It is estimated that an average of three women are killed by men each week in the UK. Since records began in 2009, femicide in the UK has continued to rise. But isn’t just a UK issue; the impact of misogyny – and the way it teaches men that they are entitled to and have ownership over women – is felt the world over. In May, a 16-year-old girl was killed in Delhi, India, by 20-year-old Sahil Khan for rejecting him in front of her friends and ending their relationship, according to police. Khan planned the murder for two days, using a knife he’d purchased two weeks prior, and followed the girl to a dark alley where he stabbed her over 30 times and bludgeoned her to death with a concrete slab. Apart from one passerby who tried (and failed) to intervene, CCTV footage shows several bystanders encountering the incident and doing nothing to stop him. A police informant happened on the teenager’s body half an hour later.
“We shouldn’t need the police to stop boys from killing girls. We shouldn’t need stop-and-search laws to ensure that a young girl makes it to school alive.”
What is happening to a society in which children are dying for refusing the advances of men? How has the manosphere multiplied and become so maddened that young boys and men are being radicalised without intervention?
Women are often gaslit into thinking crimes such as this are unrelated to the rise in online incel culture, but considering the simultaneous advance of self-proclaimed misogynists who celebrate such violence, it’s astonishing that anyone would think otherwise. Men like Andrew Tate and Laurence Fox advocate male supremacy and teach young men how to control and use women. This week, Fox – who has repeatedly posted racist and homophobic content, including an image of a swastika comprised of pride flags – was suspended from GB News after saying he “wouldn’t shag” a female journalist after she spoke about the gender pay gap. Tate has been accused by four women of rape in the UK between 2013 and 2016, and in June, was charged with rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women in Romania. Tate – who once messaged one of his accusers saying ‘I love raping you’ – denies the allegations.
Despite this, the popularity of online misogynists continues to rise. Today, a YouGov survey of more than 1,100 children between the ages of 6 and 15 has revealed that 84% of boys aged 13 to 15 have heard of Tate, while 1 in 6 teenage boys still have a positive view of him. One is all it takes.
As long as these men continue to have a platform that allows them to spew their hatred of women, young boys continue being taught that women are property to be owned by men, our lives disposable if we reject them. It’s why women weren’t surprised when men online leapt to the defence of Russell Brand, who was accused by four women of rape and sexual assault in a Channel 4 investigation this month, allegations which Brand denies. Slut-shaming and victim-blaming comments are inescapable online, despite the harrowing testimony from the women.
We also weren’t surprised when recent footage showed fans of far-right incel influencer Nico ‘Sneako’ De Balinthazy shouting ‘f*ck the women!’ and ‘f*ck the gays!’, with one saying ‘all gays should die’. Sneako is known for his presence in the ‘red pill’ community which celebrates misogyny and is so named after The Matrix, referring to men ‘waking up’ to anti-feminist rhetoric.