Girls as Grievances: The Role of Misogyny and Incel Culture in Brazilian School Shooting Motivations

• In Event: Masculinity and Mass Shootings

Abstract

Recent research has brought to light the strong relationship between violence against women and mass violence, as known links between intimate partner violence and perpetrators of mass shootings are becoming increasingly common. Less likely to be examined, however, is how this relationship holds in youth-perpetrated mass violence, particularly school shootings. A recent increase of school shootings in Brazil offers a unique opportunity to examine this relationship in adolescent and young adult perpetrators. Using an open-source data collection protocol, all school shooting incidents since 2010 with at least one injury were identified through local Brazilian news sources. Additional data collection included perpetrators’ social media recordings and other internet archives. The current study applies a thematic analysis to archival records, with additional data from investigatory sources, to examine the role that misogyny and disdain for women play in perpetrators’ self-professed attack motivations. By applying the framework of the Path to Intended Violence to orient motivations, we are able to identify when girls or women become a self-selected grievance. We discuss implications for prevention and intervention for schools as well within the larger Brazilian society. We also include potential cross-cultural applications for research moving forward.

Authors

• Leandro Ayres França, University of Reading

• Nadine Connell, Griffith University

• Mateus Augusto Silveira Ribeiro, Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul