Though many have noticed the connection between misogyny and white supremacist violence, no large organization has published a report on that connection — until now.
The Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday published its seminal report on the subject titled "When Women are the Enemy: The Intersection of Misogyny and White Supremacy."
"There is a robust symbiosis between misogyny and white supremacy; the two ideologies are powerfully intertwined," the ADL's report noted. "While not all misogynists are racists, and not every white supremacist is a misogynist, a deep-seated loathing of women acts as a connective tissue between many white supremacists, especially those in the alt right, and their lesser-known brothers in hate like incels (involuntary celibates), MRAs (Men’s Rights Activists) and PUAs (Pick Up Artists)."
In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine a few hours before the public release of the paper, report author Jessica Reaves explained what the ADL hopes to accomplish by publicizing the links between violent racist and misogynist ideologies.
“There’s a growing sense of resentment among certain groups of men, especially white men, towards women for what they see as a theft of their power and status,” Reaves told Cosmo. “Violence, vicious harassment, and other forms of misogyny are a huge threat to women everywhere. We want people to understand that misogyny is dangerous and that by elevating everyone’s understanding of this critical threat, we can reduce the risks.”
In the report's first section, titled "The Alt Right's Woman Problem," Reaves included a quote from Andrew Anglin, the man who runs the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website to illustrate her point.
"The fact is, when you give women rights, they destroy absolutely everything around them, no matter what other variable is involved," the Anglin quote reads. "Even if you become the ultimate alpha male, some stupid b*tch will still ruin your life."
As Cosmo noted, five of the ADL's nine policy proposals for combatting the dangerous intersection of misogyny and white supremacy focus on the internet and tech. It makes sense, reporter Andrea Stanley wrote, "given that the 'manosphere' (a term coined to define the parts of the web where men huddle together and bond over how much they despise women) has created a particularly vicious hot pot for hate."
Those policy suggestions include calling legislators to action to include gender-based violence under hate crime statutes, tech companies creating more robust inclusivity policies that better enforce anti-hate speech rules and training law enforcement officials to "understand how misogynist attitudes are used to bolster extremist ideologies and violent behaviors."
“Given how active white supremacists are at the moment and the ongoing threats of public violence against women," Reaves told Cosmo, "we think it’s really important for people to understand that these hateful groups don’t exist in a vacuum—they feed off one another and urge each other on."
You can read the entire report on the codependent relationship between misogyny and white supremacy via the Anti-Defamation League.
