Misandry

Written by Leon Zadok - December 21, 2020

Men rule the world. Should we care about a bit of prejudice thrown their way?

If for one moment, we can think of society as being composed of just two genders we would all agree that women are more often victims than their male counterparts. Women account for almost all of the domestic violence cases reported. They are most often sexually assaulted, and not by other women. They have suffered and continue to suffer workplace discrimination that many male colleagues may simply not recognize. It is in no doubt they are discriminated against by virtue of their gender - attributed at birth and, to some, a perceived defect.

I am a man; readers should know that going forward.

I want to ask a question of the two predominating genders (male and female), about the way they interact. The question to myself and others lies in the litany of misogynistic behavior and motivated crime that pervades our society today: Does the weight of crimes against women, perpetrated predominantly by men, and the behaviors toward women that have grown up in male-dominated environments - cultures of knee touching and economic control - justify societal prejudice toward men? I don’t think it does.

This is an understandably controversial topic area for a whole host of reasons: The current context in which we find ourselves is one that sees men predominate the hierarchy of societal power. More men than women are CEOs of FTSE 500 companies. More men than women are high school principals. If we were to reductively characterize the genders we might see him as the master and her as the reluctant captive. His gender has the upper hand. That is not in doubt.

That said, men are still subject to anti-male sentiments in a range of ways. In the childcare sector, there are far fewer male employees and it is often more difficult for men to get hired. This is due, in part, to a perception that children are less safe in the hands of men. Statistically, this is true. They differ slightly depending on the jurisdiction but men are marginally more likely to commit acts of sexual violence against minors in a childcare setting. So, the perception does have a degree of credibility. These statistics cannot fully account for the all-pervasiveness of anti-male sentiments in sectors like childcare; their persistence is more reliant on the fact that the female gender predominates – perpetuating norms that might be otherwise toxic in other, more gender-diverse professions.

Perhaps I am wrong to suggest that where one gender dominates, cultural norms, and behaviors follow to suit the majority gender. For the childcare sector, the gender with the most gravity in swaying behavioral attitudes is the female gender. So, it makes sense to see gendered attitudes toward other genders.

Let’s take the construction sector. The male gender holds firm. In this sector, an environment overwhelmingly predominated by men, why is it that 72 percent of women in the UK report that they have been the victims of gender discrimination? Surely, it is because the sentiments – misogynistic sentiments – of the majority gender have been allowed to ferment and solidify without question, or competition. Acts of sexual innuendo go unchecked. Wolf whistling goes unnoticed. The minority within the profession keeps their head down, for fear of denting a seemingly healthy career, and the male majority go on touching thighs, whilst no one is looking.

If the sentiments associated with the construction sector - and other male-dominated sectors - can be thought of as being toxic and something to be fixed, then the same consideration of female-dominated sectors and cultural cohorts, and the way anti-male sentiments pervade those must be recognized also. It is not tit-for-tat. The systemic problems that the female gender faces grossly outweighs that of its male counterpart. That said, introspection is not gender-specific.