Misogyny and Men’s Health and the International Risks

Misogyny is not new. Misogyny doesn’t surprise most of us. Yet, the British Government has decided that it had enough and decided to make ‘extreme’ misogyny extremism. The British Government has asked its counter-extremism strategy to determine which would be the best way to tackle harmful ideologies. The idea is that all hatred of women will be looked at, as the argument given is that misogyny is gaining traction. The aim is to stop the radicalisation of young people and to disrupt and divert people away from these ideologies.

There is a need to name the issue in order to be able to tackle it. Currently, many women and girls do not report rape or sexist assault, as it is commonly known that reporting does not change anything. Ensuring that ‘extreme’ misogyny is labeled entails that prosecuting, for example rape cases, will become easier, and maybe, stops the normalisation of misogyny our society has done. In addition, the normalisation of this language has seeped into political credibility. Think of Farage quoting Andrew Tate. This entails that we, as a society, need to take into account the impact of these extreme ideas, and the men that represent them. 

Hatred towards women

The main aim is to stop the hatred towards women, which is something police, government advisors, women, and feminists have asked to be tackled in the past. Proponents like Laura Bates and Laurie Penny for example, have stated that misogyny online is dangerous, because the more accustomed people become to seeing women referred to as acronyms, the easier it becomes to forget that they are people too. With social media being so unregulated, you get a whole new generation of young people (mostly men) being drilled in techniques for mistreating women. This propagation of disinformation regarding misogyny is one of the main international risks in 2024.

There are feeder websites coming out from these groups, which will draw people in and feed them back into extremist sites to propagate this extremist mentality. It’s a business.

Nicholas Martin

And this might start innocently. As a young teenager, your aim is not to hate women, but to understand and get help towards questions you might have regarding women, feminism, being in love, fitness tips, etc. You end up, with just a few clicks, on incel and extremist sites very quickly. Their aim in turn, is to lure you in, and have you buy whatever product they sell. Think of a book explaining how to get women to like you, or how to get a girlfriend, amongst others. However, none of these books or websites are aiming at making you feel better about yourself, if you are happy, why would you buy more? The type of masculinity they sell, one that asks for division, hatred, and violence, doesn’t benefit anyone.

Men’s Mental Health

A study by APA finds that sexism and misogyny are strongly linked to poorer mental health and well-being in the men who exhibit them. The more a person believed in sexist notions and misogynistic ideology, the more likely he is to have poorer mental health. Moreover, the poorer his mental health, the less likely to seek mental health treatment and psychological help. This in turn makes the phenomenon self-perpetuating and poses a bigger risk to those men of self-harming, being violent towards others, and suicide.

This is problematic, as there has been a surge in (young) men finding these extremist websites, and ending up feeling alone and left out. As Nicholas Martin, CEO of Stay Safe Global and recent guest of the International Risk Podcast, says:

There is nothing wrong with masculinity. It’s masculinity that’s going to solve the problem. It’s just that the type of masculinity that’s been given as an answer just isn’t good for anybody. But people aren’t hearing anything different.

In short, stating that ‘extreme’ misogyny is considered extremism, would ensure that this ideology, coming from the manosphere and from the incel communities, of using women and seeing them as less and hateful, is delegitimised. Moreover, it would ensure that there are guidelines to what is considered extreme, as a lot of misogyny and violence against women has been normalised and is so widespread, that it is difficult for women, as well as men, to consider certain actions extreme and radical. 

Want to read more about this topic? Laura Bates’ book Men Who Hate Women explains the topic well.