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ABSTRACT
Western countries are experiencing a wave of violent attacks against places of worship, stores, schools and other crowded locations. The perpetrators of these attacks explain their actions as necessary to stem an “invasion” of immigrants which threatens the very existence of the white race. At the same time, many of the same countries have experienced very similar attacks motivated by a particularly contemporary form of misogyny. Known as incels, an abbreviation of involuntary celibate, young men in this community believe they are denied sexual partners by feminism and societal norms of male attractiveness. These two series of attacks are generally understood to be separate (if overlapping) forms of extremism. In this article I contend that the concepts of white genocide central to white nationalism and misogynistic incelism are more intertwined than it appears. Misogyny and the notion of white genocide are mutually escalatory. Rather than separate and complementary forms of extremism, the two ideologies converge to create a single more volatile worldview, one which makes its proponents more prone to the use of violence. Misogyny and white genocide are synergistic, their effect greater than the sum of their parts.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Fabio Scarpello, Hannah Brown and two anonymous reviewers who kindly gave comments which greatly improved this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. As discussed below, white nationalists believe in the existence of a white race which exists in numerous countries and which overrides any ethnic, geopolitical, linguistic or other division.
2. Sian Tomkinson, Tauel Harper, and Katie Attwell, “Confronting Incel: Exploring Possible Policy Responses to Misogynistic Violent Extremism,” Australian Journal of Political Science 55, no. 2 (2020): 1–18; Bruce Hoffman, Jacob Ware & Ezra Shapiro, “Assessing the Threat of Incel Violence,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, (2020): 1–23.
3. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/incel-terrorism-charges-isolating-in-the-arctic-ocean-ramadan-weight-gain-a-diy-robot-dog-and-more-1.5578430/terror-charge-in-alleged-incel-attack-affirms-repugnant-nature-of-violence-against-women-legal-expert-1.5578485 (accessed June 13, 2020). The Incel movement is an extreme offshoot of a more longstanding collection of men’s rights and anti-feminist movements known as the “manosphere.”
4. The following publication recognizes the intersection of misogyny and white nationalism yet urges us to see the former as a distinct form of extremism: Alex DiBranco, “Male Supremacist Terrorism as Rising Threat,” (Perspective, International Center for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague, The Netherlands), February 10, 2020.
5. Sam Jackson, “A Schema of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States,” (Policy Brief, International Center for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague, The Netherlands), October 2019.
6. Ibid., 3.
7. In this article, I use the term white nationalism rather than alternatives such as white power or white supremacy. I do so because white nationalists believe in a discrete, unified and transnational white nation which transcends borders and cultural difference. As such, white nationalists see the white “nation” in the same way that ethnonationalists perceive their ethnic group, as having common origins, a common identity and strong links with a particular territory. Contemporary white nationalists consider not only Europe but also the postcolonial countries of the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand to comprise a transnational white “homeland.”
8. Among a large body of literature by feminist scholars and others are: Annie Kelly, “The Alt-Right: Reactionary Rehabilitation for White Masculinity,” Soundings, no. 66 (Summer 2017): 68–78; Sophie Bjork-James, “Racializing Misogyny: Sexuality and Gender in the New Online White Nationalism,” Feminist Anthropology, Online (2020): 1–8; Jesse Daniels, White Lies: Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality in White Supremacist Discourse (New York, NY and London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1997); Abby Ferber, ed., Home-Grown Hate: Gender and Organized Racism (New York, NY and London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2004); Abby L. Ferber, “Constructing Whiteness: The Intersections of Race and Gender in US White Supremacist Discourse,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 21, no. 1 (1998): 48–63.
9. See for example: Pablo Castillo Diaz and Nahla Valji, “Symbiosis of Misogyny and Violent Extremism,” Journal of International Affairs 72, no. 2 (2019): 37–56.
10. Barbara Perry also examined this relationship: “White Genocide: White Supremacists and the Politics of Reproduction,” in Home-Grown Hate, ed. Abby Ferber (New York, United States and London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2004): 71–91.
11. See for example: Daniels, White Lies; and Ferber, Home-Grown Hate among others.
12. This is the definition of misogyny used in Kate Manne, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018): 33 and which I follow in this article.
13. Francesco Duina and Dylan Carson, “Not So Right After All? Making Sense of the Progressive Rhetoric of Europe’s Far-Right Parties,” International Sociology 35, no. 1 (2020): 3–21.
14. Ibid., 7.
15. Lothrop Stoddard, The Rising Tide of Color Against White Supremacy (London, United Kingdom: Chapman and Hall, 1920): 298.
16. Justin Ward, “Day of the Trope: White Nationalist Memes Thrive on Reddit’s r/the_Donald,” Southern Poverty Law Center. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/04/19/day-trope-white-nationalist-memes-thrive-reddits-rthedonald (accessed April 20, 2020).
17. Kevan A. Feshami, “Fear of White Genocide: Tracing the History of a Myth from Germany to Charlottesville,” Lapham’s Quarterly. https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/fear-white-genocide (accessed April 8, 2020).
18. “David Lane,” Southern Poverty Law Center. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/david-lane (accessed April 8, 2020).
19. Arie Perliger, “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right,” Combating Terrorism Center, Westpoint, (November 2012): 23.
20. Ibid., 23.
21. Jean Raspail, “Preface,” The Camp of the Saints 1982 edition, cited in Matthew Connelly and Paul Kennedy, “Must it be the West Against the Rest?” The Atlantic Monthly (December 1994).
22. Michael Edison Hayden, “Stephen Miller’s Affinity for White Nationalism Revealed in Leaked Emails,” Southern Poverty Law Center. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/11/12/stephen-millers-affinity-white-nationalism-revealed-leaked-emails#link (accessed August 26, 2020).
23. Elian Peltier and Nicholas Kulish, “A Racist’s Book Malign and Lingering Influence,” The New York Times, Nov 22, 2019.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/books/stephen-miller-camp-saints.html (accessed April 02, 2020) and Sarah Jones, “The Notorious Book that Ties the Right to the Far Right,” The New Republic, Feb 13, 2018. https://newrepublic.com/article/146925/notorious-book-ties-right-far-right (accessed April 02, 2020). The book was a key influence on the European Identitarian Movement, Jose Pedro Zuquete, The Identitarians: The Movement Against Globalism and Islam in Europe (Indiana, United States: University of Notre Dame Press, 2019): 146.
24. Thomas Chatterton Williams, “The French Origins of ‘You Will Not Replace Us’,” The New Yorker, Dec 4, 2017. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/04/the-french-origins-of-you-will-not-replace-us (accessed April 09, 2020).
25. Zuquete, The Identitarians, p31.
26. Ibid., 74.
27. Ibid., 77.
28. In 1996, Kathleen Blee estimated that 25 percent of members and 50 percent of new recruits of organized racist groups in the United States. Women are particularly involved in neo-Nazi groups. Kathleen M. Blee, “Becoming a Racist: Women in Contemporary Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazi Groups,” Gender and Society 10, no. 6 (1996): 681. Women are also heavily involved in the more contemporary Identitarian Movement in Europe: Zuquete, The Identitarians, 44.
29. Kevan A. Feshami, “Fear of White Genocide: Tracing the History of a Myth from Germany to Charlottesville,” Lapham’s Quarterly, Sept 06, 2017. https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/fear-white-genocide (accessed April 8, 2020).
30. Zuquete, The Identitarians, 128.
31. Carol Mason, Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics (Ithaca, United States: Cornell University Press, 2002).
32. Katha Pollitt, “Abortion in American History,” The Atlantic Monthly (May 1997): 112.
33. Erica Millar, “Too Many: Anxious White Nationalism and the Biopolitics of Abortion,” Australian Feminist Studies 30, no. 83 (2015): 82–98.
34. David Futrelle, “The Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin Hates Babies – but Wants White Couples to Produce as Many of Them as Humanly Possible,” We Hunted the Mammoth. Reported here: http://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2020/06/10/the-daily-stormers-andrew-anglin-hates-babies-but-wants-white-couples-to-produce-as-many-of-them-as-humanly-possible/ (accessed June 12, 2020).
35. Philip Oltermann, “Germany: Mass Shooting Attempt That Killed Two Was Antisemitic Attack, Minister Says,” The Guardian, 9 Oct, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/09/two-people-killed-in-shooting-in-german-city-of-halle (accessed June 12, 2020).
36. Lizzie Dearden, “Stephen Balliet: The ‘loser’ neo-Nazi suspected of deadly attack on German synagogue,” The Independent, 10 Oct, 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-synagogue-shooting-halle-attack-latest-stephan-balliet-suspect-neo-nazi-a9150451.html (accessed June 12, 2020).
37. Abby L. Ferber, “Constructing Whiteness: The Intersections of Race and Gender in US White Supremacist Discourse,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 21, no. 1 (1998): 59.
38. Ibid., 51.
39. Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds, Drawing the Global Color Line: White Men’s Countries and the International Challenge of Racial Inequality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008): 316.
40. William Luther Pierce, The Turner Diaries (Charlottesville, VA: National Vanguard Books, 1999).
41. J. M. Berger, “The Turner Legacy: The Storied Origins and Enduring Impact of White Nationalism’s Deadly Bible,” International Center for Counter Terrorism (ICCT) Research paper (September 2016): 3.
42. Ferber, “Constructing whiteness,” 51.
43. Sophie Bjork-James, “Racializing Misogyny: Sexuality and Gender in the New Online White Nationalism,” Feminist Anthropology, Online (2020): 3.
44. David Futrelle, “The Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin hates babies – but wants white couples to produce as many of them as humanly possible,” We Hunted the Mammoth, June 10, 2020. Reported here: http://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2020/06/10/the-daily-stormers-andrew-anglin-hates-babies-but-wants-white-couples-to-produce-as-many-of-them-as-humanly-possible/ (accessed June 12, 2020).
45. Perliger, “Challengers from the Sidelines,” 139.
46. “Hungary’s Orban vows defence of ‘Christian’ Europe,” Al Jazeera, 10 Feb, 2019. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/hungary-orban-vows-defence-christian-europe-190210195421238.html (accessed April 15, 2020).
47. Breivik quoted in Walter Anthony Lucken, “Anders Breivik and Elliot Rodger: Violence, Communication, and the Mediated Sphere” (Unpublished Thesis, Wayne State University, 2016), 26.
48. Lucken, “Anders Breivik and Elliot Rodger,” 47.
49. “Ragnar Redbeard,” Might is Right (Bensinville, IL: MHP & Co, 1996), 83.
50. Kitty Shropshire, “The Influence of Might is Right in the Gilroy Shooting,” Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right, Aug 16, 2019. https://www.radicalrightanalysis.com/2019/08/16/the-influence-of-might-is-right-in-the-gilroy-shooting/ (accessed May 20, 2020). Joel MacManus, “White Supremacists, Satanists, and Terrorists: The True Story of NZ’s ‘Hideous Virus’ of a Book,” Stuff. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118279410/white-supremacists-satanists-and-terrorists-the-true-story-of-nzs-hideous-virus-of-a-book (accessed May 20, 2020).
51. Jared Davidson, review of “Ragnar Redbeard: The Antipodean origins of radical fabulist Arthur Desmond,” Journal of New Zealand Studies, no.25 (2017): 104.
52. Chris Mathews, Modern Satanism: Anatomy of a Radical Subculture (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2009): 150 and Kitty Shropshire, “The Influence of Might is Right in the Gilroy Shooting,” Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right, Aug 16, 2019. https://www.radicalrightanalysis.com/2019/08/16/the-influence-of-might-is-right-in-the-gilroy-shooting/ (accessed May 20, 2020).
53. Angela Nagle, Kill All Normies: The Online Culture Wars from Tumblr and 4chan to the alt-right and Trump (Winchester, UK and Washington, USA: Zero Books, 2017), 64.
54. Angela Nagle, “The New Man of 4chan,” The Baffler no. 30. https://thebaffler.com/salvos/new-man-4chan-nagle (accessed May 23, 2020).
55. Nagle, Kill All Normies, 67.
56. Bjork-James, “Racializing misogyny,” 5.
57. Moonshot CVE, “Incels: A Guide to Symbols and Terminology,” http://moonshotcve.com/incels-symbols-and-terminology/ (accessed June 13, 2020).
58. Posted on the 9chan forum.
59. Ben Makuch and Mack Lamoureux, “Jailed Ex-Atomwaffen Division Leader Needs Some Lord of the Rings,” Vice May 22, 2020. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/k7qagy/jailed-ex-atomwaffen-division-leader-needs-some-lord-of-the-rings (accessed May 25, 2020).
60. Nellie Bowles, “’Replacement Theory,’ a Racist, Sexist Doctrine, Spreads in Far-Right Circles,” The New York Times, Mar 18, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/technology/replacement-theory.html (accessed June 4, 2020).
61. Helen Lewis, “To Learn about the Far-Right, Start with the ‘Manosphere’,” The Atlantic, Aug 17, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/08/anti-feminism-gateway-far-right/595642/ (accessed June 4, 2020).
62. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Madeleine Blackman, “Fluidity of the Fringes: Prior Extremist Involvement as a Radicalization Pathway,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, (2019): 18.
63. Ibid., 2.
64. The definition of misogyny used in Manne, Down Girl: 33.
65. Jacob Ware, “Testament to Murder: The Violent Far-Right’s Increasing Use of Terrorist Manifestos,” (Policy Brief, International Center for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague, The Netherlands, March 2020): 4–6.
66. Graham Macklin, “The El Paso Terrorist Attack: The Chain Reaction of Global Right-Wing Terror,” Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) Sentinel 12, no. 11 (December 2019): 4.
67. Amarnath Amarasingam and Marc-Andre Argentino, “The QAnon Conspiracy Theory: A Security Threat in the Making?” CTC Sentinel 13, no. 7 (July 2020): 37 and 39.
68. Jamie Bartlett and Carl Miller, The Power of Unreason: Conspiracy Theories, Extremism and Counter-Terrorism (London, United Kingdom: Demos, 2010): 4–5.
69. Jelle van Buuren, “Spur to Violence? Anders Behring Breivik and the Eurabia conspiracy,” Nordic Journal of Migration Research 3, no. 4 (2013): 208.
70. Graham Macklin, “The El Paso Terrorist Attack: The Chain Reaction of Global Right-Wing Terror,” Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) Sentinel 12, no. 11 (December 2019): 4.
71. Stephane J. Baele, Lewys Brace & Travis G. Coan, “From ‘Incel’ to ‘Saint’: Analyzing the worldview behind the 2018 Toronto attack,” Terrorism and Political Violence, (August 2019): 9.
72. As discussed below, none of Breivik, Tarrant, Bowers, Roof, Rathjen or Crusius appear to have had an intimate relationship in the months or years leading up to their attacks.
73. Aahe Borchgrevink, A Norwegian Tragedy: Anders Behring Breivik and the Massacre on Utoya (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Polity, 2013), 54.
74. Seierstad, One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath (London, United Kingdom: Virago, 2016), 181.
75. Ibid., 181. Heidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks define cultural Marxism as the notion of an “orchestrated plan … by leftist intellectuals to destroy the American way of life as established by whites,” in “White Nationalism in America,” in Barbara Perry and Brian Levin Hate Crimes volume 1 (London, United Kingdom: Riverside, 2009), 118. Long established in American white nationalism, this concept has spread among the far right elsewhere.
76. Buuren, “Spur to Violence?” 206.
77. Ibid., 210. See also Sindre Bangstad, Anders Breivik and the Rise of Islamophobia (London, United Kingdom: Zed Books, 2014), 78–9.
78. Borchgrevink, A Norwegian Tragedy, 146.
79. Ibid., 165.
80. Asne Seerstad, “The Anatomy of White Terror,” The New York Times (March 19, 2019).
81. He also mimicked Breivik’s actions during the attack in approaching and executing injured victims as a way of increasing the casualty count.
82. “What We Know About the El Paso Suspect: He Appears to Have Posted Anti-Immigrant Screed,” KERA News, Aug 4, 2019. https://www.keranews.org/post/what-we-know-about-el-paso-suspect-he-appears-have-posted-anti-immigrant-screed (accessed February 19, 2020).
83. Ken Alltucker, “Who is the El Paso Shooter? Investigators search for links, motive in anti-immigrant screed,” USA Today, Aug 4, 2019. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/04/el-paso-wal-mart-shooting-patrick-crusius-probed-hate-crime/1914874001/ (accessed June 10, 2020).
84. Lois Beckett, “Pittsburgh Shooter was fringe figure in online world of white supremacist rage,” The Guardian, Oct 30, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/30/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooter-was-fringe-figure-in-online-world-of-white-supremacist-rage (accessed May 22, 2020).
85. Tim Hume, “‘Not a Classical Neo-Nazi: What We Know About the German Hookah Bar Terrorist,” Vice, Feb 21, 2020. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7jdak/race-hate-mind-control-and-incel-ideology-what-we-know-about-the-german-hookah-bar-shooter (accessed May 22, 2020).
86. Kevin Sullivan, “‘Evil, Evil, Evil As Can Be: Emotional Testimony as Dylann Roof Trial Begins,” Washington Post, Dec 7, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/12/07/as-dylann-roof-trial-begins-prosecutor-describes-each-victims-life-and-how-they-died/ (accessed June 13, 2020).
87. Tomkinson et al., “Confronting Incel,” 4.
88. Baele, “From ‘Incel’ to ‘Saint,’” 3.
89. Ibid., 2.
90. Richard Winton, Rosanna Xia, Rong-Gong Lin II, “Isla Vista Shooting: Read Elliot Rodger’s Graphic, Elaborate Attack Plan,” Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2014. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-isla-vista-document-20140524-story.html#page=1 (accessed June 10, 2020).
91. Jeff Yang, “What a Close Read of the Isla Vista Shooter’s Horrific Manifesto, ‘My Twisted World,’ Says About His Values – And Ours,” Quartz, May 24, 2014. https://qz.com/213553/what-isla-vista-shooter-horrific-manifesto-my-twisted-world-says-about-values/ (accessed June 10, 2020).
92. Ibid. https://qz.com/213553/what-isla-vista-shooter-horrific-manifesto-my-twisted-world-says-about-values/ (accessed June 10, 2020).
93. Ben Poston, “Killer Who Committed Massacre in Isla Vista was Part of Alt-Right New Research Shows,” Los Angeles Times, Feb 6, 2018. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-isle-vista-massacre-alt-right-20180206-story.html (accessed May 21, 2020). Gartenstein-Ross and Madeleine Blackman, “Fluidity of the Fringes.”
94. Lucken, “Anders Breivik and Elliot Rodger,” 5.
95. Paul Murphy, “Group Chat Messages Show School Shooter Obsessed With Race, Violence and Guns,” CNN, Feb 18, 2018. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/16/us/exclusive-school-shooter-instagram-group/index.html (accessed May 21, 2020).
96. David Ingram, Brandy Zadrozny, and Corky Siemaszko, “Gilroy Garlic Festival Gunman Referred to ‘Might is Right’ Manifesto Before Shooting,” NBC News, July 30, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gilroy-garlic-festival-gunman-referenced-might-right-manifesto-shortly-shooting-n1035781 (accessed May 20, 2020).
97. Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins, “New Mexico School Shooter Had Secret Life on Pro-Trump White Supremacy Sites,” The Daily Beast, Dec 15, 2017. https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-mexico-school-shooter-had-secret-life-on-pro-trump-white-supremacy-sites (accessed May 21, 2020).
98. Ferber, “Constructing Whiteness,” 51; Lucken, “Anders Breivik and Elliot Rodger,” 5.
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Chris Wilson
Chris Wilson is Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland. He researches conflict and terrorism and is the Programme Director of the University’s Master of Conflict and Terrorism Studies. He can be contacted at [email protected].