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I want to say that the origin of the word misandry being later than that of misogyny could easily be used as proof that the pain and discrimination of women is far more in the spotlight than the pain and discrimination against men. If it is only recently a word was coined that shows that people were not only unaware of men's pain and anguish but they simply didn't care.

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When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,

And the women come out to cut up what remains,

Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains

An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

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Word Of the Day



Today's Word:

Misandry (noun)



Pronunciation: [mis-'æn-dri] Listen



Definition: The hatred of men, of the male sex, man-hating.



Usage: We are often asked what is the masculine correlate of "misogyny," the hatred of women. It is NOT "misanthropy," which is the hatred of all humans--male and female--but today's word. A person struggling with this unfortunate attitude is a misandrist.



Suggested Usage: In our write-up of a recent Word of the Day, "andragogy," we suggested the subrogation of misandry to andragogy might render more satisfying results: "It is important not to misconstrue the thrust of Feminism as any kind of misandry." Feminism suggests andragogy rather than misandry. "Susan's bad experiences with her last three boyfriends has left her something of a misandrist."



Etymology: From Greek misandros "man-hating," based on misos "hatred" + anêr, andros "man, adult male." The Greek word is akin to Albanian njerí and na, nar- "man, person." Armenian air, arn "man, person" also descends from the same Proto-Indo-European root. The root of this word also took on a suffix which led to Greek anthropos "man, human, person," found in "anthropology" and "misanthropy," mentioned above. However, this last word was used to refer to "man" in the generic sense of a person of either sex. (Today's word has been requested by many, many visitors to our website over the years.)



-Dr. Language, YourDictionary.com

I'm not so sure it is a word that has only recently been coined, given its documented origin in the Greek language, most likely going back at least 2000 years.I hope I'm not violating any rules here, but the origin of the word misandry came into question in a previous thread. Certainly, it has been far less used in recent times than misogyny, but is that disuse due to men's lack of oppression or just a reflection of the over attention gender feminism has focused on alleged female oppression? Has the squeaky wheel of endless complaining regarding women's lives/issues so overwhelmed society as to drown out even the mention of men's historical oppression, not to mention the word referring to it?I see online comments saying that the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) is less clear about the etymology (origin) of the word, than misogyny, but that might also be due to men's long historical lack of complaining about their oppression. Note: The OED is "the" premiere dictionary used to find the origin of words.In the grand scheme of human history, "free speech" has only come into popular use (and acceptance) in recent times, in Western society. Therefore, to speak of a man's oppression in previous times might have gotten you a whip on your back, or something worse. Many nonwestern cultures are still not open to the concept of free speech as an accepted cultural practice. IMO, to say that a lack of use of the word misandry is due to a lack of male oppression, or the power of the Patriarchy, is not only simplistic, it's just plain addled thinking. I suspect there are a number of other factors that could contribute to its disuse over time.The long societal role conditioning of men to take (accept) their oppression "like a man" might well explain why even mention of one's pain and oppression could historically be summed up simply, "Das ist verboteen!" "Das ist alas!" Further supporting the historical "closed mind" to complaining about the oppressed male role is this from Rudyard Kipling, The Young British Soldier. We see underscored a conditioned sense of duty to "God and country" instilled in males from early childhood.Considering the horrific mutilation of those two American G.I.'s in Iraq a few weeks ago, and the lack of outcry over that inhumanity to them as men (alleged genital mutilation, etc.), it appears gross oppression of males (misandry) is still (societally) very, very, very acceptable.Here is another online source defining misandry, that I did not see previously posted on SYG: