Misandry – A Very Real Social ‘ConditionS’

Misandry originates from the Greek words ‘misos’ and ‘andros’ – meaning hatred / contempt and men respectively. The word is used to describe hatred and prejudice against men and boys and it was first used in 1871. Misandry can manifest itself in several ways such as sexual discrimination, denigration, violence, sexual objectification, and others.

In contemporary times, men’s rights activists (MRAs) it means ‘reverse discrimination’ or ‘second sexism’. The concept is not an attempt to deny the existence of first sexism (discrimination against women). It recognizes that first sexism deserves more importance given that its intensity is far more severe and pronounced.

The topic of misandry sadly raises eyebrows coupled with questions such as – how are boys discriminated against or what kind of discrimination do men face and from who?

Indicators of Systematic Discrimination against Men

1. Child Custody: Women receive custody of the children in a mutual divorce about 92% of the times, while men receive custody about 4% of the time, with the remaining being joint custody.
2. Workplace Fatalities: Men suffer workplace fatalities about 94% times more
3. Murder: Men are victims of homicide almost 5 times more than that of women
4. Jury Bias: Women are acquitted from spousal murder at the rate of 9 times more than men (1.4% men acquitted vs. 12.9% women acquittals)
5. Court Bias: Men are sentenced to longer punishment than women for the same crime (men around 17 years, while women receive about 6 years)
6. Welfare Laws: About 87% more laws exist for women welfare as opposed to the number of laws for men
7. Spousal Abuse Laws: Most spousal abuse laws in places such as India and America, are framed in ways which clearly show men as torturers, prosecutors, and malefactors, while women appear as victims
8. Domestic Violence: Several studies show that in majority of the cases, women are the initiators of domestic violence
9. Violence Against Children: Studies show that mothers commit about 55% of child murders, while this is a mere 6% for fathers. Further, the studies indicate mother only households are 3 times more fatal for children than father only households. Despite this, 87% times children are removed from the father, and men are imprisoned at the rate of about 20 times more than women for the same crime are.
10. False Allegations: According to a study, women file more than 90,000 false allegations of rape every year.
11. Helplines: In India, and other countries, there are dedicated helplines from the government for women, while helplines for men came about only in 2015 through a single organization.

It seems obvious that in a society myopically focused only on rights and equality for women, the rights and importance of men are not only being undervalued, but also most of the time overlooked. Misandry seems entrenched in our society, in public discourse, the education system, and social services. Denigration of men in both formal and casual manner is a common ‘condition’ of our society. It is impossible to ignore the fact that in India (and several other countries) there are many government funded and private shelters for abused women, and none for men. There are seemingly unlimited numbers of campaigns to raise funds and awareness for women’s rights, while the rights of men go unnoticed.