ADL report investigates links between misogyny, white supremacy

An Anti-Defamation League investigating misogyny finds it is a dangerous and underestimated component of extremism.

In a new report, “When Women are the Enemy: The Intersection of Misogyny and White Supremacy,” the ADL shows a powerful connection between the “men’s rights” arena and white supremacist ideologies.

The report marks a new prioritization of misogyny as a part of the organization’s extremism research and reporting.

“Misogyny has the potential to act as a gateway into the white supremacist world,” states the report's author, Jessica Reaves. “The hatred and resentment of women voiced by groups like involuntary celibates and Men’s Rights Activists is disturbingly similar to white supremacists’ hatred of minorities. And some white supremacists, especially those on the alt-right, use the same degrading, violent anti-woman rhetoric we hear coming from misogynist groups.”

The report found that the narrative of white men as victims of feminism, changing social norms and progressive thought is one of the most powerful inspirations for misogyny across the white supremacist spectrum.

ADL reported it is commonplace to find on alt-right message boards that commenters perpetuate rape culture and encourage violence against women who (they believe) are denying them their “rightful” sexual experiences.

The groups feed off of and inform each other’s hatred of women.

“When we see the vile hatred that comes out of the white supremacist movement, we immediately and rightly call out this hatred as a dangerous threat. The hateful and sometimes violent rhetoric of misogynist groups should be treated no differently,” states Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and national director. “Increasingly, the tropes and themes used by misogynists to describe women and their place in the world are no different than those used by many white supremacists.”

ADL also has issued policy recommendations for dealing with violent misogyny.

Recommendations include:

• Build understanding among law enforcement leaders and organizations about the nature of misogynistic hate;

• Encourage legal and policy mechanisms to ensure gender equality, including specific laws protecting against gender-based violence.

• Include gender-based content in anti-bias education and public debate about civil rights;

• Bolster community resilience to hate, and fund education and prevention programming.

• Create an ongoing dialogue between civil society and the technology sector;

• Ensure tech platforms have inclusive, comprehensive Terms of Service—and that they are broadly, appropriately enforced;

Provide effective options to decrease women’s encounters with online gender-related hate speech;

• Create specifically-tailored solutions to combat misogyny, depending on the nature of the platform and the harassment; consider alternatives to account removal of victims of harassment who repost harassment for awareness.