About Straw Misogynist

Why is this a strawman trope? I realize the character has to be proven wrong, but it's not as though there's a "legitimate" form of misogyny that this is a distortion or unfair representation of.

Courtesy link.

"A character drawn as having hateful views of women so that he can be proven wrong. "

That's a strawman trope. "Misogynist" can serve other plot purposes as well.

It's an entirely misguided trope and I agree with the OP that the very trope itself such there is some legitimate form of misogyny. What pray tell does tv tropes consider to NOT be straw misogyny?

Huh? What are you trying to say?

Straw tropes are not about legitimacy or distortion. They're about presenting a target for someone to shoot down.

For instance, a Politically Incorrect Hero of the misogynist kind would most likely not be a Straw Misogynist. If that's not just some kind of Values Dissonance (most sexism is probably done unconsciously, which means it cannot by definition be a straw trope), it could be a Character Flaw that adds to a deeper understanding of the character, which would probably not be made out of straw.

What do you guys propose doing with it? Title change and removal from the Straw index? I'm very hesitant to cut it, seeing as it's not the most obscure of tropes.

Pretty sure you can absorb it into He-Man Woman hater. There really is no difference.

At least Straw Feminist and Does Not Like Men have a distinct difference.

Yes, there is a difference. A Straw anything is a character who has the characteristic only to show how bad it is or to be proven wrong As Duck said, it's about why the character is there, not what they believe that makes it a Straw Whatever or not.

edited 15th Nov '14 7:38:37 PM by Madrugada

If that's what The War on Straw is meant to be, then it has serious problems. Straw Feminist, for example, often seems to be just meant as a parody of Does Not Like Men "radical/ultra"-feminists without making any kind of point on feminism as a whole. It's a stock comedic character more than a real strawman. And then there's Straw Hypocrite, which I'd guess at least half of the time has nothing to do with making a point about the ideology the character pretends to hold, but rather is just meant to make the villain more evil or less morally ambiguous.

Not that this is anything new - as you can see from the date of the OP, I've had problems with the index for ages.

edited 15th Nov '14 7:45:14 PM by nrjxll

And the distinction between a Straw Misogynist and a regular misogynist is?

Half the examples are characters who are misogynistic but their sole purpose isn't to show misogyny is bad.

Then they aren't a Straw Man. Misogyny, as a character trait, doesn't have to be a trope.

The very opening text of the Straw Man article shows why Straw Misogyny doesn't work as a trope.

"So, you want to bring up politics, or have An Aesop, but can't bring yourself to fairly represent the other side of the argument? You didn't read up on the other side's position, and hope to patch your argument with a little dodgy logic? Well, there's only one thing to do. Declare War On Straw! You too can fight against positions that would make an outside observer say What an Idiot! Just don't fight anything that has any resemblance to reality, and you should win easily"

Keep reading:

It is also important to note that caricature, itself, can be a perfectly valid way to make an argument; Voltaire, Swift, and many other writers have used it effectively and incisively against their opponents. The distinction is that valid caricatures use exaggeration and hyperbole as rhetorical devices to present nonetheless legitimate arguments, exposing the victim's failings and flaws without misrepresenting them. But the line between the two can be extremely thin, especially in unskilled hands or when the author does not truly understand what they are trying to caricature; many authors have produced strawmen that were painfully obvious to others while believing themselves to be penning biting Swiftian satire.

You know, this trope needs an example overhaul. Badly. Straw Misogynist is a legitimate trope, but most of the examples are He-Men Woman Haters.