Men who hate women
This probably won’t shock you, but like most men my age, I was not raised with a tremendous respect for women. And while somebody just shouted at the screen about how they were raised in an enlightened ‘70s/‘80s household, I stand by my assertion, and those who were given a firm grounding in gender equity are the exceptions that prove the rule.
I’ve spent the bulk of my adult life unlearning the lessons taught by my Boomer parents about women and their issues. I was a minor in Women’s Studies in college. I’ve talked to women about what’s important to them and, more significantly, I’ve listened. When I write, I work overtime to ensure that women are represented in their entirety, both good and bad.
I grew up in an unenlightened time, but it’s essential to note that these attitudes haven’t changed. If anything, they’ve curdled into something far worse thanks to social media. Go to Reddit and browse around for a while, and you will find lots of free-floating misogyny, both expressed by men and internalized by women. It’s disheartening.
For a while now, I’ve been reading infidelity stories on Reddit, trying to come to terms with an ex who cheated repeatedly. It’s been helpful, but it’s also revealed yet another vein of woman-hatred. The “cheating wife versus the noble husband” trope is everywhere in these subreddits, and let’s call it what it is: more misogyny.
Not all men hate women, but there are far too many who do.