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Down Girl

Kate Manne

Analytic feminism

It is a landmark of contemporary analytic feminism, giving the field a rigorous working definition of misogyny.

Synopsis

An analytic-feminist account distinguishing misogyny as the enforcement arm of patriarchy from sexism as its justifying ideology.

Core passage idea

Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted work

Misogyny is best understood not as hatred of all women but as the policing that punishes women who defy patriarchal norms.

It sharpens a vague concept into a precise mechanism, explaining hostility toward women who step out of line.

To avoid a bubble

Pair with John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women.

Reading note

Read closely for the careful conceptual distinctions; Manne builds definitions before applying them to cases.

Best paired with

John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women

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