Taking sexism and misogyny seriously
Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:40 am
Excerpts from Filipovic’s piece on CNN:
Attacker who killed judge's son didn't hide his hate
Opinion by Jill Filipovic
Updated 7:30 PM EDT, Tue July 21, 2020
(CNN)If there is one lesson to take away from the tragic killing of Daniel Anderl, the son of US District Judge Esther Salas, and the shooting of Salas's husband, Mark Anderl, it is this: Misogynist extremists aren't just kooks or pathetic losers; they're dangerous.
The man believed to be responsible for the shootings is Roy Den Hollander, a "men's rights" activist and self-described "anti-feminist" lawyer. He shot and killed himself after allegedly killing Daniel Anderl and shooting Mark Anderl.
While the targeting of a federal judge and her family is shocking, Den Hollander's violence shouldn't be surprising. This is, after all, a man who called the Violence Against Women Act the "Female Fraud Act," only to then to allegedly commit violence against a woman's family.
...Den Hollander cannot just be dismissed as a lone wolf or deranged person.
He was a lawyer who had appeared in front of Judge Salas in a case about another one of his pet issues: The male-only draft.
...He's also far from the only men's rights activist who has promoted, incited and encouraged violence against women -- or and has been violent himself.
...Men's rights websites and forums have created a culture in which it's considered funny and normal to threaten women with rape and fantasize about killing or injuring them, perpetuating a twisted worldview in which women are at fault for their own victimization.
Lots of these men listen and take this garbage seriously.... Some men's rights advocates distinguish themselves from "incels," or men embittered by their lack of sexual success, who in turn distinguish themselves from the "pick-up artists" or PUAs who aim to sleep with as many women as possible. But they all overlap in the "manosphere": The corners of the internet dedicated to anti-feminism and misogyny.
Not that men need internet misogyny in order to kill or abuse women.... None of these men exist in a vacuum. Some, like Den Hollander, erect the framework of a political theory around their hatred of women and are savvy enough to use the polite language of the law when they're in a courtroom or on television.
They often begin by working within established institutions, seeking to undermine them -- using the courts to bring a host of claims, as Den Hollander did.
But you don't have to dig far to see extremism lurking, including the justification of violence. And there have been a disturbing number of these men who have moved on from posting their hatred online to engaging in acts of violence and terrorism -- not unlike other extremists around the world.
For too long, though, American law enforcement, our most trusted institutions and the media have looked the other way on misogynist extremists in the United States, refusing to take them particularly seriously and brushing off the hatred of women and even gender-based violence as unfortunate but fixed parts of normal life.
....But while we were rolling our eyes at the man on a crusade against Ladies Night, he turned into the living embodiment of that famous Margaret Atwood quote:
"Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.co ... index.html