Men Who Hate Women: From incels to pickup artists, the truth about extreme misogyny and how it affects us all

by Laura Bates

But this is far from the only reason that the majority of people don’t take incels seriously or even know about their existence. We are, after all, quick to recognize and take action against the threat of other forms of online radicalization, like that used by Islamic extremists to lure young converts into acts of violence in the name of a twisted and prejudiced set of beliefs. Part of the problem is that this is about women. And we don’t even take violence against women seriously offline, let alone on the internet, where it is so easily written off as banter, jokes, and satire. When online radicalization results in a Muslim attacker driving into white pedestrians, media reports and political commentators immediately alert us to the connection, the word terrorism quickly filling the front pages and the ideology and online footprint of the killer highlighted for all to see. The same is not the case when men kill in the explicit name of misogyny.