273 articles
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English moral and political philosopher, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792); wife of William Godwin, mother of Mary Shelley, damaged posthumously by Godwin's 1798 Memoirs.
Masculinity
Masculinity: socially constructed norms of manhood, plural "masculinities"; defined by absence of femininity, power relations; central theory is Connell's hegemonic masculinity; studied since the 1980s across history, sociology, and health.
Masculism
Masculism (masculinism): in scholarship, the ideology of masculine superiority defending patriarchy; in activism, men's-rights advocacy descended from the 1970s men's liberation split, linked to figures such as Warren Farrell and the manosphere.
Masturbate-a-thon
Masturbate-a-thon, also called wank-a-thon, a charity event where participants masturbate for pledges. Originated 1995 in San Francisco via Good Vibrations' Masturbation Month; London's first UK event was 5 August 2006, filmed for Channel 4's Wank Week.
Matriarchy
Matriarchy: term for rule by women, the counterpart of patriarchy, or in modern matriarchal studies a mother-centered, gender-egalitarian gift-economy society; no true female-dominant society is documented, and matriarchy differs from matrilineality.
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is John Gray's 1992 HarperCollins relationship guide claiming inborn male-female communication differences. It sold over 6.5 million hardcovers by 1998, was a NYT bestseller 140 weeks, and drew scientific criticism.
Men Going Their Own Way
Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) is an online male separatist movement in the manosphere whose members reject relationships with women, blame feminism, and favor voluntary celibacy, unlike incels.
Men's rights movement
The men's rights movement (MRM) is an anti-feminist social movement arguing men face legal and social disadvantages, especially in family law. It split from 1970s men's liberation, overlaps with the fathers' rights movement and the manosphere, and includes A Voice For Men, listed by the SPLC as a male supremacist hate group in 2018.
MeToo movement
MeToo movement: anti-sexual-harassment campaign founded as 'me too.' by Tarana Burke in 2006; viral in October 2017 after Alyssa Milano's tweet following Weinstein allegations; millions of posts, global spread, and workplace and legal changes.
Metrosexual
Metrosexual: label for a heterosexual, usually urban man highly interested in fashion, grooming, and appearance. Coined by Mark Simpson in The Independent (1994); marketed in the 2000s around figures like David Beckham; now obsolete.
Mike Cernovich
Mike Cernovich (born 1977, Kewanee, Illinois) is an American lawyer, author, and pro-Trump internet personality behind Crime and Federalism, Danger and Play, Gorilla Mindset, and films Silenced and Hoaxed, known for Gamergate involvement, Pizzagate promotion, and the 2017 Susan Rice unmasking story.
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India; apex ministry for women and children, separate from 30 January 2006; three scheme verticals Mission Shakti, Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0, Mission Vatsalya; 2025-26 budget Rs 26,890 crore.
Misandry
Misandry is hatred, dislike, or mistrust of men, coined 1875–80 on the model of misogyny. The article covers its definition, the empirical "misandry myth" research on feminists' attitudes, manosphere usage, ironic feminist usage, and the structural-power symmetry debate.
Misogynoir
Misogynoir is the anti-Black racist misogyny directed at Black women, a term coined by Moya Bailey in 2008, a portmanteau of misogyny and noir, added to Merriam-Webster in 2023.
Misogyny
Misogyny (from Greek misos, hatred, and gyne, woman) is hostility toward women; contrasted with sexism as ideology, studied via Kate Manne's enforcement account, ambivalent sexism, structural and online forms.
Miss Earth 2024
Miss Earth 2024, the 24th edition of the Philippines-based environmental beauty pageant, was won on November 9, 2024 at Okada Manila by Australia's Jessica Lane, with Iceland, USA, and Peru taking the elemental Air, Water, and Fire titles.
Miss South Africa 2026
Miss South Africa 2026 is the annual pageant's New Era edition: entries ran 28 April to 17 May 2026, a Top 24 and Top 19 were selected, and the finale is set for 14 November 2026 at Sandton Convention Centre.
Miss Universe Philippines 2026
Miss Universe Philippines 2026, the national pageant won by Bea Millan-Windorski of La Union on May 2, 2026 at the Mall of Asia Arena, selected the Philippine delegate to Miss Universe 2026, succeeding Ahtisa Manalo.
MRAsians
MRAsians (MRAzns) is a term for an anti-feminist online subculture of Asian American men within the manosphere, combining men's rights rhetoric with racial grievance and documented harassment of Asian women.
Muniba Mazari
Muniba Mazari, the "Iron Lady of Pakistan," is a Pakistani artist, TV anchor, and motivational speaker paralyzed in a 2008 car crash; UN Women Pakistan's first Goodwill Ambassador and a UN SDG Advocate since 2025.
Muxe
Muxe (muxhe, "moo-shey") is the third-gender role of the Zapotec people of Juchitán, Oaxaca, Mexico: people assigned male at birth who take feminine social roles, central to family, festivals, and the matrifocal isthmus economy.
Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf, American feminist author, wrote The Beauty Myth (1991), a bestseller central to third-wave feminism; later books include The End of America and Outrages, which was recalled over factual errors.
Natálie Puškinová
Natálie Puškinová (born 2004) is a Czech model who won Miss Earth 2025 in Manila, the second Czech titleholder after Tereza Fajksová (2012), studying at Charles University and advocating food waste reduction.
National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage
The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS), founded in New York in November 1911 under Josephine Dodge, was the national American anti-suffrage organization, publisher of Woman's Protest, with branches in 25 states by 1916, opposing the Nineteenth Amendment until 1920.
National Commission for Women (राष्ट्रीय महिला आयोग)
The National Commission for Women (राष्ट्रीय महिला आयोग) is a statutory body of the Government of India set up in 1992 to safeguard women's rights.
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist advocacy organization founded on June 30, 1966, in Washington, D.C. by Betty Friedan and 48 others.
Nawal El Saadawi (نوال السعداوي)
Nawal El Saadawi (نوال السعداوي), 1931–2021, Egyptian physician, psychiatrist, novelist, and feminist; author of Women and Sex and Woman at Point Zero; jailed under Sadat in 1981, exiled under death threats, wrote over 50 works.
Nevertheless, she persisted
"Nevertheless, she persisted" is a feminist slogan from Mitch McConnell's February 2017 Senate rebuke of Elizabeth Warren during the Jeff Sessions confirmation debate; it became a viral rallying cry, merchandise phenomenon, and 2018 Women's History Month theme.
New Woman
The New Woman: feminist ideal and cultural figure of the 1880s-1890s English fiction, coined by Sarah Grand and Ouida in 1894, an educated, independent, bicycling woman who challenged Victorian marriage and influenced global feminism.
Nice guy
Nice guy: a kind, agreeable man, subject of the "nice guys finish last" proverb from Leo Durocher's 1946 baseball remark, and internet slang for a man expecting sex for kindness; studied in dating, income, and power research.