Well worth the read; here are a few excerpts ...

“It was a battle for the ultimate mechanism of control within a woman’s body—her reproductive cycle. For a woman, this right is the most crucial of all, and the key to achieving real autonomy. Misogyn denies her autonomy; her subordination depends on the lack of it.” (p237) Well-put.

“Before, men had women more or less at their mercy in deciding whether or not to employ condoms, the most common contraceptive device. In theory, of course, a woman could refuse to have intercourse with a man unless he wore one, but in practice men bullied, coerced, bllackmailed or otherwise pressurized women into taking risks for the sake of the man’s pleasure.” (p238) Which is why men should never be trusted with any sort of competing goods decision: they think that their ten seconds of pleasure (or, as is often the case, relief) outweighs a woman’s nine months of pregnancy, seven-plus hours of labour (with various physical injuries, temporary and permanent, up to and including death) (as well as the emotional pain due to forced motherhood), five years of round-the-clock vigilance and nurturing, and another ten years of care.

“When I told people I was writing a history of misogyny, I got two distinct responses and they were divided along gender lines. From women came an expression of eager curiosity about what I had found. But from those men who knew what the word ‘misogyny’ meant—” (p268) Stop right there. Because that pretty much says it all.

“What history teaches us about misogyny can be summed up in four words: pervasive, persistent, pernicious, and protean.” (p270) Again, well-put.

“Had the victims of [Gary Ridgeway’s] murderous rampage been Jews or African Americans, there would have been a national alarm sounded, and acres of print covered with soul-searching questions about the state of race relations in the United States as we enter a new millennium. But the actions of a Ridgeway, or a Jack the Ripper, are usually left to a psychiatrist to explain. Their urge to kill women is seen as an aberration when in truth it is simply an intensification of a commonplace prejudice.” (p271) ( )

I listened to this as an audio book, which had both advantages and disadvantages. I was able to read a maddening subject in small bites, and yet there were many passages I needed to rewind and replay a few times to truly grasp. The narrator's upper crust British accent made the highly descriptive language seem a tad less upsetting.

The author covers centuries of misogynistic behaviors and beliefs in a relatively short book, which is amazing since misogyny exists in practically every culture throughout history. That fact alone is wildly depressing.

Listening to the sexual and feminist issues of Ancient Rome and Greece is one thing. But when the book reached Victorian times or the discussion of misogyny around the time of Hitler (including his own) it becomes utterly chilling.

He also includes a detailed explanation of misogyny in the Middle East and Afghanistan, even as it relates to the radicalization of Islam. Again, deeply disturbing.

From the book:

"In this dualistic vision of the world, the hated group represents "the other" and the women of that group are usually seen as the most contemptible aspect of the perceived "otherness," that is its feminine form.

The history of the last hundred years is a depressing chronicle of atrocities carried out under the influence of this intoxicatingly simple view of the world as being divided into "us" and "them." From the rake of Nanking, then the capital of China, by the Japanese in 1937 to the Hindu nationalist massacre of Muslims in Western India in March 2002, vulnerable women have suffered from the misogyny that always accompanies the racial and religious hatred stirred up by nationalism."

This book isn't easy to stomach, but that's the point. So worth the effort! ( )

The author takes a tour through the prejudice that underlies so much of civilization - a distrust, even hatred for, women as a group. He doesn't attempt to read misogyny into ancient cave paintings and carvings (nor does he try to read in matriarchal society); instead, he begins with the ancient Greeks and Romans, and moves gradually through the passing centuries, stopping at key points in history to examine what has - and hasn't - changed. To say this work is depressing would be an understatement. It brings home forcefully how far we've come from the ancient superstitions that consigned women to flames as witches, but reminds us of how very far we still have to go. There are some weaknesses with the book, mostly related to the broad scope of such an all-encompassing work that resulted in a fairly superficial treatment of some crucial junctions in history, particularly in early Christianity. I'm not sure if it's the result of trying to be brief, or if it's simply a lack of in-depth knowledge on his part, but his discussion of the roots of Christianity is remarkably simplistic, especially considering how very crucial that period is to understanding the current sociopolitical scene where women are concerned. He treats early Christianity as a monolithic phenomenon, rising fully sprung out of the fertile soil of the Middle East, ignoring the rich diversity of early Christianity, such as the gnostics. This is a definite weakness, as the early Christian approach to women was much more varied than presented here, and the battles that were fought over what would be orthodox and what would be heterodox could be crucial to understanding how - and why - women have been relegated to the background in the world's largest religion (if you consider Christianity to be one religion). The section on the witch trials was interesting, but again rather superficial in the analysis. Overall, it's good if you just want an appetizer before digging in to the main course of study, but if you only read one book on misogyny and plan to go around regaling your friends with your depth of knowledge about the topic, this probably shouldn't be the book. It's just too superficial. ( )

This was quite the eye-opening book. As a woman who lives in the West, I often naively assume that I've never experienced misogyny myself, but to see how insidious the phenomenon is, and how many different ways it has manifested itself throughout history and into current times is frightening. I've never thought of myself as a feminist, but reading something like this makes me think I ought to become one.

The writing style is a bit dry from time to time, but the author discusses topics in the history of misogyny that include mythology, the role of women in Ancient Rome, the rise of Christianity, witchcraft, the Enlightenment and the New World, women in the Victorian Age, the ways misogyny physically impacts women (from forced veiling, female circumcision, reproductive rights), and how misogyny exists today.

This was a very interesting, very frightening, and very important read. ( )

The intro by his daughter made me cry. Can't wait to read this.