Key concepts by Mona Chollet:
Women doesn’t apologize too much, they act as a reflection on how the world treats them. our Christian heritage has a profound impact on this. I think that, we humans, are cultural creations, and our current heritage teaches woman to be humble, modest, to be “insignificant creatures with big hearts”.
Double bind (double contrainte) is a weapon used against oppressed groups, including woman:
Many flaws traditionally attributed to women can be interpreted as attitudes or strategies they have been strongly pushed to adopt because of their subordinate position. They are deprived of all power, then accused of being power-hungry. They are crushed, then described as sneaky and manipulative. They are subjected to all sorts of injustices, then labeled as emotional, whiny, hysterical, angry, threatening, violent. They are forced to exist socially through their beauty and physical freshness (essential qualities on the marriage market), then stigmatized for their narcissism, frivolity, and vanity
The dispute of women thesis is interesting to understand the origin of the misogyne speech. If woman are insulted, is not because they are different from man, instead is because they are very likely. Ultimately, the root reason of misogyne speech could be very simple: prejudices exists to justify the system of discrimination, which itself has a function: to unequally regulate access to resources.
Woman, as all opressed groups, are covered by a suffocating layer of prejudice, caricature and hostility which is extremely difficult to break through. In consequence, it’s very hard to exist as a subject, to be heard, taken seriously and assert their viewpoints and credibility.
References
Chollet, M. (2024). Résister à la culpabilisation: Sur quelques empêchements d’exister. [Online]. Available at: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=RkEYEQAAQBAJ&pli=1 [Accessed 27 April 2025].