THREAD
Yesterday I heard Laura Bates @EverydaySexism talking about her new book #MenWhoHateWomen and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s really important that you read it. This is a book about a very real and growing threat to women and it needs everyone’s attention.

Laura talks about the online communities of men who discuss woman in hatred and violence; the real belief that “foids” as they call them, are part of a conspiracy and need to be stopped. It’s from these groups that mass murderers like Elliot Rodgers came

There have been several mass murders by incels but the media rarely focuses on misogyny as the cause. And the groups that encourage and celebrate that violence aren’t a few weirdos; one group alone has over a hundred thousand members.

Laura infiltrated one such group and ended up finding many many threats against herself, some so brutal and horrifying she wasn’t allowed to print them in the book.

In 2019 I did a piece on incels for #MashReport and after hearing Laura, I had a look today to see if that had provoked any online reaction from incels. I’d only ever been trolled on Twitter before so hadn’t looked elsewhere...

And indeed comments ranged from “fucking whore” to “she needs shooting in the tits” to “foids need to be skinned alive” and included pictures of me and my husband, and horrific antisemitic comments. This was only the first incel website I came across.

There is so much to say, to explain how this has come about, why these men have gone down this path and until we find a way to solve it, it is a community that is very real and increasing. But more people need to know about how widespread it is.