For the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America

Misogyny is not a thing of the past. Despite undeniable progress for women and girls in the 20th and 21st centuries, misogyny persists in our culture--often in ways that are more subtle and more insidious than the outright sexism of the past, and in spaces that we overlook or excuse as normative. If we hope to disrupt and eventually heal from misogyny, we must first be able to identify and understand it.

Misogyny has shape-shifted through the generations while maintaining a consistent through-line. It blinds individuals and cultures from seeing women as equal image-bearers, fosters hierarchies rather than partnerships, disdains vulnerability, and prevents all of us from fully thriving. For the Love of Women relies on in-depth research, interviews, biblical concepts, and personal stories to explore how misogyny continues to impact six spheres of contemporary culture: healthcare, legal and judicial, the workplace, media and entertainment, religious institutions, and intimate relationships.

While the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements succeeded in raising consciousness and initiating important changes connected to misogynistic practices, we still have much work to do. Misogyny is not confined to the director's couch in Hollywood or certain old-boy networks. It's everywhere. And misogyny is neither morally neutral nor random. It's pernicious and calculated.

Like other deeply rooted, systemic injustices, we may never be able to eradicate misogyny this side of heaven. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try. For the Love of Women will educate, inspire, and empower women and men to affect real change for everyone's benefit.