I was gonna say the scene where the crazies decide they need to sacrifice the son to please God . I was soooo beyond ready for the lady to die . <| sep |> I don ' t think he is poisoned by paternalism , but is instead poisoned by a very male fearthe ability of women to psychologically cripple , burden , or destroy their sons by exploiting the male ' s need for dependence early on . He ' s only rebelling against femininity in the sense that his mother ' s hideousness has so damaged him that all he can see is his mother in every other woman . I don ' t think this could be called paternalism . This would be like calling Medea killing her children feminism , when it can really only be seen as the private wrath of one individual . The misogyny would be in trying to combine this story with titilation , in which the femininity of the victims is highlighted through undress or other means for the audience ' s reaction .