misandry

Misandry is the counterpart to misogyny; it refers to an abiding emotion of hatred or spite for male persons, or for the masculine in general.

The word stems from the Greek root anner or ander, which means "man" in the specific sense of male humans. It should not be confused with misanthropy, which refers to hatred or spite felt for all humanity. The latter word stems from anthropos, another Greek word commonly translated as "man", but having the sense of any human person regardless of sex.

Common subtexts in popular misandry include the ideas that men are stupid, brutish, or violent; selfish, arrogant, or excessively proud; or excessively lustful and obsessed with sex. In the USA, the game of American football and the subculture surrounding it are frequently cited as an exemplar of these attributes.

Social commentator Robert Anton Wilson once remarked that just as Marx referred to antisemitism as "the socialism of fools," that misandry should be known as "the feminism of imbeciles." That is to say, the status of women can be better elevated without assailing men qua men; feminism is better served by creating and demonstrating equality than by casting aspersions.

The antonym of misandry is philandry, a word which should not be confused with philandering.

Interestingly, misandry is not listed in the Merriam-Webster dictionary - online or in the Collegiate Tenth Edition. Someone showed me a letter they wrote the editor about this, and apparently misandry is in the unabridged version, but they do not believe it is in common enough use to warrant inclusion in other editions. However, I don't think it is a very obscure concept, certainly you don't have to go much further than the break room at the office to run into some misandry ('oh well of course he wanted to watch football, girlfriend, he's a man!').

This is pure speculation, but this sure seems like another case of political correctness determining what words we can use. In mixed company misandry is acceptable while misogyny usually makes you look like a male chauvinist. I'm just saying the aforementioned football comment wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but if I said 'well of course she can cook, she's a chick!' in the same crowd I could probably be sued for sexual harassment.