Masculinism is on the rise. In the age of the internet, male influencers such as Andrew Tate preaching the belief that men should have more rights, power, and opportunities than women have a bigger platform than ever. So widespread has the phenomenon become that in July the British Police said that violence against women and girls had reached “epidemic levels” and now constituted a “national emergency,” pointing out to 3,000 offences being recorded each day across England and Wales. Elsewhere in Europe, mass killings by incels are being foiled by the police and domestic violence is growing.
With this in mind, the UK government’s new home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has called to treat extreme misogyny in the same way as the far-right and Jihadism. And if there’s one woman who’ll agree with her, it’s Stephanie Lamy, a lecturer in civil society and human security at Sciences Po Toulouse in France, and the author of “Masculinist terror” (“La terreur masculiniste”). Out in October in France, the book urges authorities to take the masculinist threat seriously and delves into its groups, their organisation, business models, networks and links with Big Tech. We spoke with her about how to tell masculinist movements apart and how we can defeat them.
Natalie Sauer: Could you start off by defining masculinism for our readers?
