogynistic" because they question Anything That Happens To Be Female. (And I'm getting really tired of it in Fandom - none in particular, just across the board - since I used to be told many, many times to cool my jets when I didn't like something I read about a character I liked. Eventually I saw that those people were correct and adjusted my attitude accordingly. It's been a long, long, long time since you saw me whining about treatment of the character I like.) I'm not simplistic enough to say a woman is incapable of misogyny. Nor am I saying discussion of it isn't valid or should never happen. I'm just asking for some thought to go into a response before whipping out the M word. I've always asked for that - maybe I haven't always phrased it nicely enough, but that's because I'm weary of seeing it so much.
Seriously, this should be the word of the day on the LJ comm "Dictionary.com" for about a month straight.
misogyny: 1656, from Gk. misogynia, from misogynes "woman-hater," from miso-, comb. form of misos "hatred" (from misein "to hate") + gyne "woman" (see queen). Misogynist is first recorded 1620. (Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper)
misogyny mi·sog·y·ny (mĭ-sŏj'ə-nē): n., Hatred of women.
Read it. Learn it. Memorize it. Know it. Use it correctly.
Nowhere in that definition is it defined as "questioning a woman." Or "disliking a woman for character traits other than being female." Or "questioning a woman's actions and motives."
I'm tired of seeing people - mostly other women and girls - slurred as "misogynistic" because they question Anything That Happens To Be Female. (And I'm getting really tired of it in Fandom - none in particular, just across the board - since I used to be told many, many times to cool my jets when I didn't like something I read about a character I liked. Eventually I saw that those people were correct and adjusted my attitude accordingly. It's been a long, long, long time since you saw me whining about treatment of the character I like.) I'm not simplistic enough to say a woman is incapable of misogyny. Nor am I saying discussion of it isn't valid or should never happen. I'm just asking for some thought to go into a response before whipping out the M word. I've always asked for that - maybe I haven't always phrased it nicely enough, but that's because I'm weary of seeing it so much.
Seriously, this should be the word of the day on the LJ comm "Dictionary.com" for about a month straight.
