Misogyny

“Misogyny” (Japanese: 女ぎらい：ニッポンのミソジニー, Onna-girai: Nippon no Misogyny) is an important work published in 2010 by Chizuko Ueno, Japan’s most renowned feminist sociologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo. With her incisive analysis and fluid writing style, Ueno dissects the deeply rooted phenomenon of misogyny in Japanese society—and, by extension, in East Asian societies more broadly.

The term “misogyny” derives from Greek and literally means “hatred of women.” But Ueno points out in her book that misogyny is not simply “disliking women.” It is a more complex psychological and social mechanism that, through various overt and covert means, places women in subordinate positions, denies women’s value, and denigrates women’s existence.

Ueno proposes that in men, misogyny manifests as “contempt for women,” while in women, it manifests as “self-loathing.” This is a crucial insight: women in patriarchal societies often internalize misogynistic values, transforming the general denigration of women into self-denial. This explains why some women say “I don’t like women” or “I’m not like those women”—they attempt to escape degradation by rejecting female identity.

Ueno analyzes the specific manifestations of misogyny across various domains of Japanese society:

Love and Sexual Relationships: Men practice a kind of split misogyny by dividing women into “marriageable women” (madonnas) and “women to sleep with” (whores). Women are forced to navigate precariously between these two extremes, both of which are traps.

Mother-Son Relationships: The unique “mother myth” in Japanese society normalizes mothers’ excessive investment in their sons, often at the cost of the mother’s own subjectivity. More ironically, sons often develop aversion toward their mothers as they grow—the very process of “weaning” carries misogynistic overtones.

The Workplace: Gender discrimination in Japanese workplaces manifests not only in wage gaps and glass ceilings but also in double standards for women—requiring them to “act like women” (gentle, compliant) while denigrating them for being “too much like women” (emotional, unprofessional).

Competition Among Women: Ueno sharply observes that under patriarchy, women are often forced to compete with each other for male approval. This competition itself reflects internalized misogyny—women’s value is reduced to their ability to be “chosen by men.”

Ueno traces the psychological roots of misogyny. Within a psychoanalytic framework, boys must establish their male identity by rejecting the mother (the first woman). This process of “rejecting the mother” often generalizes into denigration of all women. Meanwhile, women in this process are taught to identify with the father (male) rather than their mothers—because the mother represents the denigrated sex.

But Ueno doesn’t stop at psychological analysis. She goes further to argue that misogyny is a central pillar of patriarchal society. It is precisely through the continuous denigration of women that men maintain their privileged status. Misogyny is not incidental or accidental—it is a necessary condition for the normal functioning of the patriarchal system.

Ueno doesn’t shy away from this most fundamental question. She points out that for women, the first step out of misogyny is “recognizing that you too are a misogynist.” This is not self-condemnation but awakening: recognizing that each of us—regardless of gender—has been shaped to some degree by misogynistic culture. Only on the basis of this clear recognition does genuine resistance and change become possible.

For men, Ueno’s suggestion is more radical: give up the “misogyny dividend.” Misogyny is not without cost to men—it distorts intimate relationships and deprives people of the possibility of genuine encounter. But giving up privilege is never easy.

After its publication, “Misogyny” generated enormous response in Japan and was quickly translated into Chinese, Korean, and other languages. In China, where the book was published in translation in 2015, it similarly sparked widespread discussion, helping Chinese readers establish “misogyny” as an analytical framework and providing a powerful theoretical tool for understanding and critiquing gender discrimination.

Although Ueno’s analysis focuses primarily on Japanese society, her insights have universal significance. For anyone living in a patriarchal society—whether in China, Korea, or elsewhere—“Misogyny” is both a mirror reflecting the gender biases deep within us and a roadmap toward liberation.