I’m of the belief that everyone should be treated equally, more or less, until they’ve given me a reason to do otherwise. That also means that the government should do the same, with the only differences being differences in individual circumstances such as with regard to criminal offenses.
So I’ve never really been a fan of bigotry. That includes misogyny.
The left has had a real hate-on for that, or so they claim. They’ve demonized incels—who are toxic and pathetic, but far from the dangerous threat to public order they’ve been portrayed as—and argued that position they disagree with is some form of bigotry, and plenty has been framed as misogynistic.
Yet there’s one group that has a long and storied history of misogyny that the left tends to completely ignore. This came up in the UK recently.
Finally, another ‘review’ about extremism, to go with all the others. Even better, it’s going to be a ‘rapid analytical sprint on extremism’, as UK home secretary Yvette Cooper described it this week. I don’t know about you, but I’m already feeling a hell of a lot safer.
To dismiss Cooper’s review – sorry, rapid analytical sprint – merely as a displacement activity, as a technocratic dodge of a pressing social problem, isn’t quite right. It’s actually much worse than that. Rather than focus counter-extremism resources where they are most needed, Cooper seems intent on dragging all manner of different views into the state’s crosshairs.
Her officials will assess not only ‘the rise of Islamist and far-right extremism’, which you would hope they’d be on top of anyway, but also ‘ideological trends’ such as ‘extreme misogyny’. Naturally, Andrew Tate comes up in all the write-ups, given the supposedly hypnotic hold that misogynistic character act has over our young men.
…
Indeed, the establishment is constantly expanding the definitions of extremism and terrorism, all while ignoring where the lion’s share of it comes from. Which isn’t ‘extreme misogynists’, or the far right for that matter. It’s Islamism. You know it. I know it. But the political and media elites seem desperate to pretend otherwise.
And yet, focusing on Islamic extremism is sometimes referred to as Islamophobia—because everything is some kind of -phobia—despite the religion’s long and storied history of oppressing women.
Particularly the more extreme variety.
Once upon a time, the Muslim world was exotic, mysterious, and alluring. Sultans and sheiks were romantic foils for daring Western heroines. While the extreme varieties of Islam existed, they appeared to be far from ascendant. The Middle East was a rough place to some degree or another, but it was also not as hostile to Western values.
But then things changed in Iran, which has been a fairly secular society. Women enjoyed a certain degree of freedom. They could at least dress how they wanted, go where they wanted, and with whoever they wanted.
When the Shah was overthrown, everything changed. The Islamic world started to look very different. Women were obligated to wear burkas, to hide every inch of skin. Women are stoned to death for adultery. They can’t go anywhere without a male member of their family. Children have more legal standing than women.
Oh, and do you want to talk about rape culture? Women who are raped stand accused of adultery—and we already talked about the penalty for that—and can only be absolved by male witnesses. How often are there no witnesses to a sexual assault? Exactly.
Every ill feminists and the left say they’re concerned about, in reality, exists in these extreme Islamic societies.
And yet, to criticize these aspects of these societies is labeled another form of bigotry.
So it’s impossible for me to take them seriously when they express concerns about misogyny. They seem inclined to defend it in plenty of circumstances, so why is it that only Western misogyny is bad?
I think Andrew Tate is despicable on so many levels, and that’s without the criminal accusations against him. If those turn out to be true, then it’s yet another reason to dislike the guy.
But his brand of misogyny is a personal one. It’s far different than entire nations that don’t let women get driver’s licenses.
For all the cosplay of The Handmaid’s Tale we’ve seen because someone thinks abortion is too common, the reality is that most of what appears in that work of fiction can be seen in Islamic countries in reality.
I’ll believe the left really despises misogyny when they start taking issue with all of it. Until then, it’s just another kind of cosplay.
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"Oh, and do you want to talk about rape culture? Women who are raped stand accused of adultery—and we already talked about the penalty for that . . . "
Some countries still force the victim to marry her rapist. I saw an article recently saying that over 40 countries have such laws on the books, though my searching just brings up a wikipedia article listing 18 countries, but it also listing a lot of coutries only recently repealed such laws, as well as noting that some places don't have laws about it per se, but that it's a commonly accepted practice, so.... yeah.