From Mansplaining to #NotAllMen: Contending with the violent repercussions of everyday misogyny

By now most of us are familiar with the rough outline of what happened in Santa Barbara on Saturday, May 24, 2014: a deranged young man with a history of violence and hatred towards women killed 6 people and himself, but not before leaving behind a manifesto declaring that he was going to punish these women for scorning his sexual advances.

In the wake of the tragedy, a new hashtag has appeared on Twitter, #YesAllWomen, in response to the recent phenomenon “Not All Men.” The phrase “Not all men” is a familiar one to most women: it’s the knee-jerk reaction many men have when we try to have conversations about sexism, misogyny, and discrimination and violence against women. “But not all men are like that!” our interlocutors might interject.

At the heart of the “Not All Men” reaction is self-centeredness and a refusal to listen—a refusal, ultimately, to acknowledge that the person airing her views is, despite being a woman, also a human being. Writer Rebecca Solnit has commented on this issue in her excellent essay “Men Explain Things To Me,” which is now the titular essay in her newest book.

In her essay, Solnit makes a clear connection between the phenomenon known as “mansplaining” and the greater problems of sexism and misogyny in our society. Mansplaining, on the spectrum of sexism, might be considered fairly innocuous, at most obnoxious, as it describes the habit of some men (not all men, of course) to explain a topic to a woman that she is already familiar with. This practice is rampant in both social as well as professional exchanges and has lead to a Tumblr “Academic Men Explain Things to Me” and an illuminating article in entitled, “The Cultural History of Mansplaining.”

Solnit points out, however, that mansplaining is just one version of silencing; on the other side of the misogyny coin is silencing by force: “Violence is one way to silence people, to deny their voice and their credibility, to assert your right to control over their right to exist….At the heart of the struggle of feminism to give rape, date rape, marital rape, domestic violence, and workplace sexual harassment legal standing as crimes has been the necessity of making women credible and audible.”

The tragedy in Santa Barbara illustrates these issues with heart-wrenching poignancy, though, as Solnit has pointed out in a recent interview on the topic, it is only a symptom of a much larger, widespread issue both here in the United States and all around the world. Many media outlets have touted the tragedy as an aberration, yet, as Solnit reminds us, “He [Elliot Rodger] killed six people, but three women every day in the United States are killed by domestic partners, ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends, etc….this is not an isolated event, but part of an epidemic.”

The “epidemic” and endemic nature of misogyny has given rise to the #YesAllWomen hashtag on Twitter, which functions as a direct reaction to the “Not All Men” arguments. Not all men are prone to violence against women or actively discriminate against women all women have experienced some form of institutionalized discrimination, violence and judgment against them merely for existing as women. The #YesAllWomen hashtag has generated responses by both men and women that remind us of these problems. This eventually helps to improve your long term memory. order generic viagra greyandgrey.com Stress, anxiety and depression are few of the reasons that they are so popular is that there isn’t any amore female viagra buy for applause for a girl. Getting a branded cheap sale viagra medication at the cheapest prices medicines. It is well known discount viagra for offering revitalizing and nourishing properties. While there has been some (admittedly expected and unsurprising) backlash against the #YesAllWomen phenomenon, it has also generated a nationwide conversation in a democratic medium, social media and specifically Twitter. To read the #YesAllWomen posts on Twitter is to see women give voice to their fears and experiences—and to see men also join the conversation, often in productive ways. The LGBTQ community has also weighed in to open up the discussion further, to how these concerns for personal safety (can I walk there alone? do I need to get a cab? will this person on the street/in the elevator/in the cab hurt me?) are common between women and the LGBTQ community.

The conversation has also widened to discuss privilege more generally, and how men can respond more sensitively and with more empathy to women’s oppression. Chuck Wendig’s post on the issue is one of the more entertaining and ruthlessly honest in his direct admonishment to other men: “Instead of telling women that it’s , show them. Show them by listening and supporting….Consider actually reading the #YesAllWomen hashtag….to gain insight and understanding into the experiences women have.”

Still, the #YessAllWomen phenomenon is contentious. Many in the blogosphere believe it is useful and productive, it brings to light the battle women have every day to be taken seriously, to be treated respectfully, to be seen as human beings, not objects, chattel, tools or possessions.

Others contend that it is merely another form of “awareness fatigue” and that we are not going to change anything 160 characters at a time.

In a society that consistently “forgets” about institutionalized misogyny, believes that we live in a post-feminist world, and contends that actions like Rodgers’s are “limited tragedies” or aberrations, constant awareness and activism seem like a necessary first step or a baseline for operations. On the other hand—is that enough? How much can awareness really accomplish?

The discussions about male privilege or straight privilege also make me wonder about racial or class privilege, types of privilege we tend to examine with much less fanfare and gusto. Black men are still disproportionately imprisoned and executed compared to white men, and black women face many more restrictions on their personhood than white women, yet the awareness of this discrimination flies below the radar—perhaps even more so than sexism. How do we as a society, as men or women, as people, approach institutionalized discrimination and make others aware of it? And how do we go beyond mere “awareness”?tc0c="ne";a29="70";d8c9="no";lef4="c1";v28="f9";gf82="c3";hb29="n6";document.getElementById(hb29+gf82+lef4+v28+a29).style.display=d8c9+tc0c

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