The term misandry comes from the Greek and literally means "I hate men". This word refers to contempt for man. In this sense, this psychological inclination is not directed towards a specific male behavior but is projected to all men.
Women who despise men
For thousands of years the male world has imposed itself on the female world. In the vast majority of cultures, men ruled and women obeyed or had a secondary role in many orders of life.
Formerly it was even thought that the soul of women was of a different nature from that of men and that their intelligence was equally inferior. This situation began to change very slowly with the feminist movement at the beginning of the 20th century.
Over time, men and women have achieved legal equality, but in reality there are still notable inequalities between the two sexes. Because of this, some women blame men for their unequal situation and this accusation is sometimes transformed into hatred and aversion towards all things masculine.
Women with this psychological inclination can feel permanently dissatisfied in their relationships with men.
On many occasions they consider that everything a man does is wrong in some sense.
In certain cases, women see men as the main culprits of most social problems: violence in the streets, wars, the established social model, etc. Consequently, they believe that the male world symbolizes evil and they represent good.
In relation to motherhood, it is already possible to be a mother without the direct participation of a man, because with in vitro fertilization using sperm from semen banks, children can be born.
This circumstance makes some women understand that men are totally expendable for motherhood and do not give any or very little importance to the father figure.
With regard to gender violence, women with misandry do not recognize that in some cases it is women who act violently.
In any case, misandry has or may have a paradoxical component, since they are women who are attracted to men but at the same time detest and despise them.
The other side of the coin
The feeling of reverse aversion, of men towards women, is misogyny. A misogynist is normally a man who sees the woman as a sexual object and not as a person. The most extreme form of expression of misogyny is sexist violence.
When hatred is directed at men and women interchangeably, the phenomenon is known as misanthropy. The opposite sentiment is philanthropy, that is, love for humanity.
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