[Misogyny] is rather meant to be a name for whatever hostile force field forms part of the backdrop to [the woman’s] actions…she may or may not actually face these hostile potential consequences, depending on how she acts. That is how social control generally works: via incentives and disincentives, positive and negative reinforcement mechanisms. She can escape aversive consequences by being ‘good’ by the relevant ideals or standards.”

For women in particular, there’s yet another reason to expect that appeals to empathy will be an effective tool for gaslighters, namely, the fact that the familiar sexist trope that women are and should be more empathetic than men is alive and thriving in us all.

As philosopher Kate Mann has pointed out in her thorough study of the concept, misogyny is not simply the hatred of women or even sexist attitudes towward them; rather, it functions like a shock collar, keeping women in line when they break away from patriarchal order or don’t give men whta they think they are entitled to. Often this coercive form of control looks limply like the imperative to be ‘good,’ and for women, good means giving.

I’d never heard of narcissistic personality disorder until I went on this journey of [spiritual] discovery…It’s important that students and potential students of any guru look at the literature on how to spot a narcissist.

Although ethical guidelines are valuable in providing basic safeguards for individuals and communities, [Barry Magid] claims that the ‘boundary violations’ occurring in the [Zen sex] scandals are rooted in deeper psychodynamic issues, particularly unresolved narcissistic needs of teachers.

Patriarchy kills off stories and women to maintain its power…Silence over these things is its default setting, the silence feminism has been striving to break, and is breaking.”

“‘You are guaranteed to misuse or abuse the power that you refuse to acknowledge that you have’ ” – Nia Schachter

– See:  “Our Concerns with Right Use of Power [Institute]”, Greater Boston Zen Center, The Resilient Sangha Project

Many years of custom, secrecy, and denial defend the crimes of patriarchy. In effect, they are crimes of impunity.” – Judith Herman, M.D., Truth and Repair.

I wondered if this paradoxical longing for both intimacy and transcendence could be reconciled by a more feminized view…even though it might be contradictory to the patriarchal structure of Buddhism, I wondered if I allowed my inherent wisdom to arise, it could balance and heal this [patriarchal] thinking.

[H]istorian Gerda Lerner defined patriarchy as ‘the manifestation and institutionalization of male dominance over women…and the extension of male dominance over women in the society in general.’ Patriarchy implies, she continued, ‘that men hold power in all the important institutions of society and that women are deprived access to such power’.” – Robert Jensen, The End of Patriarchy.