Cunt. Whore. Bitch. These are just some of the words my fellow Moms Demand Action volunteers and I have been called over the past nine years. We’ve become experts on the nexus between misogyny and gun culture because we’ve lived it—in person and online—since the day we decided to stand up to the gun lobby.
To be clear, pro-gun activists don’t disagree with us because they actually believe we want to take their guns away. They hate us because we’re women.
Rarely do the men who proclaim themselves defenders of constitutional liberty direct message me about policy. They’re much more likely to threaten me with rape or hanging. Gun extremists have told me to “go bake a cake, bitch” or to “do what all the other stay-at-home moms do” and watch TV “with a bottle of Chardonnay.” I’ve been told I’m trying to take people’s rights away just because I “got knocked up once.”
In my experience, the degree of overlap between gun extremists and men who hate women is alarming—and our latest, comprehensive research shows how deep the connections go. Our report shows that for radicalized men who see violence as a means of taking back power, firearms are the tools of choice—and misogyny is a major component of far-right extremist ideologies.
— Shannon Watts in Research Shows Gun Violence And Misogyny Are Closely Linked. It’s Time To Make Sure Abusers Can’t Buy Guns