Elliot Rodger was not just a lunatic, but a misogynist
On May 23rd, six young people were murdered by Elliot Rodger, in the Santa Barbara district of California. Thirteen more were wounded. Since the massacre took place, witnesses, law enforcement and the media alike have been trying to explain the failures which allowed the tragic loss of six young lives to take place. Some have placed the blame on America’s notoriously controversial gun laws. Others have attributed his massacre to Rodger’s mental health, and to the deficiencies in the American healthcare system.
Disturbingly few people have acknowledged the fact that Elliot Rodger’s crimes were a direct result of his own misogyny. Many continue to deny that his hatred of women was the key motivation for his massacre, despite the fact that Rodger published numerous Youtube videos and a 141-page manifesto that contain explicit evidence of his misogyny. And yet, the true cause of Rodger’s crimes is so rarely acknowledged that it has frequently been dismissed as a fringe view.
Elliot Rodger committed a hate crime, and everybody is denying it.
In a recent article published in The Boar, Rodger’s manifesto is analysed in great detail. The killer’s psyche is discussed at considerable length, and the events of his life are dissected in an attempt to better understand what could have driven this young man to kill so many. The author rightly acknowledges that Rodger’s views are “pathetic and vile”, and while Rodger is held accountable for his own actions a far more significant statement is missing from the article.
Elliot Rodger is not alone.
Photo: flickr/lancescurv
In his manifesto, Rodger states that feminism is evil, that women possess exclusive control over sexual contact, and that the combination of the two gives them control over the future of the human race. He also expresses outrage that he was still a virgin at the age of 22 and demonstrates a frightening sense of entitlement over women’s bodies. His entire manifesto revolved around his own lack of sexual contact, and the disturbing view that in denying it to him, the women Rodger encountered deemed themselves worthy of punishment. These views – deplorable though they are – are not the views of a lone madman.
In the comments section for several of his Youtube videos, people actively praise Rodger’s opinions, even after he had carried them out in the form of a massacre.
Rodger was an active online presence in many MRA groups, in which advocates such as Paul Elam actively promote violence against women and are apt to blame their problems on ‘the matriarchy’. Even in the previously mentioned article, the writer wonders if a kiss from a woman might have “altered [Rodger’s] life forever”. The implication in all of these claims is that the women who rejected Elliot Rodger were indirectly responsible for his crimes: a view which is as heartless as it is ridiculous.
The claims that Rodger committed his crimes as a result of a mental illness fail to address the real issue at stake. The exact status of his mental health is unconfirmed, but it is likely that he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome: a condition which many live with on a daily basis without resorting to murder. Rodger made a deliberate choice to target a sorority house, and stated in his manifesto that he planned to “slaughter every single spoilt, stuck-up, blonde slut that I see”. He chose his target in the same way that anti-Semitic terrorists target synagogues, or anti-Islamic hate groups target mosques. He committed a hate crime against women, and his Youtube videos and manifesto are the proof of this.
We live in a world where it is dangerous to be a woman, and yet when we try and address it, the connection between these incidents is dismissed outright.
Elliot Rodger is responsible for his own actions, but his actions were encouraged by the society he lived in. We live in a world where women are shouted at, grabbed and groped in the street. Women in the public eye receive frequent rape and death threats. Women who reject men run the risk of being stalked, being raped, being permanently disfigured in acid attacks, or – in the case of Rodger’s victims – being murdered. We live in a world where it is dangerous to be a woman, and yet when we try and address it, the connection between these incidents is dismissed outright. All these incidents have in common is a hatred of women. In Santa Barbara, this hatred hurt men and women alike, as Rodger decided to punish both the women who rejected him and the men who they preferred.
We need to address this problem. As a society we cannot go on denying that misogyny directly leads to violence, rape and slaughter. Unless we engage in a significant and meaningful discussion about the ways in which our society encourages the hatred of women, the Santa Barbara shooting will be one of many crimes fuelled by this destructive and dangerous belief.
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Photo: flickr/quinnanya
Comments (17)
As a woman, let me state my opinion that this article is really dumb. Trying to parse the actions of lunatics to see if they have committed a “hate crime” is ridiculous. He killed people! Who cares what twisted views he had? Guys that whistle at me on the street or make passes at me don’t try to kill me later! Trying to draw a line between the two is something only a boneheaded extreme feminist would do. Which is why I refuse to call myself a feminist, even though I stand for everything good in that movement. There is also a lot of crap in it, though.
At the end of day. Women have no business complaining and maybe, just maybe, the Elliot Rodger shooting will be a wake up call to women and their EVIL WAYS
If you look at Rodger said. He was right. Women do control the supply of sex. The fact is, if women would have had sex with this guy, he would not have done what he done.
The fact is more women will die unless you give men options
What do a Feminist and Elliot Rodger have in common? They both have an undeserving sense of entitlement and blame the opposite gender for their problems. Both are equally disgusting human beings.
Because writing opinion articles is the same as murder!
What are you, a male feminist? LOL, who exactly do you think you’re going to impress by promoting feminazi bullshit and sucking up to women?
BTW, when someone targets gays or blacks or Latinos or trans folk, we don’t hesitate to say the problem is both mental and social. We call it a hate crime because it is. We don’t claim that anti-gay and racist attitudes that pervade society are NO FACTOR AT ALL….but with women, well….magically it’s not a hate crime. Magically society has no influence. The victims just happened to have vaginas and this guy just happened to be crazy and just happened specifically targeting women who he felt owed him sex….but misogynist social attitudes have NOTHING to do with it. Derp.
LOL @ “American women have it so good. They should stop whining.” Soooooo, what you’re saying is that we have to wait until things are as bad here as they are in Saudi Arabia or Somalia until men grant us the permission to complain about sexism again. Yeah, that doesn’t totally prove us right or anything.
While the ultimate manifestation of his illness certainly came wrapped in extreme misogyny, a fair reading of the entirety of what he put down on paper during the last few years of his life reveals at the very least a much more complex picture, and frankly does not back up the straight line this author and many others (see #yesallwomen) are so intent on drawing.
I wish you & others would resist incorporating him into your cause.
I don’t understand why some people are still so hung up on the alleged misogyny angle. The man had mental issues, plain and simple. In his short, pathetic life, did he even bother asking a woman out on a date? (Unless I missed something, no women have come forward with stories about Elliot since he killed himself.) His problems weren’t with women; his problems were in his head.
Now before we address misogyny, let’s talk about why it’s fine for men to be treated so poorly by our society. We see males on TV all the time being hit by women, being insulted by women, being demeaned by children, and we are told that it’s supposed to be funny. But if we dare make women the butt of these same types of jokes, then we’re all just women-haters. #Double-Standard
Because women are never the butt of jokes? Like Daniel Tosh joking about how it’d be hilarious if a woman heckler got raped right there and then. I’ve been told that was supposed to be funny.
Neither gender should be mistreated. Again, it’s a complete double-standard; and we need to stop kowtowing to women who scream “misogynist” at stories like these, unless those same women are taking a stand against the sexist treatment toward men.
How are we kowtowing?
No. 1, I don’t believe misogyny is even relevant to this Elliot Rodger tragedy. So men who support the #yesallwomen rhetoric are only trivializing the real tragedy here. The man was mentally unstable and didn’t get the help he needed.
No. 2, if misogyny is still a problem in today’s society, then fine, let’s discuss. But before we do that, let’s also acknowledge that man-hating also exists… And is no less important than women-hating.
This is the dumbest article I’ve read at least since I last visited Slate. Oh noes! Women have it so tough in America, its soooo dangerous. Perhaps this woman should visit Afghanistan or Somalia or Albania or Honduras or Jamaica. You know, countries where you entitled women (yes, you’re also entitled), don’t have dishawashers to do cleaning and where you might face rape threats everywhere you go if you don’t have acid thrown into your face for trying to go to school or having your most intimate parts amputated.
Stop complaining. Its pathetic. You live in America, and are extremely privileged as women. No wonder certain men are getting wick of the whining.
And in countries like North Korea there’s no freedom of speech at all, so you shouldn’t be complaining here? Do I understand your logic right?
Yes, he was a misogynist.
In fact he considered women merely inanimate property.
Anyone who seriously thinks that a women dating him would have ‘cured’ him is completely mistaken. He would have used them as seeds slaves and never accepted anyone in a relationship.
Great article, good insights