HMN 2025: How Misogyny was the widespread thread

Two years have handed since a 24-year-old former student walked right into a gender research classroom on the University of Waterloo and stabbed the professor and two college students.

The assault left the campus shaken and sparked nationwide outrage. Many noticed the assault as a surprising however remoted act of violence. But an in depth evaluation of his 223-word manifesto reveals rather more.

What emerges is a chilling image of how deep-seated misogyny, disguised as grievance and ethical outrage, can escalate ideological violence. Though quick, the manifesto is saturated with anti-feminist, conspiratorial rhetoric.

As a researcher taking a look at digital extremism and gender-based violence, I’ve analyzed greater than 100 manifestos written by individuals who carried out mass shootings, stabbings, vehicular assaults and different acts of ideologically, politically and religiously motivated violent extremism in Canada, the United States and past.

These attackers might not belong to formal terrorist organizations, however their writings reveal constant ideological patterns. Among them, one stands out: misogyny.

Misogyny is the ‘gateway drug’

The Waterloo case shouldn’t be distinctive. In truth, it mirrors a rising variety of violent incidents where gender-based hate performs a central function. Reports by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Public Safety Canada present misogynist extremism is rising in Canada. It’s typically entangled with white nationalism, anti-LGBTQ+ hate and anti-government sentiment.

According to political sociologist Yasmin Wong, misogyny now acts as a “gateway drug” to broader extremist ideologies. This is especially true in digital areas where hate and grievance are cultivated algorithmically.

In my evaluation of manifestos collected from 1966 to 2025, gender identity-driven violence appeared in practically 40% of them. These violent beliefs had been both the first or a big secondary motivation for the assault. This consists of direct expressions of hatred towards ladies, trans and queer folks and references to feminist or LGBTQ+ actions.

‘Salad bar’ extremism

The Waterloo attacker didn’t explicitly establish as an “incel” (involuntary celibate), however the language in his manifesto carefully echoes these present in incel and broader manosphere discourse. Feminism is portrayed as harmful, gender research as ideological indoctrination and universities as battlegrounds in a supposed tradition battle.

The Waterloo attacker destroyed a Pride flag throughout the assault, referred to the professor he focused as a “Marxist,” and advised police he hoped his actions would function a “wake-up name.”

At one mark, he praised leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Canadian far-right politician Maxime Bernier as “based Chads.” “Based Chads” is a slang time period utilized in on-line extremist communities to glorify or check with dominant and assertive males.

Alongside anti-feminist messaging, the attacker’s writing echoes widespread far-right narratives: concern of “cultural Marxism,” disdain for liberal elites, and the idea that violence is important to awaken the general public. He referenced prior mass assaults, together with the 2011 Norway massacre and the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting. These two incidents are often celebrated in far-right spaces.

These references place him inside a transnational digital subculture where misogyny, white supremacy and ideological violence are valorized.

It displays what researchers described as “salad bar extremism”: a mix-and-match worldview where misogyny is mixed with white nationalism, anti-government sentiment and conspiratorial considering to justify violence.

Manifestos rationalize violence

The authors of manifestos are frequently dismissed as “nutters”—demented or socially unstable people.

But the manifestos are invaluable paperwork for understanding how ideology works. They present how folks rationalize violence, where their concepts come from and the way they see themselves as political entities. They additionally reveal the function of digital communities in shaping these beliefs.

Researchers can use them to map ideological ecosystems and establish patterns. These analyses can inform prevention methods.

The Waterloo manifesto isn’t any exception. It attracts from a well-known ideological playbook—one which dehumanizes feminists, teachers and LGBTQ+ folks whereas portraying violence as each righteous and vital.

These are usually not remoted concepts; they are symptoms of a wider digital ecosystem of online hate and ideological grooming.

Deliberate, ideologically motivated assaults

While a psychological evaluation of the attacker raised questions on a psychotic break, there was no scientific prognosis of psychosis. His actions—planning the assault, writing and posting a manifesto, deciding on a particular goal—had been deliberate and ideologically motivated.

Yet the terrorism cost introduced towards him by federal prosecutors was in the end dropped. The choose dominated his beliefs had been “too scattered and disparate” to represent a coherent ideology.

But his manifesto shared language and ideological frameworks recognizable throughout incel, anti-feminist and far-right communities. The concept that this does not represent “ideology” displays how outdated our authorized and coverage frameworks have turn out to be.

Confronting ongoing hazard

Two years on, we keep in mind the victims of the Waterloo assault. We should additionally confront the bigger hazard the assault represents.

Misogyny is not only a cultural or emotional drawback. Instead, it more and more features as an ideological gateway, connecting private grievance with broader requires violent extremism.

In this period of rising lone-actor violence, it is without doubt one of the most constant and harmful drivers of extremism.

If we proceed to deal with gender-based hate as peripheral or private, we are going to maintain misunderstanding the character of violent radicalization in Canada. We should title this risk and take it critically, as a result of that is the one option to put together for what’s coming subsequent.

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