Just Finished Reading: A Brief History of Misogyny – The World’s Oldest Prejudice by Jack Holland (FP: 2006) [291pp] 

I have never understood tarring a group, especially a large group, with the same brush and calling them, with high confidence indeed, either stupid, overly emotional, dangerous, weak or any other negative epithet. Anyone who knows members of any particular group – that would be pretty much all of us – knows for a fact that there is variation amongst them. The bigger the sample the bigger the variation – and that’s before we get Darwin involved. So, to get to my point, I have never understood the fact that women – HALF the human population no less – have, throughout history and across the world, generally been treated as second-class citizens AT BEST. This has always confounded me so I was hoping that this tome might either answer that question (spoiler alert: it didn’t) or at least point me in the right direction to look for more answers (which it partially did). 

The author was kind of stating the obvious when he stated that Misogyny has been around for a very long time – and certainly as long as writing has existed – and in all cultures. This is despite the reverence for the Female (or certain aspects of the female like purity, obedience and so on) at times bordering on the obsessive. Generally, women are seen as less, secondary, adjuncts to the more powerful, more relevant, more necessary, male. The female exists to help the male, to be his solace and, of course, to bare his children (preferably males at least to begin with). I can certainly understand the control (or attempted control) of women's sexuality by men. Knowing that you are, in fact, the father of a child has always been important in all kinds of societies from the very earliest days, especially where any kind of inheritance is involved. Of course, this has become a central focus of male anxiety which has fuelled the creation of laws, customs, art, literature and countless acts of violence. 

As the title suggests this is very much a HISTORY of a prejudice and looked at some origins (at least in the West) with Greek philosophy and early Christianity. Although the focus was mostly Western the author does touch on Eastern origins too, just not as deeply. The rest of the book is a rapid run through Ancient Rome, misogyny in the Christian church, in literature, Victorian England, the autocratic years in the 1930’s and 40’s and during the Sexual Revolution. The one thing the author doesn’t really cover, although he makes some attempt in the conclusion, is the central WHY of things. Sure, women have been discriminated against in a hundred ways for the last 10K years... But why? The author didn’t, in my opinion at least, make a very good stab at answering that which was more than a little disappointing. I can think of a few ideas that might address at least SOME of the reasons, but an overall overarching explanation that fits all cultures, and all times is beyond me. I thought this was a useful, if flawed, start at looking at this issue and I’ll continue to delve deeper. I don’t think I learned much that was new or surprising, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say this was a waste of my time. Reasonable.