Anti-Defamation League says misogny is a gateway to violent extremism

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) says in a new report that hatred of women can serve as “a bridge to white supremacy.”

In the report, titled “When Women are the Enemy: The Intersection of Misogyny and White Supremacy,” the anti-extremist organization laid out the links between prejudice against women and other types of violent hatred.

“ADL considers misogyny a dangerous and underestimated component of extremism, and this report marks the start of an ongoing effort to investigate the ways in which people in the white supremacist, incel and [men’s rights activism] orbits feed and inform one another’s poisonous hatred of women,” the ADL said in the report. 

“Every day as virulent white supremacists make their hatred known, we immediately and rightly call them extremists. We have not been nearly as unequivocal when it comes to men who express their violent anger and loathing towards women,” the group continued in the report. “In fact, these groups warrant a side by side examination.”

{mosads}The group went on to point out a “robust symbiosis between misogyny and white supremacy” in the report. The ADL said there is a “deep-seated loathing of women” that acts as an “connective tissue” among white supremacist groups, in addition to alt-right groups and “incels,” or “involuntary celibates.”

“Misogyny can provide bigots with a bridge to white supremacy,” the ADL wrote, adding that the two ideologies “are powerfully intertwined.” 

“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,” Jessica Reaves, the author of the report said in a press release.

“And some white supremacists, especially those on the alt right, use the same degrading, violent anti-woman rhetoric  we hear coming from misogynist groups,” Reaves added.