On the Use of Words

misogynist, n. and adj.
A. n. A person who hates, dislikes, or is prejudiced against women.
B. adj. That is a misogynist; characterized by hatred of or prejudice against women; misogynistic.

- Oxford English Dictionary

I have been thinking recently about the application, and misapplication of certain terms. My thinking was triggered by the use of the term “Misandrist” by a Shipmate of Ship of Fools, who was referring to those who advocated the Ordination of Women. It reminded me of the use of the term “Homosexualist” on the very interesting, and informative website Fish Eaters. See this section on veiling (The website is worth exploring, despite the conservative authorship).

This annoys me, and I will try and explore why in this post. One element is the use of jargon or terminology in order to give authority to a position. Here it is used to add a sense of rationality to a position that I believe to be irrational, (more on my beliefs later) and as such it winds me up a little. There is something else distinctive about these two usages, in that they are a subversion of other concepts and terms. Misandrist is a deliberate reversal of misogynist, homosexualist is an attempt to make the advocates of sexual equality the bigots. As devices therefore they both attempt to shape the territory of the debate which they inhabit. Instead of a debate between equals these terms attempt to label the parties in the debate. If I allow you to term me bigot in a debate you do not need to listen to me, if I am able to establish myself as the rational figure of authority, then what I say begins to carry credence. I am not saying this is an intentional tactic, or not always. We tend to believe that we are right and others wrong, we have to believe this. (Simply speaking If I think proposition A is true, I do not, by definition, think it is not-true,) One of the ways we can enforce our own sense of rightness, which is a comforting thing to do, if by labeling opposing opinions as inherently wrong. This saves us the trouble of interrogating ourselves, if you are a bigot, I don’t need to bother listening to you. Of course you are misusing the Bible and quoting out of context, of course you are using dodgy statistical/scientific data.

- Eve astride the Serpent

Of course sometimes the use of a term will be intentional, I suspect the use of the word misandrist is a considered attempt to subvert the same language used against those who, for instance, oppose OoW. Here I am hinting about a problem though. If I do not like the use of misandrist against positions I hold, should I not also oppose the use of the phrase misogynist? During oral presentations of Research Outlines on Tuesday one of my peers described the assignation of women as “meek and mild” as “misogynist”. (To be fair she used this as an example of misogyny, rather than as a description therof) So now I am wondering, is that a good use of the term? Is the concept of misogyny cheapened by application to proto-complimentarist understandings of Gender? Or is it legitimate to say that such concepts of Gender are entirely bankrupt, to a degree that the bigot designation sticks?

I certainly intend to think twice before using these terms, but then I need to try and work out when they are appropriate. I spent some wordage over christmas discussing the misogyny of one reader of John Rylands’ Manuscript 2 : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes. In this case I was using misogyny in fairly technical context, but even then, did I pay less regard to the subtleties of Medieval gender Politics by labeling a position so broadly?

For more on misogyny specifically:
On Misogyny, Misandry and Misanthropy
Wikipedia on Misogyny