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John Ray's shorter notes
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21 July, 2024
Hatred of feminism linked to violence, report finds
Rubbish! The headine above may perhaps be accurate but the "Report" that underlies that headline shows no such thing. the "Report" is here
https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/9c386698-5d92-4667-8bbb-4060ed59f42b
All it shows is that various negative attitudes tend to correlate with one-another. There is NO demonstrated link to violence or any other form of behaviour.
"Reports" are a common way of bypassing the critical scrutiny that publication in academic journals articles requires
A new report has warned that anti-feminist beliefs are a strong predictor of violent extremism, with 20 per cent of Australian men surveyed believing feminism is dangerous to society and should be fought with violence if necessary.
According to the survey of 1020 men and women, 30 per cent of all respondents agreed or slightly agreed with hostile sexist attitudes and 19.4 per cent of the men believed it is legitimate to resist feminism using force.
Some of the statements put to the respondents include that feminism has ruined modern relationships and feminists are trying to get more power than men.
The research found hostile sexist attitudes and attitudes permissive of violence against women are strongly associated with most forms of violent extremism, including extremism motivated by religion, ethnicity and incel ideologies.
The Misogyny, Racism and Violent Extremism report said addressing the role of racial and gendered biases as underlying drivers of violent extremism and terrorism is significant but an “overlooked” security concern.
Report author Dr Sara Meger, who teaches international security and gender in international relations at the University of Melbourne, said she sent her research to commonwealth agencies in the hope it will help the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation redefine what is recognised as violent extremism.
“The biggest shortcomings we had this year with the Bondi Junction attack is that the current acting definition of terrorism can’t grasp how someone is motivated for a hatred of woman or anti-feminist ideology,” Dr Meger told The Australian. “We were motivated to do this research because … we thought we needed some empirical data to corroborate the growing recognition that there is some sort of element of gender ideology driving violent extremism.”
Independent MP Allegra Spender has called for a greater focus on violence against women following the Bondi stabbings.
The report also found that if policy were to define violent anti-feminist beliefs as a form of extremism, it would be the most prevalent form in the country.
It said that young people and boys are more likely to support violent extremism in all forms and those in the 18-39 age bracket are more likely to agree with restricting a woman’s right to choose her sexual partners compared to older respondents.
Dr Meger said “online echo chambers” are the biggest influence on younger generations preferencing these views over older people.
“These young men for whatever reason who are struggling socially, financially, emotionally, they’re looking for answers in these online forums. They find an easy one and blame feminism. Some forums might say feminism is the reason your life isn’t as good,” Dr Meger said.
She said it would take a whole-of-society approach and more online content regulation to prevent young Australians from adopting harmful views.
“I think it’s going to be a very difficult issue as there’s such mistrust with authority figures that goes along with this radicalism and polarisation,” she said.
The report said terrorist attacks and incidents of mass violence in Australia were found to have gendered and racialised determinants, and pointed to the Lindt Cafe siege terrorist who had a domestic violence intervention order against him at the time of the attack, and the Bondi Junction killer who was described by his father as frustrated by his lack of dating success.
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