Author Cynthia Miller-Idriss and Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar will unpack the gendered roots of mass violence in a live Feb. 18 conversation.
Ms. is proud to host a timely and urgent conversation Feb. 18 with sociologist and author Cynthia Miller-Idriss and Kathy Spillar, executive editor of Ms., examining the hidden drivers of mass violence in America—and why misogyny is at the center of the crisis.
In recent years, the United States has seen a disturbing rise in political assassinations and assassination attempts, alongside violent extremist attacks that have been ticking upward for decades. Mass-casualty plots in the U.S. have increased by more than 2,000 percent since the 1990s, leading to the deaths or grievous injuries of thousands of people in shootings at schools, grocery stores, theaters, parades, concerts, houses of worship and more.
In the search for explanations, public and policy debates are often swept up in heated arguments about far-left or far-right ideologies. But the data points somewhere else: Across ideologies, the clearest and most consistent predictor of mass shootings is not political extremism alone—it is rising gendered grievances, patriarchal backlash, and perpetrators’ histories of gender-based violence and misogyny.
That is the focus of Miller-Idriss’ groundbreaking new book, Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism. The book makes visible what has been invisible for far too long: the bright red thread of misogyny that links nearly all mass violence in the United States. It also issues a call for solutions that address these root causes—solutions that can actually make all of us safer. (Read an excerpt from Man Up here.)
This conversation will explore how misogyny fuels radicalization, how gender-based grievances are weaponized by extremist movements, and why confronting patriarchy is essential to preventing future violence.
Event Details
Feb. 18, 2026
6:30 p.m. PST
Attend in-person at Ms. HQ in Beverly Hills, Calif., or stream live.
About the Author
Cynthia Miller-Idriss is a sociologist and professor in the School of Public Affairs and the School of Education at American University, where she is the founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL). She is an MS NOW columnist and the acclaimed author of Man Up: The New Misogyny & the Rise of Violent Extremism.
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