Opinion: Yes, the incel community has a sexism problem, but we can do something about it

by Michael Halpin and Finlay Maguire, The Conversation

June 12,2023

A number of online communities and social media influencers engage in misogynistic 

rhetoric. Incels — short for involuntary celibates — are one of these communities. 

Credit: Shutterstock

A judge in Ontario's Superior Court has ruled that a 2020 attack on a Toronto massage parlor was an incel-inspired act of terror. This is the first time that an incel-related crime has been labeled a terror offense.

Law enforcement groups in Canada and the United States have identified incels as a growing terror threat.

A number of online communities and social media influencers engage in misogynistic rhetoric. Incels—short for involuntary celibates—are one of these communities. Incels are men who see themselves as unable to establish romantic relationships with women. Incels believe they are victims of lookism, which they define as a social bias in favor of attractive people.

Incels have been connected to hate crimes against women and celebrate attacks that target them. Despite the link between incels and violence, public figures like Jordan Peterson defend incels and see them as unfairly marginalized.

Online misogyny

To better understand incel misogyny, we analyzed every comment made on a popular incel discussion board over a period between 2017 and 2021. In total, we collected more than 3.5 million comments. Some incels say they are not misogynistic, but we found that misogyny is widespread within the incel community.

In the comments we analyzed, incels used misogynistic slurs nearly one million times. They use misogynistic slurs to describe women 3.3 times more often than non-misogynistic terms. More than 80 percent of discussion board threads contained at least one misogynistic slur. Some users only referred to women using misogynistic slurs.

Our research is not just about the number of misogynistic slurs that incels use, but also the types of slurs they use. Many of these terms are explicitly hostile and dehumanizing. Slurs like "foid" are used to label women as uncaring machines, while words like "roastie" aim to body shame sexually active women.

While our data shows that incels hate all women, incels particularly target racialized women with sexist and racist terms. Incels dehumanized and sexualized racialized women by saying they were sexually available to all white men. Incels labeled women "race traitors" for dating outside their race.

Why are incels targeting women? Incels argue that women and society treat them like subordinate, failed men and "beta males." As we argue, incels weaponize this subordination by saying women should be rented, bought and sold like property to "solve" the "incel problem." Incels see themselves as the "real victims," who are being attacked by women, feminism and society. They think eliminating women's rights will improve society.

What can we do to address online misogyny?

Our study shows that incels do not become misogynistic within the incel community. Instead, they are already misogynistic when they arrive in the community. This suggests that men are becoming misogynistic in other communities, such as men's rights groups like Men Going Their Own Way and those formed around online influencers like Andrew Tate. These communities can serve as a pipeline for incels.

Efforts to disrupt online misogyny will need to focus on multiple communities and the networks between them. Simply shutting down online forums or discussion boards is not likely to be effective. Incels and other communities pop up in new locations, and these groups see censorship as validation of their beliefs.

Instead, academics, policymakers and the public need to directly challenge misogyny. We can engage with and challenge incel communities to disrupt their ability to operate as misogynistic echo-chambers.

We also need to keep supporting organizations that advance gender equity. In addition to organizations that advocate for women, we also need to support groups for men that challenge sexism and promote healthy and positive ideas about masculinity.

We can amplify the voices of men who have left the incel community. We can also identify and support men who decide not to join the incel community, particularly because our data suggests that the men who did not make misogynistic comments appeared to leave the community.

All of us can challenge how science is misused to create misogynistic misinformation. A page on the incel website we analyzed provided links to hundreds scientific studies that they believe support their sexist claims.

Many of these studies were misinterpreted, misquoted or presented out of context. We can adapt existing tools, such as online fact-checkers, to more efficiently counter such incorrect and misleading misogynistic claims.

What can incels do? The site we studied tells its members to not persecute, harass or attack others. Based on our research, those rules don't seem to apply to attacking or harassing women. To the extent that incel communities care about misogyny, they need to do better at challenging it in each other.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Incel terrorist attacks pose an increasing threat

Misogynistic tweets correlate with violence against women

Places where there are a lot of misogynistic tweeting going on are likely to have a lot of domestic violence as well, a study by UNSW has found

IMAGE: THE UNSW STUDY IS THE FIRST TO USE BIG DATA TO PREDICT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FROM MISOGYNISTIC TWEETS ACROSS A TWO-YEAR PERIOD. view more 

CREDIT: DAVE AKSHAR ON UNSPLASH

UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Research News

 

Areas with a relatively greater amount of misogynistic tweets have higher incidences of domestic and family violence, a UNSW study has found.

The study, published in Psychological Science, not only found this connection with domestic and family violence carried over from one year to the next, but also occurred despite the 'usual suspects' of domestic violence, such as alcohol and inequality.

Examples of misogynistic tweets identified by the researchers included, "Women are all bitches," "Whore had it coming," and, "Make me a sandwich, slut."

"We found that misogynistic social media may not be harmless," Professor Tom Denson from UNSW's School of Psychology said.

"It contributes to norms of violence toward women and a hostile worldview that may slip into real-world violence.

"I imagine a lot of people are fairly flippant about what is posted on social media.

"This study suggests caution about posting misogynistic hate speech as even if the person who posts is not violent, such posts seem to create an atmosphere where violence toward women may be more likely."

The UNSW study is the first to use big data to predict domestic violence from misogynistic tweets across a two-year period.

"There is a growing interest in using big data to help address social problems such as criminality," Prof. Denson said.

The research team compiled all of the data reported by local law enforcement agencies in the US to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on arrests for domestic and family violence during a two-year period (2013 - 2014).

They also collected data on a number of population-level characteristics that are known to influence domestic and family violence, such as the availability of alcohol, income inequality, gender inequality, and population size.

"We then collected Twitter data from 2013-2014," Prof. Denson said.

"Twitter makes a randomly selected 1% of their tweets publicly available.

"We coded those tweets for misogynistic content using automated methods and used a geolocation algorithm to locate the origin of the tweets, which we were able to do with a pretty high degree of spatial specificity based on US Census Bureau defined areas."

The researchers ended up with tweets from 827 areas in 47 American states.

"We then combined the data sets and used the number of misogynistic tweets in each area to examine the relationship between misogynistic tweets and domestic and family violence arrests, while controlling for things like alcohol availability, population, and inequality."

The research is part of a growing number of studies examining the extent to which social media can be used to learn more about criminal offending, co-author and PhD candidate at UNSW School of Psychology, Siobhan O'Dean said.

"Other studies have used social media to predict theft, public disorder during right-wing events, and violence and arrests during the 2015 Black Lives Matter protests," Ms O'Dean said.

"Our research contributes to this imperative by finding out how social media can help determine where domestic and family violence is likely to occur.

"That information could be useful for not only law enforcement but also public health interventions which may intervene to counteract norms of misogynistic violence."

The researchers said future research using big data could examine the relationship between misogynistic social media directed toward proponents of the MeToo movement and Women's Marches with subsequent decreases or increases in violence against women.

###

Read the study in Psychological Science.

 HETEROSEXISM & PATRIARCHY = FEMICIDE

Teachers express extreme concern about influence of online misogyny on students

Teachers often reported male students reflecting misogynistic ideas: it is “ok to hurt women because Andrew Tate does it”

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The extent to which secondary school teachers (above) and primary school teachers (below) teachers agreed with the statement “I am extremely concerned about the influence of online misogyny on pupils in my school”.

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Credit: Over et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

In a survey study of 200 U.K. teachers, 76 percent of secondary school teachers and 60 percent of primary school teachers expressed extreme concern about the influence of online misogyny on their students. Harriet Over of the University of York, U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on February 26, 2025.

Prior research has shown that young students are increasingly exposed to social media content created by misogynistic influencers, such as Andrew Tate and members of the incel movement. However, few researchers have examined how exposure to toxic online misogyny might influence the experiences and behavior of children and adolescents.

To help clarify, Over and colleagues surveyed 100 secondary-school teachers (teaching children aged 11 and older) and 100 primary school teachers (teaching ages 4 to 11) in the U.K.. The survey aimed to capture teachers’ perceptions of the influence of online misogyny on students.

Analysis of the survey data showed that 76 percent of the secondary and 60 percent of the primary school teachers reported extreme concern about the influence of online misogyny on their students.

When asked about influences on male and female students specifically, the teachers tended to reference instances of male students praising misogynistic ideas and engaging in misogynistic behavior against female students and staff, and instances in which female students were victims of misogyny.

For instance, one teacher reported hearing a male student say it is “ok to hurt women because Andrew Tate does it,” while another reported that female students were “worried about coming to school due to what the boys may say or do to them.”

Ninety percent of the secondary and 68 percent of the primary school teachers reported feeling their schools would benefit from teaching materials specifically meant to address the impact of online misogyny.

These findings are observational and do not confirm a cause-effect relationship between online misogyny and misogynistic behavior of students. Nonetheless, on the basis of their findings, the researchers call for further research into the issue and suggest that addressing it should be a top priority for policymakers, educators, and academics.

The authors add: “Teachers report that male pupils discuss misogynistic influencers with some regularity and that misogynistic influencers appear to motivate discriminatory behavior towards female peers and female teachers. 76% of secondary school teachers and 60% of primary school teachers reported that they were extremely concerned about the influence of online misogyny in their schools.”

 

 

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/3Qit1Xj

Citation: Over H, Bunce C, Baggaley J, Zendle D (2025) Understanding the influence of online misogyny in schools from the perspective of teachers. PLoS ONE 20(2): e0299339. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299339

Author countries: U.K.

Funding: This research was supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme, grant no. ERC-STG-755719.

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0299339 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Understanding the influence of online misogyny in schools from the perspective of teachers

Article Publication Date

26-Feb-2025

EXCLUSIVE
INCELS The Radicalised Extremist Community of White Male Supremacists
Sian Norris
13 August 2021

Photo: emjhCreative / Stockimo/Alamy

As news reports suggest that the man behind the mass shooting in Plymouth identified as an “incel”, Sian Norris reveals the extremist misogynistic ideology that fuels the movement

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article contains violent misogynistic and racist language

The horrific shootings that took place in Plymouth have shocked the nation, as it was revealed that six people – including the killer and a very young girl – were shot dead on Thursday evening.

It is too early to say what the motivations were behind the worst mass shooting in the UK since 2010. However, videos created by the perpetrator, Jake Davison, on YouTube suggest that he appears to affiliate with the ‘incel’ community – a misogynistic online sub-culture of men who identify as ‘involuntary celibates’ because they feel sexually rejected by women.

Davison also apparently identified as ‘Black Pill’ – a common status among incels. Black Pill is a spin-off of the Red Pill men’s rights community that encourages men to become ‘alpha males’ via gaming women into sex and by getting fit. In contrast, Black Pills share a fatalistic outlook in which they believe that success with the opposite sex is determined by genetics.

In one shocking outburst, Davison said: “Why do you think sexual assaults and all these things keep rising? The reality is that women don’t need men no more and they certainly don’t want and don’t need average men and below average, you have to go abroad to fund [sic] a woman.”

If it is indeed the case that Davison identified with the incel sub-culture, the murders form part of a growing and terrifying pattern of attacks by men from this community who have killed an estimated 50 people in the US and Canada.

However, these killings are rarely categorised as terrorist incidents – despite evidence that members of this community are being radicalised and committing violent acts to advance their misogynistic, white supremacist ideology.

The Toxic Relationship Between White Supremacy and Misogyny
CJ Werleman

Who Are Incels?

The incel community initially blossomed on the Reddit website, before being banned and moving onto independent forums where men swap memes, discuss whether to have the Coronavirus vaccine, and share violent and hateful views about women and women’s sexuality.

The driving force behind the movement is a belief that men are entitled to women’s bodies – both as a sex object and a reproductive vessel.

Initially, men who identified as incels claimed to believe that they had been sexually rejected by women in favour of popular jocks known as ‘Chads’. In contrast, the incels saw themselves as good guys, who had been “friendzoned” by women – i.e. seen as a platonic friend not a potential sexual partner.

However, this is potentially a simplification of what is ultimately an extremist misogynistic space riddled with white, male supremacy, violent ideology and even paedophilic fantasies.

It is a sub-culture in which men are radicalised to hate women, and where far-right conspiracies such as the ‘Great Replacement’ are shared and promoted.

The language used by incels dehumanises women – commonly recognised as the first step towards violence and even mass killings or genocide. They talk about women and girls as ‘foids’ – short for ‘femoids’ – as well as referring to women as ‘toilets’. One post referred to “toilets riding the Chad c**k carousel”. Women are known as toilets because they are seen as receptacles of bodily fluids.

Other incels refer to putting vaginas ‘on leashes’; sending women to ‘the slaughterhouse’; and imagine putting grenades up women’s anuses. They refer to women as ‘rape fuel’ and ‘scum’, and fantasise about having a ‘prime white virgin harem’. One man, in a thread about expressing fantasies, wrote that “every man would be guaranteed a wife”; while another put it succinctly: “Women shouldn’t have rights anyway.”

Many discussions on the forums involve men fantasising about ‘jail bait’, i.e. sex with girls under the age of consent. Girls who are categorised in this way are considered desirable because ‘they are still innocent before they ruin themselves’.

One poster said that he wasn’t attracted to “jail bait until I became an incel”. Another wrote that he “slowly but surely found myself attracted to JB foids” after joining the incel community, suggesting men are being radicalised to accept abuse of girls as normal.

The incel sub-cultures, and wider men’s rights activism spaces, are also often a gateway to white supremacist movements. Journalist Aja Romano wrote in 2016 how, for these communities of angry young men “who ultimately feel threatened and rejected by women, the movement promotes a sense of male entitlement that is easily radicalised into white nationalism and white supremacy”.

Incels discussing ‘jail bait’ on a popular forum

Posters often use graphically racist and anti-Semitic language, and there is an obsessive focus on ‘foids’ having sex with black and ‘Arab’ men.

The racialised nature of much incel content fits into conspiracist narratives that the West or Global North is apparently in decline and degenerating as a result of women’s sexual and reproductive freedoms, along with migration from the Global South.

In this respect, incel culture is close to the baseless far-right Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which posits that feminism is colluding with Western elites to repress the white birth rate and encourage immigration in order to create a ‘white genocide’.

For example, on a thread titled “women destroying cultures and countries”, one incel synthesises the Great Replacement, misogyny and racism by writing “the antifa and femoids support the invasion of africans and arabians [sic] in ALL Europe. In 50 years, thanks to the ‘diversity’… agenda, all Europe will turn into a third world s**t hole full of wars and Sharia law everywhere”.

Incels and Terrorism

The first mass shooting explicitly linked to the incel community occurred in 2014, when Elliot Rodger posted a misogynistic manifesto online railing against women before shooting dead six people, injuring 14 more.

Four years later in Canada, Alek Minassian killed 10 people by driving into a pavement. He said that he drew inspiration from the incel movement and posted on Facebook “all hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger” – the moniker given to the mass shooter and other men admired by the community, including Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

The incel movement has now killed an estimated 50 people in the US and Canada, including a mass shooting in a massage parlour in Georgia; a machete attack at a Toronto massage parlor; and a shooting at an Arizona mall which injured three people.

In June, US President Joe Biden laid out his formal strategy to combat domestic terrorism – including threats from emerging extremist movements such as incels and the followers of the QAnon movement. A Californian man who confessed to killing his children referred to the conspiracy, while a pattern of violence is linked to the theory.

Incels responded on a thread about “creepy Uncle Joe”, criticising Biden’s move as “incelophobia” and claiming that feminists “are using violence to spread their message” while “us incels are pretty tame”.

How Abortion Became aTool of White Supremacists
Sian Norris

“In a world full of w****s the virgin is frowned upon”, posted one individual.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service – the body that decides which criminal cases are prosecuted in England and Wales and conducts the prosecutions – for an offence to be classed as terrorism in the UK, it must be designed to “influence any international Government organisation or to intimidate the public”. It must also “be for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause”.

The latter point has often meant that misogynistic and incel-related violence is not classed as terrorism. But this is to miss the point that incels are driven by a white, male supremacist ideology that positions men as superior to women and promotes the belief that men have sexual and reproductive entitlement to women’s bodies. This is a belief linked to fascism.

Further, as is evidenced by the posts about ‘jail bait’ and the Great Replacement theory, incel websites are spaces of radicalisation to this male supremacist and ultimately violent ideology.

As one man put it: “I’ve learned to hate women, feminism and their sexual choices so much.”

SCOTLAND
New misogyny law to criminalise messages about rape, sexual assault or disfigurement


Andrew Learmonth
Wed, 8 March 2023 

Barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy KC.

NEW legislation could see sending threatening or abusive messages to women and girls which refer to rape, sexual assault or disfigurement becoming a specific crime.

The criminal law is one of five being proposed by the Scottish Government following a wide-ranging review by barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy KC.

Others include measures to criminalise misogynistic behaviour, misogynistic harassment, and an offence of stirring up hatred against women and girls.

The government are also seeking to bring in a statutory aggravation concerning misogyny. This would allow the court to take a misogynistic motive into account when deal with a crime such as assault, criminal damage/vandalism or threatening or abusive behaviour.

Baroness Kennedy’s review was commissioned by ministers following criticism that the SNP administration’s controversial hate crime legislation did not explicitly offer protection for women and girls.

Launching the consultation on the new proposals, Justice Secretary Keith Brown said her work had been "stark in its assessment of the level of misogyny that exists in Scotland."

He added: Women and girls are routinely humiliated, touched, groped, undermined, trolled and objectified both online and off, and subjected to threats, harassment and abuse about their looks or desirability – stopping them from fully participating in society.

“Although there are already a range of laws that can be used to prosecute aspects of misogynistic harassment and abuse, these do not accurately identify the particular harm caused by misogyny.

“They also fail to adequately respond to problems faced by women, which is why we are consulting on further criminal reforms.

“And while criminal law reform alone cannot be expected to eliminate misogynistic abuse, or the attitudes which perpetuate it, these specific criminal protections are an important step in challenging society’s - and particularly men’s - tolerance of misogyny.

“I encourage everyone with an interest to consider what is proposed and offer their views.”

Baroness Kennedy urged “as many women as possible to participate in this consultation.”

She added: “For too long the law has not been drawn from the experience of women. It is time to hear from girls and women about what they think should be included in law so that they can be treated as equals and live free from abuse and denigration.”

In 2021, there were calls for the Scottish Government to add a sex aggravator to their controversial Hate Crime Bill, alongside race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

However, an attempt to amend the bill by former Labour MSP Johan Lamont was defeated.

Instead, the then justice secretary Humza Yousaf urged his colleagues to give “the working group the time that it needs to explore the issue, come forward with recommendations and create, potentially, a world-leading approach.”

Oh, the irony: Boris Johnson slams ‘misogynistic abuse’ of Angela Rayner

Boris Johnson condemned the 'misogynistic' article directed at Angela Rayner on Sunday - turning a mirror towards his own 'sexist language'.

 by Tom Head
2022-04-24 

22/04/2022. Delhi, India. Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives 

Hyderabad House with Prime Minister Modi. 

Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has responded to a vile report in the Daily Mail, which claimed that Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner tried to distract him by ‘showing off her legs’. This playground behaviour has been slammed by BoJo, but he’s perhaps not one to talk…

Boris Johnson slams ‘misogynistic abuse’ – for a change…

In a Tweet posted on Sunday morning, Johnson felt the need to distance himself from Rayner’s political views before offering her some very basic human decency. He rejected the offending Mail on Sunday article as ‘deplorable’ and ‘misogynistic’.

“As much as I disagree with Angela Rayner on almost every political issue, I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.”Boris Johnson

Angela Rayner fights back in row with Mail on Sunday

Rayner herself has responded to the bizarre – and downright weird – claims made by The Mail. Although she thanked Johnson for his show of support, the firebrand politician still slammed the PM for ‘dragging his party into the sewer’. Ouch…

“Boris Johnson’s cheerleaders have resorted to spreading desperate, perverted smears in their doomed attempts to save his skin. It is the PM who is dragging the Conservative Party into the sewer – and the anonymous Tory MPs doing his bidding are complicit.”Angela Rayner

A brief history of misogyny staring Boris Johnson!

Meanwhile, many social media users have been keen to point out that Boris Johnson *maybe* isn’t the best person to call out the use of misogynistic language. After all, Boris is very well versed in his own use of sexist terms…

We’re talking about the same bloke who once said the best way to manage a female colleague was to “pat her on the bottom and send her on her way” – a remark that even drew condemnation from Priti Patel.

In his journalistic days, Boris was previously scathing of single mothers, and even made reference to a ‘tottymeter’ in one of his columns. His time in politics hasn’t been much better. During a 2005 election campaign, her argued that voting Tory would ‘make your wife’s breasts larger’. And it doesn’t end there…

‘Girly swots’, ‘women volleyball players glistening like wet otters‘, and ‘big girl’s blouse’ are all terms used by the Prime Minister during his career in public service. All that, without mentioning his sincere belief that misogyny shouldn’t be classed as a hate crime.

A senior UK Conservative has claimed that the House of Commons is a safe place to be a woman despite more than 50 MPs being subject to sexual misconduct allegations.'

Row over claims Angela Rayner distracted Boris Johnson by “crossing and uncrossing her legs”

Angela Rayner has accused Tory MPs of using anonymous briefings to spread “desperate, perverted smears” about her by claiming she has sought to distract the Prime Minister provocatively in the Commons.

By The Newsroom

Sunday, 24th April 2022,

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner who has accused Tory MPs of using anonymous briefings to spread "desperate, perverted smears" about her by claiming she has sought to distract the Prime Minister provocatively in the Commons. Boris Johnson, in a show of support for the deputy Labour leader, said he "deplored the misogyny directed at her anonymously"

Boris Johnson, in a show of support for the deputy Labour leader, said he “deplored the misogyny directed at her anonymously”.

The Mail On Sunday (MoS) reported that Conservatives had claimed Ms Rayner enjoyed attempting to put Mr Johnson “off his stride” during Prime Minister’s Questions by “crossing and uncrossing her legs”.

Ms Rayner often sits next to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and opposite the Prime Minister during the weekly Commons clashes.

In a series of tweets, Ms Rayner lashed out at the “lies” being briefed about her.

The Ashton-under-Lyne MP said: “Boris Johnson’s cheerleaders have resorted to spreading desperate, perverted smears in their doomed attempts to save his skin.

“They know exactly what they are doing. The lies they are telling.”

She said Mr Johnson and his backers “clearly have a big problem with women in public life” and that they “should be ashamed of themselves”.

“I won’t be letting their vile lies deter me. Their attempts to harass and intimidate me will fail,” Ms Rayner added.

Sir Keir said the sexism displayed by those briefing the Sunday paper was a “disgraceful new low from a party mired in scandal and chaos”.

Tulip Siddiq, the shadow economic secretary to the Treasury, said the accusations were “disgraceful”.

The Labour politician told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “At the end of the day, Angela Rayner is an MP who was elected on merit.

“To talk about the fact she is using her legs or her posture to manipulate the Prime Minister is ridiculous and I’m really upset about it.”

One Tory MP is said to have told the MoS: “She (Ms Rayner) knows she can’t compete with Boris’s Oxford Union debating training, but she has other skills which he lacks.

“She has admitted as much when enjoying drinks with us on the (Commons) terrace.”

Mr Johnson tweeted: “As much as I disagree with Angela Rayner on almost every political issue, I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.”

Ms Rayner thanked the Conservative Party leader for standing up for her.

When asked on Sophy Ridge about the coverage, Tory chairman Oliver Dowden said he did not recognise the claims attributed to his party’s MPs.

Former Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said she agreed with Ms Rayner’s assessment that she had been targeted for being a woman.

“Really sorry Angela. Totally unacceptable comments,” the Tory MP tweeted.

PATRIARCHY IS FEMICIDE

Quick-fix measures will not stop men intent on harming women, campaigners warn

A mother and her two daughters were killed in their home by a man believed to be the ex-partner of one of the women.


THE REFUGE CHARITY HAS CALLED FOR A FOCUS ON TACKLING THE MISOGYNISTIC CULTURE IT SAYS IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS (JONATHAN BRADY/PA)

PA WIRE
AINE FOX

A misogynistic culture at the root of violence against women and girls must be addressed, a domestic abuse charity has said, in the wake of the crossbow killings of a mother and her two daughters in their home.

Refuge said while it welcomed the Government’s urgent consideration of whether tougher crossbow laws are needed after the deaths, the danger from such crimes stems from the perpetrator rather than the tools they use.

The End Violence Against Women Coalition echoed this, warning that “quick-fix” measures such as banning a weapon would not stop men intent on harming women.

The focus needs to be on tackling violence against women and girls more widely and addressing misogynistic culture that is the root cause

ABIGAIL AMPOFO, REFUGE

Triple-murder suspect Kyle Clifford is understood to have been the ex-partner of Louise Hunt.

The 25-year-old was found fatally injured with her sister Hannah, 28, and their mother, Carol Hunt, 61, at a house in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on Tuesday.

They are the wife and daughters of BBC 5 Live commentator John Hunt.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the most common suspect for female homicide victims aged 16 years and above was their partner or ex-partner

The statistics, published in February this year and using the term homicide to cover manslaughter as well as murder, showed that in the year ending March 2023 in England and Wales, almost half (45%) of all adult female homicide victims were killed in a domestic incident.

Of those 70 victims, all but one were killed by a male suspect.

The ONS said that, in contrast, males were much less likely to be the victim of a domestic homicide with only 8% of male homicides being domestic-related in the year ending March 2023.

Refuge has called for more focus on tackling a misogynistic culture it said is the root cause of many such crimes.

Abigail Ampofo, interim chief executive at the charity said their thoughts are with the victims and their family and friends following the “devastating incident” this week.

She said: “It will be shocking to many that there is no registration or licence system for owning crossbows and it is right that the Government is considering if crossbow laws need to be tightened.

“Whilst we would support an outright ban on dangerous weapons like crossbows, we also need to be clear that the danger from crimes like this is from the perpetrator not the tools used to enact their violence.

“Sadly, we know in cases of domestic homicide perpetrators will use anything at their disposal as a weapon.

“The focus needs to be on tackling violence against women and girls more widely and addressing misogynistic culture that is the root cause.”

Andrea Simon, executive director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “The horrifying murders of Carol, Hannah and Louise Hunt in their family home have once again put violence against women and girls on the public agenda.

“Our thoughts are with their surviving family members, community and all who are feeling the weight of the details being reported.

“Whenever we are confronted by shocking acts of male violence against women, there is a temptation to reach for ‘quick-fix’ measures like calls to ban a particular weapon, increasing CCTV coverage or providing more street lighting.

“But none of these measures will ever stop perpetrators intent on harming women, as they don’t get to the root cause of the issue, which is the normalisation of women’s inequality and the male entitlement, power and control it produces.”

Killed Women, a campaign network for the families of women killed by men, said: “We urge all those with the power to stop this tidal wave of violence to act with urgency. All women deserve to live free from threat, fear and violence. All those whose lives are taken deserve justice.

“Our hearts are with Carol, Louise and Hannah’s family and friends, whose lives, as our network knows only too well, will never be the same again.”

Anyone experiencing domestic abuse can contact Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.

 

University of Bath study warns of rise of ‘new chauvinism’ fueled by right-wing populism

Research shows ‘new chauvinism’ characterized by softer, more subtle language

UNIVERSITY OF BATH

New research from the University of Bath has identified a ‘new chauvinism’, fuelled by a resurgence in right-wing populism, and distinguished by the use of softer, more subtle language than traditional chauvinism.  

The study focused on language and attitudes in software development, a profession known for perpetuating chauvinistic language. It warns organizations that what it called ‘new chauvinism’ may open doors to neo-conservatism and foment discriminatory practices at odds with companies’ stated values.

“‘New chauvinism’ is practised in subtly different ways from old chauvinism. On-line misogynists, such as Andrew Tate, may use overtly misogynistic, hate-filled language that was familiar to our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, but our research suggests that new chauvinists generally use much softer, more subtle, less direct language,” said Professor Nancy Harding of the University of Bath School of Management.

Professor Harding led a team of researchers who interviewed men and women in the software development industry, where globally almost 92% of the workforce are male, with numerous studies identifying the profession’s misogynistic culture for the low female participation rates.  Harding’s team focused on the language and attitudes used by male developers and the experiences of female developers.

“Old chauvinism lobbed verbal bombs at women, telling them where women belonged – women and many men came to recognise these statements for what they were and could fight against them. However, new chauvinism fires fusillades of little chauvinistic arrows, from a quiver full of insults that are sometimes so subtle they are barely consciously registered as misogynistic,” she said.

Amongst a host of examples, researchers found a ‘curious resistance’ from many men to even contemplating the notion of a female software engineer, while some women reported hearing ‘I didn’t know that a woman could do this job’, and talked of a persistent ‘them and us’ culture, painting women as permanent outsiders. One man said, ‘It’s really hard for a woman to be feminine and a good developer at the same time. Some people just don’t get it’.

Professor Harding said the software development profession was not necessarily more receptive to right-wing politics than other professions but its misogynistic practices, like those hidden behind closed doors in other organizations, could offer a sympathetic point of entry into organizations by political actors.

She said neoconservatism, flourishing in an era of global insecurity, anxiety and gross inequalities, was a particular concern, resurrecting language and attitudes that became taboo over the decades-long fight for women’s rights.

“Neoconservatism breaks those taboos by reintroducing into circulation and normalising language, if not practices, whose elimination had been hard fought for. Their language may not contain explicit chauvinistic statements but its chauvinism is identifiable by indirect, elusive inferences.

For example, the study notes that UK National Conservatism’s 2023 conference saw UK Member of Parliament Miriam Cates urge women to have more children to tackle an ‘existential threat’ from falling population levels. Echoing policies espoused by Hungarian and Italian populist heads of state, Cates argued that spending money on women’s education militated against their role as child-bearers. This, implies but does not openly state that women ‘belong in the kitchen”.

Professor Harding said her team’s study showed women often struggled to find immediate ripostes to this less overt sexism, that there was a need to build awareness of the dangers of this more subtle form of chauvinism and to equip women with the language and phrases to disarm it quickly.

“For example, one aspect of chauvinising is the absorption of insults into our self-understanding. If women are told often enough that they have a natural predilection for care rather than action, they may come to feel guilty if they do not prioritise care over action. To which the response might be, isn’t it amazing how we can do care work as part of all the other things we do?” she said

Professor Harding said the research showed humour may be a useful weapon in the fight against ‘new chauvinism’.   

“Famously, see the response on Twitter/X to Andrew Tate’s announcement that he would not sleep with any women who had had the Covid-19 vaccination: ‘Hooray’, someone responded, ‘the vaccine works’.

The study – ‘Organizations, Neoconservatism and New Chauvinism: Organizational receptivity to ring-wing political strategies – can be read in full here.

ENDS/

Notes to editors

• For more information contact the University of Bath Press office at press@bath.ac.uk

The University of Bath

The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities for high-impact research with a reputation for excellence in education, student experience and graduate prospects.

We are named ‘University of the Year’ in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023, and ranked among the world’s top 10% of universities, placing 148th in the QS World University Rankings 2024. We are ranked 5th in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2024, 6th in the Guardian University Guide 2024 and 8th in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.

Bath is rated in the world’s top 10 universities for sport in the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2023. We produce some of the world’s most job-ready graduates and were named University of the Year for Graduate Jobs by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024, as well as ranking as one of the world’s top 90 universities for employer reputation according to the QS World University Rankings 2024.

Research from Bath is helping to change the world for the better. Across the University’s three Faculties and School of Management, our research is making an impact in society, leading to low-carbon living, positive digital futures, and improved health and wellbeing. Find out all about our Research with Impact: www.bath.ac.uk/campaigns/research-with-impact/

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JOURNAL

Organization Studies

DOI

10.1177/01708406241261459 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Organizations, Neoconservativism and New Chauvinism: Organizational receptivity to right-wing political populism

Philippines court disbars Marcos adviser over ‘misogynistic’ outburst

June 29, 2023

MANILA (AFP) – The Philippines Supreme Court said yesterday it has stripped a new adviser to President Ferdinand Marcos of the right to practise law over a “misogynistic” outburst against a journalist.

Marcos appointed lawyer Lorenzo Gadon as his adviser on poverty alleviation on Monday, highlighting his “legal expertise and extensive experience in various industries”.

The Supreme Court voted unanimously the next day to disbar Gadon over his “misogynistic, sexist, abusive and repeated intemperate language”, the court’s public information office said in a statement yesterday.

However, Marcos’s top aide, Lucas Bersamin, said Gadon would remain in his position and the president “believes he will do a good job”.

The court cited a viral video in which Gadon “repeatedly cursed and uttered profane remarks” against a woman journalist before last year’s election, which it described as “indisputably scandalous”.

“The court pointed out that Gadon unfortunately failed to realise that lawyers are expected to avoid scandalous behaviour, whether in their public or private life,” the public information office said.

Gadon, who backed Marcos’s bid for the presidency but failed in his own attempt to win a Senate seat, was previously convicted and suspended from practising law for three months for using “offensive and intemperate language”, and faced 10 other administrative cases, the statement said.

“Although these cases have yet to be decided, the volume of administrative complaints filed against Atty. Gadon indubitably speaks of his character,” it said.

Gadon said in a statement posted on Facebook he would appeal against the decision because the penalty was “too harsh”.

He claimed the reporter had been “blatantly spreading lies” against Marcos during the 2022 election campaign.

The left-wing Akbayan Party described Gadon as a “buffoon” and called on Marcos to rescind his appointment.

After being appointed to new presidential adviser role, Larry Gadon disbarred by the Supreme Court

By Coconuts Manila

Jun 29, 2023 | 2:17pm Manila time

The Supreme Court unanimously disbarred Larry Gadon just after he was newly appointed as the Presidential Adviser for Poverty Alleviation. The decision comes after a viral video showed Gadon using derogatory language and hurling expletives against journalist Raissa Robles.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the high court condemned Gadon’s “misogynistic, sexist, abusive, and repetitive intemperate language” towards Robles, deeming the video indisputably scandalous and discrediting to the legal profession.

Additionally, the Supreme Court found Gadon in direct contempt of court for making baseless allegations of partiality and bias against Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen and Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.

It is worth noting that Gadon had previously faced suspension from practicing law due to his use of offensive and intemperate language.

The Supreme Court emphasized that the legal profession is reserved for individuals who possess intellectual, academic, and moral competence. They stated that there is no place for misogyny and sexism in this noble profession, affirming their zero-tolerance policy towards any form of abuse, particularly when committed by an officer of the court.

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Gadon expressed his intention to file a motion for reconsideration, believing the ruling to be excessively harsh given the alleged cause. He also asserted that his disbarment will not impact his new role in the Marcos administration, emphasizing that his appointment does not require the practice of law.

Gadon further clarified that he had ceased practicing law since 2015.

After foul-mouthed remarks against journalist Raissa Robles, Supreme Court suspends Larry Gadon
The highest court of the land said that it was acting motu proprio or “on its own.” 

Read more.