Men who lean to the left, middle or far left politics, are just as misogynistic as their counterparts who lean to the right...

[ItisLikethis]

YANBU - yes, they are as misogynistic
YABU - no, they are not

@RomeoLikedCapuletGirls

“Men on the right can accept a woman having a seat at the table if she fits certain stereotypes.

Men on the left can’t accept it at all.”

I agree and I think that’s why traditionally, female heads of government have come from the right.

I agree.

Although my own politics is centre-left, I think that conservatives not necessarily the very right wing ones but the run of the mill Tories are oddly more tolerant of difference than the left.

The left is so full of moral righteousness that it finds it very difficult to accept dissent. You have to buy into the project hook, line and sinker or you are not one of us.

The right doesn't really care about the ideology as long as someone gets the job done.

Hence Thatcher: she did what they thought was right so the fact she was a woman was almost an irrelevance.

The British left has been far crueller to its female leaders.

@TuxedoPuss

Sorry but I disagree, if the sentiment is genuine. The most informed man I know, who reads everything and happens to be extremely clever and would be considered left wing, is also very respectful of women (and me!)

I think the common thread is the ability to see things for what they are rather than what people are telling them. If a man is a right wing person it's going to be quite likely he's reading certain newspapers and hanging around with similar uninformed people - most of the population.

On the other hand, someone can choose a stance based on their desired "image", rather than true moral reasons. So it could go the other way.

Why do you think that right wing men/people are "uninformed"? Could it be that they simply have different political and social leanings to you, as opposed to wrong ones?

saraclara I think you will find, like myself, many here lean to the left of politics

We are able to recognise misogyny and it’s disappointing considering all the great work that has been done from when Labour has led the country for women’s rights

People on the right tend to hold set behaviours that they expect people to conform to. People on the right think rapists should (at the very least) be locked up in prison for life. People on the right tolerate women in positions of power provided they are intelligent and able to articulate themselves well, because it makes them feel like they are actually progressive.

The left hold set thinking patterns that they expect people to conform to. Rapists are victims too, they need our understanding. As for politics, the loudest make their way to the top (including the loudest of the women, though even they get shouted down eventually).

Used to know a bloke who thought of himself as very left wing, used to talk a lot about not buying fast fashion because of exploited workers etc.

But also talked enthusiastically about how cheap the prostitutes were when he went on holiday

What a pointless and unpleasant thread. How to sow even more division.

Women shouldn’t discuss the societal distribution of misogyny for fear of sowing division?

Does the same go for all forms of discrimination and bigotry, or only those specific to women?

Can’t remember who said it but

People need to realise Socialism is a political position not a virtue

Isn't there enough division in the world right now? And of course pale are going to say that whichever side they don't belong to is the worst.
What a pointless and unpleasant thread. How to sow even more division.

1. AIBU has always been a forum for debate. Why should women or the left as topics be taboo?
2. I don't think people are saying whichever side they don't belong to is the worst: I'm on the (moderate) left but I do think the left is hypocritical about women. Judging by the posts a lot of posters here are very knowledgeable about the left and therefore its reasonable to assume they are also on the left -- but disillusioned or frustrated by its approach to women
3. There are some very difficult issues for the left to face at the moment around the role of women in the movement. Not just the trans issue although this is obviously a big flashpoint now. The left has always claimed itself as a movement that supports equality so it needs to consider how half the population fits into this movement. Not just brush any legitimate discussion aside as being divisive and unpleasant.

@Hoppinggreen

Can’t remember who said it but

People need to realise Socialism is a political position not a virtue

But that's the point: most socialists (certainly the ones I've met) can't tell the difference. Socialism in the way its expressed often feels more like a religion than a political position.

I’ve found that the more overtly woke the lefty man, the more likely he is to be a raging misogynist

Yep, absolutely and completely. Don't get me wrong I know there are plenty of right wing mysoginists out there too but on the whole the generally right leaning men I've met have been very respectful of my space and interested in my opinions. On the other hand I was involved in left wing politics as a student and I was assaulted by a much older and influential man and when I told others I was basically told to shut up and not put my 'womens problems' above the cause. I've found (some) left wing men really really hate feminists.

Men of all and every political persuasion can be misogynistic and down right cunts. I’m pretty sure history has shown us that.. I didn’t think this was news to anyone?

I'm leftish myself, but certainly my most vocally left-wing ex was by far the worst misogynist. As a pp said, his certainty of his own righteousness stopped him examining his own actions. He also felt the world owed him a living, which meant women were supposed to supply him with whatever he wanted.

Anyone reading the comments on the BBC, Daily Mail, Lad bible stories on Kamala Harris would wince at the foul right wing misogyny. (from women as well as men)

Men are men. They behave like men. And, as you can see from the coverage of yesterday's inauguration, the difference between individuals can be stark. On the Right, the bragging pussy-grabber in chief, 'I love women, me, can't keep my hands off them'. On the Left, Joe Biden.

@Hobbesmanc

Anyone reading the comments on the BBC, Daily Mail, Lad bible stories on Kamala Harris would wince at the foul right wing misogyny. (from women as well as men)

Undoubtedly, but as PPs have pointed out, the right wingers might be saying it but the left wingers are just as likely thinking it. The late (and definitely not great) Alan Clark, when accused of being a vile, sleazy Tory, once said ‘Ah yes, but at least you know where you are with a vile, sleazy Tory’. Which I think sums it up really.

That wasn’t experience in the beginnings of the Green movement in the late 1970s. Then I saw it in the Occupy movement in the early 2000s. No one talked much about the sexual assaults in those trendy lefty Occupy camps in NewYork and at St Paul’s ...

Ach!!!! That should have read

That WAS my experience (my phone is clearly anti-feminist). I was marginally involved in some Green-leaning, anti-nuclear activism in the late 1970s, and I saw such sexism from the lefty men. Ditto in the Occupy movement.

And now lefty men have the excuse of 'transphobia' to be plain misogynistic and trample over women's sex-based rights.

The way I see it is after 40 years of marginal activist involvement -

Yes right-wing conservatives can be utterly foul: sexist, homophobic, racist (and properly transphobic), but at least you know what you're facing.

With lefty men, it's the hypocrisy that I find galling.

Overly simplistic really. Misogyny and the patriarchy are far too pervasive and deep-rooted in our society to be associated with something as binary as ‘left and right’.

That said, I think it is no coincidence that the Labour Party has failed in its history even to elect a female leader, let alone give us a female prime minister.

If they're a man, they're typically a misogynist. That's the usual giveaway.

.

Of course they are! The woke brocialists on the left are terrible.

The only men I’ve ever had to say no to repeatedly, and been touched inappropriately by, have been (without exception) Tories.

In my experience the right-wingers are sexist but as part of that they pay for everything, do the 'manly' stuff, are more than happy to have the little lady at home - "traditional" roles. Left wingers, despite the fine words, can be just as sexist AND expect you to pay (for them sometimes too), to work full time as well as do far more than 50% of home and children work. Equality innit?

The more concerned people are with how they 'appear' the more prejudiced they actually are.

I know plenty of men equally as left as me (and I'm waaaaaaaaay left) who are great at talking the right talk but whose actions do not back it up. My dad describes himself as a feminist and waxes lyrical about the need to gain sex equality but in his day to day life is very sexist and does not recognise examples of sexism that to me are blatant. It's all very well saying you support womens rights and an end to sex discrimination but if your assumption that once your daughter has had a child, she will by default be the one who stays home with it and her husband continue to come out drinking with you, I don't think you're as free from sexism as you believe yourself to be.