Patriarchy is supported by misogyny and sexism
Misogyny is a system of hostile forces that polices and enforces patriarchal order.
Sexism: “the branch of patriarchal ideology that justifies and rationalises a patriarchal social order”
Belief in men’s superiority and dominance.
Misogyny: “the system that polices and enforces [patriarchy’s] governing norms and expectations”
Anxiety and desire to maintain patriarchal order, and commitment to restoring it when disrupted.
A reduction in sexism in a culture might lead to an increase in misogyny, as “women’s capabilities become more salient and hence demoralizing or threatening”
Women are expected to fulfil asymmetrical moral support roles
Women are supposed to provide these to men:
- attention
- affection
- admiration
- sympathy
- sex
- children
- (social, domestic, reproductive and emotional labour
- mixed goods, like safe haven, nurture, security, soothing and comfort
Goods that are seen as men’s prerogative:
- power
- prestige
- public recognition
- rank reputation
- honor
- ‘face’
- respect
- money and other forms of wealth
- hierarchical status
- upward mobility
- the status conferred by having a high-ranking woman’s loyalty, love, devotion etc
If women try to take masculine-coded goods, they can be treated with suspicion and hostility.
There are lots of “social scripts, moral permissions, and material deprivations that work to extract feminine-coded goods from here” – such as:
- anti-choice movement
- cat-calling
- rape culture
There are lots of mechanisms to stop women from taking masculine-coded statuses – such as:
- testimonial injustice
- mansplaining
- victim-blaming
An example of this asymmetric moral economy:
“Imagine a person in a restaurant who expects not only to be treated deferentially – the customer always being right – but also to be served the food he ordered attentively, and with a smile. He expects to be made to feel cared for and special, as well as to have his meal brought to him (a somewhat vulnerable position, as well as a powerful one, for him to be in). Imagine now that this customer comes to be disappointed – his server is not serving him, though she is waiting on other tables. Or perhaps she appears to be lounging around lazily or just doing her own thing, inexplicably ignoring him. Worse, she might appear to be expecting service from him, in a baffling role reversal. Either way, she is not behaving in the manner to which he is accustomed in such settings. It is easy to imagine this person becoming confused, then resentful. It is easy to imagine him banging his spoon on the table. It is easy to imagine him exploding in frustration.”
Praise, as well as hostility, enforces patriarchy
“We should also be concerned with the rewarding and valorizing of women who conform to gendered norms and expectations, in being (e.g.) loving mothers, attentive wives, loyal secretaries, ‘cool’ girlfriends, or good waitresses.”
Misogyny is not psychological
Misogyny isn’t a psychological phenomenon. It’s a “systematic facet of social power relations and a predictable manifestation of the ideology that governs them: patriarchy.”
Misogyny is banal. (“to adapt a famous phrase of Hannah Arendt’s)
This understanding of misogyny is intersectional
Misogyny is mediated through other systems of privilege and vulnerability. Manne does not assume some universal experience of misogyny.
Shout out to “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” critiquing middle class heterosexual white women over-generalising on the basis of their experience.
A quick note on privilege
Privileged people “tend to be subject to fewer social, moral, and legal constraints on their actions than their less privileged counterparts”