See misogyny as a systemic issue to end violence against women

 

From Farhana Selamat

It is always shocking and devastating to hear news of girls and women missing and later found dead, often killed in the cruellest way.

The body of Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah was found in an oil palm plantation five days after she went missing on July 15. Eight months after teacher Istiqomah Ahmad Rozi was reported missing in December last year, her headless body was found stuffed in a garbage bin.

On X, people retell stories of the brutal deaths of Noor Suzaily Mukhtar in 2000 and Canny Ong in 2003.

The vicious rape and murder of Dr Moumita Debnath in India and the death of Ugandan Olympian runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was doused with petrol and set on fire, sparked global outrage on the relentless violence directed at women.

According to the World Health Organization, one in three women worldwide has been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.

Clearly, gender-based violence is a social problem worldwide.

On American college campuses, self-defence workshops for women have been introduced as part of risk reduction programmes.

Women-only training coaches have been introduced in Malaysia, Japan, India and many other countries to prevent sexual harassment or violence towards women.

Ong’s case triggered preventative measures like installing security cameras in car parks and providing pink parking spaces for women.

These are signs of progress but we cannot ignore that they are not sufficient to ensure a truly safe environment for everyone if we do not tackle the problem at its roots – misogyny.

Misogyny is typically defined as hatred, aversion or prejudice towards women. It manifests in many forms such as male privilege, patriarchy, gender discrimination, belittling of women, sexual objectification, harassment and violence.

Contrary to popular belief, men and women can both be misogynists, though undeniably, misogyny is more common place and deeply-ingrained among men.

On Aug 24, a book discussion was held by an esteemed Malay magazine at a small independent bookstore in Kuala Lumpur.

The discussed book, Peranan Wanita Baru, which was published in 1969 by prominent Malaysian writer Anis Sabirin, focussed on what women can contribute in the domestic and economic realm.

What emerged during the heat of the discussion was that many men in Malaysia fail to appreciate the depth of misogyny as a problem.

By attributing misogynistic behaviour and crimes to 

crazy

 men – as often stated in social media comments – and claiming that such men 

clearly had mental health problems

, men are understating the seriousness of misogyny as a social problem.

This is socially irresponsible and is due to the lack of awareness that misogyny is not only an individual trait but is a systemic issue – a problem that is deeply embedded within the structure and norms of a society, system or institution.

Sociologists, feminist scholars and psychologists have long written about misogyny as a systemic issue, a culturally bound phenomenon, rather than an individual flaw or feeling.

Therefore, attributing femicide to one’s mental illness is reflective of and further reinforces people’s beliefs that gender-based violence is due to the idiosyncrasies of individuals and thus to be dealt with at the individual level.

When a woman is involved in an extramarital affair, threatening language can be found abundantly on social media, such as 

I would kill her and the guy if I find them

.

When reports on the killing of Farah Kartini broke, there was a lack of empathy and some even found it appropriate to say that she 

deserved it

.

Victim-blaming and double standards that are conspicuous in these conversations reflect how normal and embedded misogyny is in our society.

Susanne Liedauer, an Austrian researcher from the International Research Center for Social and Ethical Issues in Salzburg writes on systemic oppression: 

It often happens covertly, invisibly and without any bad intention, which indicates the ordinariness of steady oppression and points to the fact that it is systemically ingrained. If nobody is able to see oppression, how deeply are we concerned by it?

The failure to see misogyny as a systemic issue will only continue to free people from social responsibility.

However, more often than not, this is where the 

not all men

 counter-argument comes in, often in spaces where women speak out against systemic misogyny.

Feminist perspectives argue that the 

not all men

 stance focuses on the defence of men rather than critiquing the sociocultural emergence of misogynistic behaviour. It frees men from social accountability while self-centreing 

good men

 in the conversation.

Men should focus on spreading the word about misogyny as a systemic issue. In other words, they should be 

allies

.

Women often realise that their individual voices are constantly ignored, hence why women’s movements like #NotAllMen and #MeToo were created as a collective response towards a systemic issue.

Women’s groups such as the Women’s Aid Organisation and Sisters in Islam are groups that work to fight a wide range of systemic issues in the country, from gender-based violence to female political participation.

There is an urgent need to wake everyone up, especially men, to the fact that ensuring a safer world for all requires seeing the problem as bigger than the sum of its parts.

Males’ self-centred psyche needs to be shaken up.

Stating 

I don’t kill women because I’m not crazy

 and 

Not all men are like that

 is not enough and even counterproductive.

Joining hands with other women, constantly calling out misogynists within their circles, consciously choosing better words and being empathic is just the start. - FMT

Farhana Selamat is a master’s student from Universiti Malaya and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.