The Ethics of Gender: Contemporary Issues

1. Issues pertaining to women

• Misogyny, sexism
• workplace discrimination

2. Issues pertaining to trans and intersex people

• fairness in sport
• new anti-discrimination laws and policies

3. Issues pertaining to men

• "the second sexism"
• intersectionality

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Kate Manne, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny (2017)

• Cornell philosophy professor, cultural commentator
• book covered extensively in media, e.g. CBS interview below (we will watch next time)

Thesis: misogyny is a common feature of contemporary American life

• how can this be?
• task #1: define term

The naive conception

• misogyny is something people (mostly men) feel (p. 32)
• What's wrong with this definition?
• Leads to denial of obvious cases of misogyny (NYT)
• Elliot Rodger's killing spree called "misogynist" by feminists

• "backlash": it's not really misogyny (p. 39-41)
• what do you think?
• Other problems with naive definition (p. 44-45)
• "makes misogyny very difficult to diagnose, short of being the agent's therapist" (p. 44); this is "silencing" for victims of misogyny (p. 44)
• would make misogyny rare even in a patriarchy like ours 
• Patriarchy: "women are positioned as subordinate in relation to some man or men therein, the latter of whom are thereby by (by the same token) dominant over the former, on the basis of their genders (among other relevant intersection factors). (p. 45)

Manne's proposed definition

p. 33-34

p. 49

p. 50

• misogyny should be understood as something women "face" not as something men "feel"
• a feature of the social environment, not necessarily people's minds
• misogyny= hostile policing of women to maintain male domination and female subordination ("down girl")

Is misogyny (in Manne's sense) really a frequent feature of American life? 

1. Isla Vista killings
2. #YesAllWomen--less serious cases of "male aggression, hostility, and sexual harassment" (p. 36)
3. Lindy West harassed by a man who later apologizes (p. 51-52)
4. Donald Trump (ch. 3)
5. Attacks on a ccess to reproductive health services (ch. 3)