Men who act with the most hostility towards women are those who feel the best about themselves, and the worst about themselves.
A recent study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology linked self-perceived attractiveness to hostile misogyny and sexism.
The researchers studied 473 single, straight men based in the UK aged between 18 and 35. The average age of the study group was 26 years old.
The purpose of the research was to identify the reasons behind why men act with hostility towards women, including verbal, physical and sexual violence.
The strongest factor the researchers found was the link with right-wing authoritarianism and misogyny/sexism. Men with these beliefs were much more likely to be hostile towards women than those who identified with other political ideologies.
This finding is unsurprising: according to research and analysis from leading primary prevention organisation Our Watch, one of the key drivers to gender-based violence is the reinforcement of gender stereotyping and dominant forms of masculinity.
One can see this played out on a smaller level – for example, the rates of intimate partner violence against women in Australia – but also on a larger scale, including far-right extremist organisations, Another one of the factors behind hostility towards women that the researchers found was less about political ideology, and more about self-esteem.
Within the study group, those who saw themselves as very attractive were also more likely to act with hostility towards women, compared to those with an average view on their attractiveness. Likewise, those who perceived themselves as very unattractive were also hostile towards women.
With high self-perceived attractiveness comes a level of self-entitlement, arrogance and a sense of superiority, which in a way can be closely linked to right-wing authoritarianism and the beliefs of traditional gender roles and social hierarchy.
So why are men with low self-perceived attractiveness also hostile towards women? It may yield the same results, but it comes from a different place: resentment, according to some researchers.
In an article earlier this year, Dr Simon Copland linked instances of “misogynistic mass violence” – including the stabbing attack in Bondi where Joel Cauchi took the lives of five women and one man – with the perpetrator’s self-description as an “incel”.
Other similar instances include Elliot Rodger’s murder of six women at Isla Vista, California in 2014, and Alek Minassian’s attack in Toronto in 2018, which killed 11 people.