{"id":328,"date":"2014-05-26T16:40:14","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T16:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=328"},"modified":"2015-10-13T19:06:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T19:06:25","slug":"mass-shootings-and-the-manifesto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2014\/05\/26\/mass-shootings-and-the-manifesto\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass Shootings and the “Man”ifesto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Friday\u2014in another chapter of a tragic pattern\u201422-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded more\u00a0in Isla Vista, California. Rodger also left a manifesto\u00a0on YouTube<\/a>\u00a0in which he laid out his plan to take revenge on women who \u201cshunned him.\u201d The video sparked national conversation over the weekend, including the twitter hashtag #YesAllWomen to share stories of daily gendered and sexual harassment women face. Mass shootings are rare, but the culture that creates them is not. Researchers find strong elements of masculine gender performance in many of these acts\u2014with young men attempting to assert power through violence.<\/p>\n

The kind of attack carried out by Rodger closely matches researchers\u2019 profile of other shooters\u2014a clear, sustained pattern of challenges to their masculine identities. They do not just \u201csnap,\u201d but are shaped over time by the way our society polices gender.<\/h5>\n