Misogynist terrorism

Misogynist terrorism refers to the most extreme manifestation of misogyny and violence against women. This type of terrorism specifically targets women and girls by subjecting them to mass murder and bodily harm. Those who commit such acts may have either complex motives or a simple motive, but the majority of cases include a general desire to establish or assert perceived male supremacy by policing women's compliance to patriarchy and violently punishing them into submission to certain gender norms.

Since the 2018 Toronto van attack, misogynist or male supremacist ideologies have been listed and tracked by counter-terrorist organizations as an emerging terrorist threat globally. Misogynist terrorism is commonly called misogynistic extremism or male supremacist terrorism as well.

Often, misogynist terrorists target representatives or stand-ins for a type of person that they feel hostility towards. For instance, some attacks have been motivated by a perception of entitlement (which is not fulfilled) to sexual intercourse with women of a type that the terrorist finds attractive. A number of misogynist terrorists who have been motivated largely or solely by lack of sexual success with women in their personal lives have identified with the "incel" (lit. 'involuntary celibate') community, which also antagonizes men who do not have problems in engaging in romantic or sexual relationships with women.

According to the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) at the Hague, counter-terrorism experts were slow to recognize misogyny as an animating ideology for acts of mass violence in comparison to recognition of other ideologies. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have tracked misogyny or male supremacy as a motivation for terrorism since 2018, describing it as a "rising threat."

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation considers misogynist violence among the fastest-growing terrorism threats of 2021. A guidebook for law enforcement by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe notes that strict and systematic control of gender roles is used as a recruitment tool both by ISIL/Daesh and by Western misogynist extremists among the incel and men's rights movements. Both groups portray men as hyper-masculine warriors and women variously as passive caretakers, sources of sexual gratification, and "the enemy" who must be punished.

The 1989 École Polytechnique massacre is recognized as the first documented mass killing explicitly motivated by antifeminist resentment. The shooter, who killed 14 women and injured 10, stated that his motivations were "political" and that he intended to "fight feminism."

Misogynist ideology is often not mentioned in reports of terrorist attacks, even when attackers explicitly state it.

Misogyny is common among mass killers, even among those who kill for other reasons. The following are specifically misogynist motivations that have been given as primary reasons for indiscriminate mass killings.