Is it really this bad??????

[thir]

Thorne: "Yes, we like to claim that this is not "normal" behavior, that only someone who is "crazy" would do something like this, but the truth is there are a lot of otherwise normal people who have done far worse! Don't be so quick to attribute this to mental illness."

I think you have a valid point here, which is why I keep looking at gender roles.

[Thorne]

Thorne: "Yes, we like to claim that this is not "normal" behavior, that only someone who is "crazy" would do something like this, but the truth is there are a lot of otherwise normal people who have done far worse! Don't be so quick to attribute this to mental illness."

I think you have a valid point here, which is why I keep looking at gender roles.

It's important to remember, though, that gender roles are primarily defined by society, not by biology. Sure, there are physical differences between males and females, obviously, and differences in mental processes, which are also biological in nature. But these differences tend to be a spectrum, blending from one to another, with little or no lines of demarcation. The "rules" that put women in the kitchen and men at work, though, are laid down by society, and can change from time to time.

And this change is what drives the motives of the misogynists. They cling to the defined roles of women as property, whose only purpose is to provide pleasure for men. They fear feminism because it disavows their self image, denies their self-perceived "rights" and tries to force them to change themselves. It's the same fear that drives all haters. Whether homophobic, racist, sexist or theistic, they cling to a belief that makes them better than others, and they fear those others achieving equality because that equality would deny their own self image. We change this attitude, slowly and painfully, by changing the way we as a society view such hatreds. Instead of accepting it, or passively condoning it, we have to step up and ridicule it, show such beliefs to be the ridiculous posturing we see them to be. Deny the haters the anonymity of social indifference. Kick them out of the shadows and force them to operate in the light and they will eventually fade away into relative obscurity.

Can we change their minds? In many cases, sadly, I believe not. Some will, of course. We've seen previously homophobic politicians change their views when confronted with the homosexuality of loved ones. I have personally seen a deeply racist family member change dramatically when presented with beautiful mixed-race grandchildren. But many haters will keep their hate and, if forced into the shadows, will let it fester within themselves, poisoning their minds, until they rot away into obscurity. And take their hatreds with them.