Dehumanization and Demonization of Women: Misogynist Incel Speech and Violence in the United States and Canada

Elliot Rodger gained notoriety through embarking on an act of terror targeting a sorority at the University of California, Santa Barbara, killing six people in May 2014. The act of mass violence brought attention to his manifesto and a video in which he describes the intention to seek retribution against all women because he felt entitled to and unjustly deprived of sexual intercourse. Rodger selected a target that symbolized to him the most sexually desirable and unattainable women. As secondary targets, he was enraged by and jealous of sexually successful men, and viewed non-white men as inferior. His manifesto and video have been cited by multiple mass killers since 2014 and influenced the development of the misogynist incel movement.