Down Girl

This is a remarkable book. Manne pays extraordinarily close attention to definitions and meanings, so every reader benefits from her careful dissection of the meaning of misogyny. As she argues, the purpose of misogyny is to "police and enforce a patriarchal order." She works through numerous examples that had been in the news prior to the book's publication in 2018. Many of these I recalled and some I did not, but all of them were well-chosen to Manne's purpose. The discussion of "himpathy" -- the wide latitude given to men accused of sexual assault -- is pointed, revealing, and profoundly disturbing in what it reveals about our society.

I give this 5 stars not because it was perfect but because it was very thought provoking and new to me. I’m not well-versed in formal logic, so I couldn’t begin to critique this work. I’m sure there are some critiques out there. But I found this an extremely helpful book for framing a discussion about misogyny. She defines patriarchy as an oppressive system, sexism as the academic justifications for it, and misogyny as the enforcement and punishment piece. She also argues that women aren’t dehumanized, instead that they have the role as “human giver,” and when they don’t fulfill that role, they are punished. This means if you are “good” and fulfill the giver role, you are a good woman who isn’t subject to punishment like the “bad” women. This allows for a misogynist to love his mom but hate other women and still be a misogynist. Misogyny isn’t general hate of women, it’s hate of women who do not fulfill their proper role. All of this is a lot to mull over, and by no means did I grasp everything she said. Worth a reread at some point!