Older, white, misogynistic, male professor threatens younger …

white, female professor with a lawsuit as bullying as his misogynistic views, ‘punching down’ from his privileged perch

(2 min read)

“I define misogyny as hostility certain women face because they are women in a man’s world, rather than the hatred men harbor in their hearts toward all or even most women.” – Kate Manne

Must-read if you want to be aware – and beware!

Kate Manne is a brilliant women in a man’s world, who stepped into Jordan Peterson’s world of misogyny, and stepped on his toes. Stomped all over them. Here are two articles from The Cut and Vox that “out” Peterson’s misogynistic tendencies. Every woman should know them, recognize them.

Manne, associate professor of philosophy at Cornell University, is a leading voice in the #MeToo movement, and when it comes to misogyny she is a scholar. The lady knows what she’s talking about regarding misogyny – considerably more than her adversary, celeb-psychologist Jordan Peterson – and she’s the author of two, must-read books: Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny and Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women (publishing Aug. 11, 2020).

It all started back in 2018 when Manne wrote a review of Peterson’s bestselling book, 12 Rules for Life. She panned it. Well, not really panned, but took him to task on many of his theories, claims and pronouncements. His bullying response was the threat of a lawsuit, which two years later has never materialized. Empty, like a lot of Peterson’s bafflegab (i.e., the stuff that he tries, unconvincingly, on worthy intellectual debaters like Sam Harris).

Hypocrisy, irony and propaganda

“I also suspect that for many of Peterson’s readers, the sexism on display above is one tool among many to make forceful, domineering moves that are typical of misogyny.” – Kate Manne

What Kate Manne exposes most is the irony of Peterson’s positions and the inherent hypocrisy and misogyny in many of his ideas, concepts and theories. As Manne points out, “He seems to think that because social hierarchies are natural, they must therefore be desirable or just. That’s an old fallacy in the philosophical world, and Peterson appears to commit it regularly.” Many of Peterson’s pronouncements and actions are the epitome of the misogyny he denies and yet, it is innate in so much of what he represents. He doesn’t seem to see the misogyny in the world of patriarchy he inhabits, like a fish doesn’t see the water in the world in which he swims.

“Misogyny, to me, is more about policing and controlling women’s behavior. Belittling her intellect or acumen in competitive domains is certainly one way of doing that.” – Kate Manne

Peterson appears to be on the up-escalator from privilege to celebrity and abandoning the intellectual rigor anchored in academia. From a commercial standpoint, he has tapped into a vulnerable vein in today’s society, the growing insecurity of white males, particularly “young alienated men,” and he appears to be mining that cultural vein for maximum commercial value. It’s more about entertainment and a Twitter following than serious intellectual conversation, more about social media exposure than a serious lawsuit.

Why would he not engage in a worthwhile debate with Manne instead of “punching down” with a frivolous lawsuit? Is it because he’s not really interested in advancing the case for women – not his “target audience.” His primary target is young, white, disgruntled men who need “rules” to navigate life with, although boiling it down to “12 Rules” is nothing more than a marketing exercise to the young and uncertain. Why else would he highlight a “crisis of being” among them and support it with skewed ideas and facts about mass shootings that are a kind of “ahistorical existential angst … about the despair and misery and suffering of human beings?” It’s a hypothesis in search of facts – the ones that support the theory but not the ones that don’t – like the fact that the vast majority of school shooters have been white men.

Coming Aug. 11, 2020

Manne, in her criticism, calls him out and states he is “downright dishonest” in his “cherry-picking” of the diary of Columbine killer Eric Harris. It’s not scientific or academic, it’s commercial. Instead of full research and disclosure, Peterson’s “crisis of being” seems to be rooted in whatever hypocritical and misogynistic “cherry-picking” best serves his up-escalator ride to celeb status.

Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny is a must-read and make a note to watch for Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women (coming Aug. 11, 202) – we will be doing a book review. Read Down Girl book review now >>

Get to know Kate Manne, the women’s warrior who coined the meme, “Himpathy.” She’s a serious #MeToo woman.

Read article: Jordan Peterson Threatened to Sue a Critic for Calling Him a Misogynist (4 min read), at The Cut >>

Read article/interview: A feminist philosopher makes the case against Jordan Peterson (7 min read), at Vox >>

Read op-ed: Men – time’s up, you’ve had thousands of years and now only women can fix the mess. #MeToo >>

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