Misogynistic Extremism: Towards an Operationalisable Definition

This paper argues that certain forms of misogyny constitute a distinct mode of extremism. We theorise misogyny not as mere hostility toward women but as a coercive social system that disciplines resistance to patriarchal norms through both individual conduct and institutionalised practices. Drawing on dominant accounts of extremism, we identify three constitutive features: ideological commitment, rights-negation, and the production of permissive conditions for harm. On this basis, we argue that misogyny becomes misogynistic extremism when organised around male-supremacist ideology—an outlook that repudiates gender equality as a demo-cratic norm and legitimises coercion, intimidation, and violence as mechanisms of patriarchal enforcement. We develop an operationalisable definition encompassing the content, acts, and practices through which male supremacy is promoted, nor-malised, and enacted, including harassment, incitement, instructional abuse, and offline violence. This account distinguishes ideologically structured misogyny from everyday sexism, clarifies its normative significance, and exposes the inadequacy of hostility-based models. Conceptualising misogynistic extremism as ideological harm reframes gendered violence as a problem of structural domination rather than indi-vidual animus.