misogyny vs misandry

[niyad]

in view of various posts here in du--I decided to check the dictionary definitions, and found this to be very interesting:


mi·sog·y·ny
[mi-soj-uh-nee, mahy-] Show IPA
noun
hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.


mis·an·dry
[mis-an-dree] Show IPA
noun
hatred of males.

[ismnotwasm]

1. Whoa

That is interesting.

[Cerridwen]

2. Etymology

misogyny (n.)
1650s, from Mod.L. misogynia, from Gk. misogynia, from misogynes "woman-hater," from miso- (see miso-) + gyne "woman" (see queen).



misandry (n.)
1878, from miso- "hatred" + andros "of man, male human being" (see anthropo-). Related: Misandrist.

[Lionessa]

3. Yep I was just reading the misogynistic male terms and thought, "HUH!"

Still the idea gets across either way and the discussions worth having.

[GoneOffShore]

4. I'm just a misanthrope and curmudgeon

I mistrust everyone equally.

[IDoMath]

5. What am I missing here?

I can see the lack of symmetry in the definitions but the implications elude me. I'm kind of guessing that the definition for misogyny is more modern due to recent academic work on the concept which might account for the more refined definition. help?

[Igel]

19. Yup.`

Nobody wants to be a misogynist. The connotation is sharply negative.

But if you smear the definition, the connotation remains. You can get the same kind of visceral reaction by calling a mild mistrust misogyny as calling a serial axe-murderer a misogynist.

"More modern" and "refined" are pointless terms here. One is still true to its etymology and has a more restricted definition; the other has had its meaning extended.

We do the same things with words that have a sharply negative connotation to us. "Racist" and "sexist" come to mind. The "other side" plays the same linguistic game with words that they find negative--"socialist", for example. It's all a game to use connotations to drive logic. Sadly, it often works, esp. with those who "feel" things instead of understand them.

[Luminous Animal]

22. Oh lord. I illustrated that this "extended" definition is an outlier.

Most dictionaries are even-handed in their definition. I suggest you do your own research and check my posts and links.

Quite simply, you took the connotations of the OP (who laughably enough abandoned the thread) and "felt" something rather than logically explored the subject.

[Luminous Animal]

8. Oxford Dictionaries says this...

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/misandry
Misandry: the hatred of men (i.e. the male sex specifically).

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/misogyny?q=misogyny
Misogyny: the hatred of women

What was the point of your OP?

[x2 vancouverite]

9. "Misanthropy"

is the more commonly used term for hatred of men, I believe.

[tledford]

10. Misanthropy

is the hatred of *mankind* rather than men or an individual man.

[Luminous Animal]

11. Yep. People often conflate "man" and "mankind" I think that's why the Oxford Dictionaries

(see post #8) includes this in their definition of misandry: (i.e. the male sex specifically).

[eppur_se_muova]

20. Greek distinguishes between "andros" (male) and "anthropos" (person) ...

English "man" does not allow the same distinction.

[Luminous Animal]

12. Merriam -Webster defines each term thus:

(This is the same post as self-deleted #6 which I posted in the wrong place.

Misandry: : a hatred of men
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misandry


Misogyny: a hatred of women
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misogyny

So does the Free Online Dictionary
Misandry: : Hatred of men
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/misandry

Misogyny: Hatred of women
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/misogyny

[Cerridwen]

13. "misandry" is not included in my dictionary.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary - 1993

It's not even in the list of words showing the use of "mis-"

[IDoMath]

16. So? It's an obvious construction

mis - a prefix denoting hatred, wrongness and/or disgust

gyn - a particle denoting female
anthrope - a particle denoting humankind
andro - a particle denoting male

You connect them together

[Cerridwen]

17. 1993- not in common use.

A recently resurrected word from the 19th century.

I like books. I keep old books including dictionaries. I like to see how things change and how many things are hidden, obscured, denied, evolve, change, grow.

The re-writing of history is fascinating, horrifying, enlightening to watch.

[IDoMath]

18. Oh, I see. OK, that is interesting.

[Luminous Animal]

21. The history of misandry...

http://unknownmisandry.blogspot.com/2011/02/misandry-word-its-origin.html

It seems that it's use was heavily targeting suffragists and feminists. (Thus, it's current revival.)

I personally feel that the word had to be coined in order to separate it from misanthrope. For many millennia, only men were considered persons or humans so misanthrope worked just fine to describe a hero's or anti-hero's distaste for the company of men. With the rise of the suffragist & feminists movements in the 19th century, certainly a word needed to be coined in order for the status quo to try to make sense of their activism.

"Women want to vote, eh? What's their problem?

- "Well, you see, they hate men."

"Ah, got it."

[GeorgeGist]

14. That's some serious nit.

[Luminous Animal]

15. And an outlier nit at that. The OP had to bypass several other dictionaries that treat those words

equally (see my previous posts).