Short answers, pulled from the story.
Misogyny is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. The American Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as "a hatred of women", while the Macquarie Dictionary expanded its definition in 2012 to include "entrenched prejudices against women". Philosopher Kate Manne defines misogyny as the enforcement arm of patriarchy, a system that rewards women who accept subordinate roles and punishes those who reject them.
The word misogyny derives from the ancient Greek misos, meaning hatred, and gune, meaning woman. It entered English through an anonymous proto-feminist play, Swetnam the Woman-Hater, published in 1620 in England. The term remained rare until it was popularized by second-wave feminism in the 1970s, particularly through Andrea Dworkin's 1974 book Woman Hating.
In 2012, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered a parliamentary address that went viral worldwide, criticizing her opponents for holding her policies to a different standard than those of male politicians and for speaking about her in crudely sexual terms. The speech prompted the Macquarie Dictionary to revise its definition of misogyny, and it inspired the book Down Girl by Kate Manne, which reconsidered the term using analytic philosophy.
Ancient Greek literature generally regarded misogyny as a disease, an anti-social condition that ran contrary to the value placed on women as wives and on the family as the foundation of society. Stoic philosophers Antipater of Tarsus and Chrysippus both viewed misogyny negatively. Cicero reported that Greek philosophers considered misogyny to be caused by gynophobia, a fear of women. Despite this, Socrates, Plato, and others expressed contempt for women in their writings.
Philosopher Kate Manne distinguishes the two by function: sexism is the ideological arm that justifies patriarchy by alleging differences between men and women, while misogyny is the enforcement arm that punishes women who challenge male dominance. As Manne writes, "Sexism wears a lab coat; misogyny goes on witch hunts." Merriam-Webster similarly distinguishes misogyny as hatred of women from sexism as discrimination based on sex.
Misogynist terrorism is terrorism intended to punish women, driven by misogyny or male supremacy as a motivating ideology. Counter-terrorism organizations ICCT and START began tracking it as a category from 2018, describing it as a "rising threat". Designated examples include the 2014 Isla Vista killings and the 2018 Toronto van attack, both linked to perpetrators who identified with the incel movement.