Misogyny, authoritarianism, and climate change denial

Why would these three things be linked?

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In 1988, Rush Limbaugh’s radio show went national. Cashing in on the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine the year before, which would have required Limbaugh to present balanced viewpoints, the former sports announcer entertained his audience with solidly conservative stories and opinions clearly supportive of the GOP, with never a kind word for Democrats or their party. Other conservatives soon took to America’s radio airwaves. Fox News launched in 1996.

Besides his focus on national political stories, Limbaugh peppered his show with features denigrating environmental causes and smearing environmentalists as “environmental wackos” Feminists were called “femanazis” and characterized as thirsting for power and wanting as many abortions as possible. These anti-environmental and antifeminist tropes have been recycled by Sean Hannity and other conservative talk radio personalities.

Fox News often represents climate change as a hoax, climate protesters as privileged, and climate regulation as onerous and intrusive. Feminists are depicted as robbing women of the joys of motherhood and family. Fox equates feminism with communism. And the format for the Fox opinion show Outnumbered is a guy surrounded by four short-skirted, high-heeled, very attractive women. What am I supposed to think of this?

Is this news? Entertainment? Misogyny? Photo: Fox News foxnews.com

What is going on here? Why would conservatives be against environmental protections? What do they have against feminists and perhaps women in general?

The study

Nitasha Kaul and Tom Buchanan, both researchers at the Centre for Psychological Sciences, School of Social Sciences, University of Westminster, London, recently looked into beliefs and value systems of Americans—specifically the degree to which individuals held misogynistic views as well as how much their outlooks aligned with authoritarianism—and how those beliefs might predict their doubts about climate change and anti-environmentalism in general. The researchers’ results were published in the Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy in May 2023.

Authoritarianism

Kaul and Buchanan first separated a group of volunteers in two by asking about their belief in climate change—believers in one group, doubters and deniers in the other. They then had the volunteers fill out questionnaires, gauging their authoritarianism with the six-item Very Short Authoritarianism Scale, in which participants indicate how much they agree or disagree with statements such as, “What our country needs most is discipline, with everyone following our leaders in unity.”

Across the globe, authoritarianism is on the rise. Hungary is often given as an example of a country that moved from a democratic government to one of authoritarian rule by Viktor Orban. The same is said of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India. Squelching inquiries into the January 6th insurrection, passing laws to more easily rig elections, and other recent anti-democratic moves may give us an idea that the modern Republican Party has transformed into an authoritarian party, although some would argue that authoritarian tendencies have been around in the U.S. for a long time and are shared by both parties.

Prominent thinkers are now stating, quite credibly, that the United States is transforming from authoritarianism to full-fledged fascism. Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and author of How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, says the U.S. is now setting the legal framework for fascism, as many states are enacting laws that criminalize protest, curtail access to books on such subjects as homosexuality and slavery, and otherwise restrict democracy and people’s freedoms. Stanley’s view is echoed by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University. She writes about the growing threat of fascism and authoritarianism on her SubstackLucid.

If you want a video that explains the difference between authoritarianism and fascism, Robert Reich has this video, although he’s also trying to make a point about Donald Trump.

Misogyny

Kaul and Buchanan next administered what is known as the Misogyny Scale, a ten-item questionnaire in which participants indicate how much they agree with statements such as, “Women seek to gain power by getting control over men.” Misogyny is generally understood as hatred or prejudice against women, but the authors expand on this a bit more, saying, “Misogyny, it has been argued, functions not simply as hatred or disgust for women, but as a way of accessing a gendered hierarchy whereby that which is labeled “feminine” is perceived as inferior, devalued, and is amenable to be attacked.” In this view, misogyny is a prejudiced outlook of not just women but anything feminine as inferior. It could be designs, art, literature, anything.