The Failure to Label: The Role of Discourse in Resistance to Recognising ‘Misogyny’ as a Hate Crime

Abstract

This article utilises critical discourse theory and builds upon my previous work concerning ‘misogyny’ and hate crime (McGuire, 2021). Below focuses on several different themes regarding the difficulty of using ‘Misogyny’: the role of discourse, not least the difficulty in legally defining violence against women; the perception of ‘Misogyny’, including the different interpretations and the confusion regarding this term; that the term ‘Misogyny’ enables and encourages resistance, and undermines any intended political goal. Thus, it argues that it would be preferable to avoid the term ‘Misogyny’ when engaging with violence against women. The article utilises first-hand experience of resistance to the term Misogyny and relates this to existing academic work in a number of areas, including work on Incels. Critical discourse theory has been employed to analyse whether misogyny would prove a useful term to help protect women, and indeed, why there has been so much resistance to the term.