Online Study: Women are just as likley to be "misogynistic" as men online

[Callate]

I'm not hugely surprised by the finding. I'm a little annoyed by how it gets contextualized and summarized.

Like it or not, when you describe something as "misogyny", it gets filed into a particular folder. One that in its broad strokes says: men are responsible for creating a culture in which hating women is acceptable and women as well as men internalize this hatred to the point that...

I'm curious if any similar study was made of insults or threats made towards men. It doesn't seem to me that one kind of threatening language is more unacceptable than the other, and it bothers me that there's an undercurrent that suggests that women and women alone need to be protected from this kind of atmosphere and men and men alone are responsible, whether for the threats themselves or for "changing the culture".

Yes, "misogyny" doesn't inherently imply men, but the term is sufficiently loaded that whenever I see the word get used there inevitably seem to be some who crop up to say that women internalize this hatred of women and men are somehow still responsible. It boggles my mind to see purported feminists suggesting that women aren't responsible for their own actions.

Any time dogma becomes self-proving and inviolate, however noble the underlying cause, I grit my teeth a bit.

Because the word "misogyny" gets buried under so many associations and so much pre-supposition, a more interesting and worthwhile point (in my humble opinion) that might actually be worth discussion gets buried. Men get called, as other people have said, dickhead, or asshole, or ************, or... whatever. Women get called slut and whore. ("*****" is more general, and probably over-used, but I think it also gets more attention than it should largely for being a female-specific epithet.)

...So while men are being called out for being jerks and/or idiots, women's behavior mostly seems to link back to suppositions about their sexual behavior. That is troubling... But because it gets filed under the broad, over-used catch-all of "misogyny", it barely gets a glance. For a lot of feminists, it's just one more thing to throw on the stack of "things men do wrong"; for a lot of men, it's a flag that they shouldn't bother walking into the minefield.

Internet gender politics as usual, in other words. Carry on...

 

[DANEgerous]

What's wrong with "slut shaming"? Is it purely because men don't get "slut shamed", so it is therefore unfair to call out women on it?

its judging someone for their sexual practices..which is quite frankly no ones god damn business unless its harmful

Someone's sexual practices says a lot about who they are, especially in relation to finding a partner and someone to reproduce with. It's perfectly natural to hold standards towards certain types of sexual behaviour - we have literally evolved to do so.

ehr... no. I am frankly a bit of a whore to a lot of people, I have had sex with a rather large number of people and if you go by that I am likely a extrovert that loves parties or perhaps totally immoral. And yet I hate parties, I am an introvert and kind of a doormat that will help people that do not deserve it. I just find sex enjoyable (shocking I know! He said he word dripping with sarcasm)but I find no shame in it (He said with an air that was so serious it was almost uncomfortable to hear). If you do not get what I a saying with my implied tone I am saying our cultural idea of sex is really fucking stupid. We still see sex as dirty and virgins a pure and marriage as a standard life goal and having multiple partners as immoral and all of it is bullshit. Pure unrefined grade A top shelf bullshit in fact. It has no basis in reality if you want to fuck someone and they want the same just fuck already, it is not that complicated.

 

[Saetha]

That's a hilarious article to me. Oh, no, we can't have this kind of language normalised, then people will be saying it all the time! News flash, it is normal. Those are terms that people do use commonly. And I think it's pathetic that they're equating the use of 'slut' and 'whore' as misogyny. I don't see how that's indicative of a hatred for women at all, any more than me calling another male a prick or a dickhead is mysandry.

Yeah, the idea that it's problematic language despite the fact that everyone, including the groups it's "degrading" use it, kinda rubs me the wrong way. Not only because, as you mention, words referring to male genitalia like "prick" are insults, too - but because it also falls apart in certain contexts. For instance, the word "bitching," when used as an adjective is usually meant to mean "good" or "awesome," but the word "*****" is commonly regarded as a misogynistic insult. So... what am I to make of that, precisely? Other than the fact these words have passed out of the realm of sexist slurs into the domain of general slang.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

I have a question...why are online rape threats and words like "slut/whore" automatically deemed sexist and misogynistic? I thought misogyny was the hatred of women (as a gender), and sexism was discrimination of one gender over another...or have the definitions changed?
I highly doubt that misogyny or sexism is the reason behind those comments. It's the intention and motive behind the words, not the words themselves.
If one girl hates another girl and calls her a slut, it's not because she is sexist/misogynist. It's because she hates that particular girl and wants to use the most hateful words/insults currently in use, plain and simple. Sexism and misogyny is the last thing on her mind.

In 99.999% of cases an online rape threat is not sexist/misogynistic either. It's almost always an expression of dislike towards that person and an attempt to convey that in the most vulgar way that would cause a reaction from them.

Am I saying it's acceptable? Of course not. But lets not turn this into some complicated nonsense about hatred of women or discriminating against their gender. Not online Twitter comments, please.

This is nothing more than people being jerks to each other for relatively minor reasons, something that has been happening since the dawn of time.

 

[Voulan]

I have a question...why are online rape threats and words like "slut/whore" automatically deemed sexist and misogynistic? I thought misogyny was the hatred of women (as a gender), and sexism was discrimination of one gender over another...or have the definitions changed?
I highly doubt that misogyny or sexism is the reason behind those comments. It's the intention and motive behind the words, not the words themselves.
If one girl hates another girl and calls her a slut, it's not because she is sexist/misogynist. It's because she hates that particular girl and wants to use the most hateful words/insults currently in use, plain and simple. Sexism and misogyny is the last thing on her mind.

In 99.999% of cases an online rape threat is not sexist/misogynistic either. It's almost always an expression of dislike towards that person and an attempt to convey that in the most vulgar way that would cause a reaction from them.

Am I saying it's acceptable? Of course not. But lets not turn this into some complicated nonsense about hatred of women or discriminating against their gender. Not online Twitter comments, please.

This is nothing more than people being jerks to each other for relatively minor reasons, something that has been happening since the dawn of time.

I agree with you. Much like the 'N' word I've seen girls use these words as terms of endearment towards each other. I remember reading that its a culture thing to do with reclaiming a derogatory term and turning it into a positive, but certainly language evolves and these words aren't exclusively used in the same ways anymore.

So I'm also a bit skeptical. I mean, one of my friends refer to our group of friends as her 'sluts' and 'lesbian lovers', but she doesn't mean anything horrible by them.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Damn right. Of course they are. The only members of minorities (yes, women can be referred to as minorities) that don?t hate themselves in some way are narcissists.

Of course women can be just as misogynistic as men. Women probably judge other women?s appearance just as harshly as men. This study doesn?t tell us anything we don?t know, it doesn?t provide a solution to everyday sexism (if any; you can?t eliminate provocative words like ?slut? and ?whore? from the English dictionary, just like you can?t with ?bastard? or ?wanker?), and it doesn?t provide a solution to the amount of abuse ? misogynistic or not, but either sex ? to others online and through mediums such as Facebook and Twitter. More than that, there isn?t a solution. The internet is basically humanity?s ?Frankenstein?s monster?, and it?s already grown too big and powerful for us to try and curb it now.

Not to mention?God, sometimes I think people still don?t know what is sexist and what isn?t, or what is misogynistic and what isn?t. As if there are fucking standards for sexism. You can see with the splinters of the feminist movements: you?ve got liberal feminism, radical feminism, Marxist feminism, Anti-Theist feminism, sex-positive feminism, etc. Sexism isn?t a simple thing; it?s much more, and even if a social movement against it can?t unify their efforts on what should be, what hope is there?

As for ?slut-shaming?, I think it?s only acceptable if a man or woman is doing so with other people?s partners or they?re not using protection, because then you?re just unjustifiably meddling with people?s health/lives and relationships for your own satisfaction. Perhaps ?slut? is the wrong term, but it does make you just as in the wrong as the cheat. Could call them a ?*****?, but that?s not as tied to the sexual practice of an accused ?slut?. Basically, I?d like to think that most people now, at least where I?m from, call others ?sluts? because they believe sleeping around can almost inevitably causes hurt if they fuck with the wrong person (quite literally), rather than merely shaming someone for how many people they do behind closed doors. Maybe ?slut-shaming? is worse in America; I dunno.
But whatever, we?re all fucking sexual deviants, if you ask me (and my Sociology teacher). The woman who gets ploughed by a random bloke every weekend is just as sexually deviant as the teenage boy who sits in the front of a screen jacking off thrice a day over transsexual porn stars.

Anyway, all we can really conclude from all of this are that humans can be assholes a lot of the time and often use a person?s perceived ?***** in the armour? to insult them in as best a way as possible, but also that context is always very important. So, to compare it to racism for a moment, a white guy calling his long-time Jewish friend named Dewey ?Jewey Dewey? isn?t a negatively racist act, but saying ?Fuck off, you kike? when they piss you off is. The jury?s probably out on whether or not ?big-nose? can be specifically an insult to Jewish or black people based on the perceived greater size of the members of their ethnicity?s noses, or if they?d insult them based on their nose size even if they were white or of a race otherwise not known for a large nose size. The problem is that everyone has different definitions of sexism that they judge everyone else by. To use another example, a male serial rapist of women might be misogynistic, or he might just get off on using his power over people and women are simply easier targets because they're weaker on average.

 

[Weaver]

What's wrong with "slut shaming"? Is it purely because men don't get "slut shamed", so it is therefore unfair to call out women on it?

Ok, so men get praised for having loads of sex but women shouldn't be having loads of sex? Stupid.

Who praises men for having sex? I've never been praised for having sex.

Why do people think because you're a man the entire world treats you like you're perpetually in a high school sports team locker room?

 

[Rellik San]

What's wrong with "slut shaming"? Is it purely because men don't get "slut shamed", so it is therefore unfair to call out women on it?

Ok, so men get praised for having loads of sex but women shouldn't be having loads of sex? Stupid.

Who praises men for having sex? I've never been praised for having sex.

Why do people think because you're a man the entire world treats you like you're perpetually in a high school sports team locker room?

I've been praised for having sex... BUT ONLY BY MY PARTNER! HEYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MUTUAL RESPECT IN THE CONFINES OF A LOVING RELATIONSHIP FIVE! ANYONE...anyone... c'mon don't leave me hanging here. D;

In all seriousness yeah I never understood the whole mentality of having sex being any kind of achievement, it's something sticky, icky, fulfils a biological and neurological impulse most of us have and if done right, is incredibly fun.

Like cooking really... wait... I JUST GOT WHY THEY SAY BUN IN THE OVEN!

Anyway slut shaming is like a 5 year old punching the girl he likes on the arm shyly and then everyboy in the school trying to punch her in the arm because they heard she totally puts out a kiss on the cheek for that, only when they don't get the kiss to to start yelling about her cooties. If you shut shame, that is literally what you're doing, literally... for reals... for serious, you are basically pointing at someone and going "you got cooties" stop it... unless you're actually 5... infact that's a new life policy I'm adopting, if you slut shame someone, I will treat you like a 5 year old.

Though that said, I can understand WHERE you have sex as some kind bragging right, but that right is equal for men and women, seriously, I don't wanna know who you shagged, but if you shagged someone whilst on dangling from a support line on a overhang whilst mountain climbing... I wanna hear about that... I mean... just the logistics alone... unless you've been climbing with my girlfriend, then I may not want to hear about it and serious discussions and punches to your face may happen.

 

[Phasmal]

What's wrong with "slut shaming"? Is it purely because men don't get "slut shamed", so it is therefore unfair to call out women on it?

Ok, so men get praised for having loads of sex but women shouldn't be having loads of sex? Stupid.

Who praises men for having sex? I've never been praised for having sex.

Why do people think because you're a man the entire world treats you like you're perpetually in a high school sports team locker room?

As a society, it is often seen as a natural and positive thing for a man to have many sexual partners (at least before `settling down`).
Also, I know enough guys who actually do praise each other for getting laid so I guess we're just in two different universes.

Not so for the ladies.

 

[Vegosiux]

What's wrong with "slut shaming"? Is it purely because men don't get "slut shamed", so it is therefore unfair to call out women on it?

Ok, so men get praised for having loads of sex but women shouldn't be having loads of sex? Stupid.

Who praises men for having sex? I've never been praised for having sex.

Why do people think because you're a man the entire world treats you like you're perpetually in a high school sports team locker room?

As a society, it is often seen as a natural and positive thing for a man to have many sexual partners (at least before `settling down`).
Also, I know enough guys who actually do praise each other for getting laid so I guess we're just in two different universes.

Not so for the ladies.

And I know enough ladies who can't stop talking about their current bedmates' cocks. Now, I'm going to say I'm sure the scales are tipped one way, but I highly doubt this is nearly as one-sided as you make it out to be.

Or maybe the circles I frequent (kind of small, I do have many acquaintances, but a precious few people I call friends) are outside the norm or something.

 

[Dragonbums]

That's hardly surprising. After all those things are taught. Not something only men think by default.

 

[JimB]

As a society, it is often seen as a natural and positive thing for a man to have many sexual partners (at least before `settling down`).
Also, I know enough guys who actually do praise each other for getting laid so I guess we're just in two different universes.

Not so for the ladies.

And I know enough ladies who can't stop talking about their current bedmates' cocks. Now, I'm going to say I'm sure the scales are tipped one way, but I highly doubt this is nearly as one-sided as you make it out to be.

Uh, how one-sided do you think Phasmal has made things seem? All he said was, "As a society, it's often seen." A general trend that only doesn't even imply it happens a statistical majority of the time. What part of the statement are you taking exception to, and why?

 

[Vegosiux]

As a society, it is often seen as a natural and positive thing for a man to have many sexual partners (at least before `settling down`).
Also, I know enough guys who actually do praise each other for getting laid so I guess we're just in two different universes.

Not so for the ladies.

And I know enough ladies who can't stop talking about their current bedmates' cocks. Now, I'm going to say I'm sure the scales are tipped one way, but I highly doubt this is nearly as one-sided as you make it out to be.

Uh, how one-sided do you think Phasmal has made things seem? All he said was, "As a society, it's often seen." A general trend that only has to be true about 51% of the time. What part of the statement are you taking exception to, and why?

She, not he ^^

It's not that I'm taking exception it's just that, well, I simply don't see this reverence for promiscuous males in my life. Now while I'll concede there might be something about it, otherwise I doubt there'd be so much talk about it, but I simply don't see where it's coming from.

Again, it might be the company I keep and my refusal to pay any attention to pop culture, but...I don't see guys being applauded just for getting laid a lot. And my female acquanitances seem to be no less kinky, sexual and/or perverted than my male ones, and nobody's giving them trouble over that.

 

[JimB]

It's not that I'm taking exception it's just that, well, I simply don't see this reverence for promiscuous males in my life.

God damn, you quoted me fast. I really thought I'd corrected my error before anyone could have caught it, but nope. Oh well.

Anyway, as to your complaint: I'm kind of stymied here, because if you can't think of examples of men being lauded for promiscuity, or of women being attacked for the same, then I think you must not watch any TV, see any movies, read any news stories, or listen to any songs, in addition to only knowing or speaking to a very small sample of people. I don't know how to respond to any of that. Congratulations on living in a society in which women are allowed to say openly that they enjoy sexual intercourse, I guess.

 

[Vegosiux]

It's not that I'm taking exception it's just that, well, I simply don't see this reverence for promiscuous males in my life.

God damn, you quoted me fast. I really thought I'd corrected my error before anyone could have caught it, but nope. Oh well.

All seeing. All knowing.

Nah it's just that hour when I can hang around for a bit.

Anyway, as to your complaint: I'm kind of stymied here, because if you can't think of examples of men being lauded for promiscuity, or of women being attacked for the same, then I think you must not watch any TV, see any movies, read any news stories, or listen to any songs, in addition to only knowing or speaking to a very small sample of people. I don't know how to respond to any of that. Congratulations on living in a society in which women are allowed to say openly that they enjoy sexual intercourse, I guess.

Maybe. I've gone off watching most TV-entertainment, seeing as I work in the field and watch tons of it at work (sports mostly) and really prefer doing something else at home. That and I absolutely hate romance subplots in pretty much anything. News I generally stay away from tabloids, so it's mostly politics, Ukraine and the current events. And music I listen to lately is almost exclusively soundtracks and instrumental these days. So we could chalk this one up to a specific citation I guess.

Or maybe I'm just old and jaded enough to adopt a worldview that life ain't about chicks, booze and yoloing, and consequently associate with people with that pattern of behavior less. *shrug* I don't know.