Misogyny

Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Misogyny can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification of women. Misogyny can be found within many mythologies of the ancient world as well as various religions. In addition, many influential Western philosophers have been described as misogynistic.

Misogyny …. is a central part of sexist prejudice and ideology and, as such, is an important basis for the oppression of females in male-dominated societies. Misogyny is manifested in many different ways, from jokes to pornography to violence to the self-contempt women may be taught to feel toward their own bodies.

Dictionaries define misogyny as “hatred of women” and as “hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women”.

The following is an extract from Wikipedia :

Misogyny in Religion

(Ancient Greek) In Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice, Jack Holland claims that there is evidence of misogyny in the mythology of the ancient world. In Greek mythology according to Hesiod, the human race had already experienced a peaceful, autonomous existence as a companion to the gods before the creation of women.

When Prometheus decides to steal the secret of fire from the gods, Zeus becomes infuriated and decides to punish humankind with an “evil thing for their delight”. This “evil thing” is Pandora, the first woman, who carried a jar (usually described—incorrectly—as a box) which she was told to never open.

Epimetheus (the brother of Prometheus) is overwhelmed by her beauty, disregards Prometheus’ warnings about her, and marries her. Pandora cannot resist peeking into the jar, and by opening it she unleashes into the world all evil; labour, sickness, old age, and death.

(Judaism) In Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice, Jack Holland writes also of evidence of misogyny in the Old Testament story of the fall of man in the Book of Genesis. Holland characterizes the Fall of Man (Eve in the Garden of Eden) as “a myth that blames woman for the ills and sufferings of mankind”.

(Islam) The fourth chapter (or sura) of the Quran is called “Women” (An-Nisa). The 34th verse is a key verse in feminist criticism of Islam. The verse reads: “Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.”

In his book Popular Islam and Misogyny: A Case Study of Bangladesh, Taj Hashmi discusses misogyny in relation to Muslim culture (and to Bangladesh in particular), writing:

Thanks to the subjective interpretations of the Quran (almost exclusively by men), the preponderance of the misogynic mullahs and the regressive Shariah law in most “Muslim” countries, Islam is synonymously known as a promoter of misogyny in its worst form. Although there is no way of defending the so-called “great” traditions of Islam as libertarian and egalitarian with regard to women, we may draw a line between the Quranic texts and the corpus of avowedly misogynic writing and spoken words by the mullah having very little or no relevance to the Quran.

In his book No god but God, University of Southern California professor Reza Aslan wrote that “misogynistic interpretation” has been persistently attached to An-Nisa, 34 because commentary on the Quran “has been the exclusive domain of Muslim men”.