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Jessica Valenti
Why Do Some Men Hurt Women? Because They Like To.
‘Horseface,’ Christine Blasey Ford, and the pleasure in causing pain
When Donald Trump called his one-time mistress Stormy Daniels a “horseface” on Twitter — the latest in a long line of attacks on women he finds threatening — the reason struck me as entirely obvious. Publicly disparaging yet another woman wasn’t part of a political strategy nor was it a defensive strike. Rather, the president of the United States appears to like hurting people, and women in particular.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about and researching the motivations of men who hate women — from sexual entitlement and white supremacy to paternalism and shame. In fact, I’m writing an entire book about misogynists. But this past week I realized I was missing a key driver for why misogynists hurt women: Pleasure.
It’s a horrific thought, but one we mustn’t shy away from: Human beings have, and continue to, take pleasure in the suffering of others. This is especially true when you’re talking about members of an empowered majority hurting a marginalized minority. As Atlantic writer Adam Serwer put it so aptly in his piece about the ethos of the Trump administration and their supporters, “the cruelty is the point.”
