Thread by @JShahryar

If you dig through #StephenPaddock's background, you are 100% likely to find instances of domestic abuse committed by him.

There is a reason mass shootings are exclusively committed by men. This is almost entirely about power and control. About asserting toxic masculinity over those around you. And it almost always starts not with the shooting or attempts at shootings, but against a domestic partner.

And if it's not domestic abuse, it's a propensity towards it. It's anger and hatred towards women. The mass shooter has either been controlling towards women and dehumanized them OR the mass shooter is frustrated at lack of control over women and WANTS to dehumanize them.

James Hodgkinson who shot Steve Scalise? Domestic abuser.
Omar Mateen who attacked Pulse? Domestic abuser.
Robert Lewis Dear who targeted Planned Parenthood? Domestic abuser.

They started with women. They asserted their masculinity over women first. Started a power trip.

Then there are those who CRAVED power. They WANTED to be in control of women. Not simply relationships. No. Not just any woman. They felt ENTITLED to the hottest women. Felt frustrated by their rejection. Believed their masculinity had been trampled. Had to PROVE it to the world.

This's Elliot Rodger and George Sodini. Elliot felt entitled to the affections of hot women. And he was frustrated that he - a rich mixed White man - couldn't get the women that other men of color were getting. He felt emasculated by women. He also resented his small penis size.

George Sodini hadn't had sex with a woman in over a decade. He talked about it openly. AND he talked about his NEED for a relationship. Yet, he wasn't just looking for any woman. Again, entitlement comes in. Toxic masculinity comes in. No, he wanted the hottest women ONLY.

Both Elliot Rodger and George Sodini were open about why they committed mass shootings. They hated women. And they wanted to punish women. So they went out and attacked and killed... women. But they're not the only ones you can trace back to toxic masculinity and misogyny.

Seung-Hui Cho who committed the mass shooting in Virginia Tech? We know of at least three separate instances of stalking committed against women and when you look at what he wrote about them, you see a clear pattern of degradation and dehumanization of women.

James Holmes who committed the shooting in Aurora, Colorado? Had a relationship with a woman who didn't want it to get serious and later broke up with him. He professed after he committed the mass shooting that that break up contributed to his depression which led to his attack.

There is absolutely no arguing against this masculinity drive for some of the people mentioned above. Others, there is evidence that it was at least a crucial contributing factor. But now we're starting to see it even more plainly. bbc.com/news/world-us-…

Of course there are mass shooters who don't seem to be motivated by asserting masculinity over women, Dylann Roof for instance. But again, masculinity is involved and the power it attributes to men is involved, too. Roof saw Black people inferior to himself. But had to PROVE it.

This is key. The *proof* of your masculinity is what's at stake for these men.
- "Are you a man?"
- "Are you enough of a man?"
- "Are you man enough to pull off something daring and dangerous?"
- "Are you man enough to assert yourself over those beneath you?"
- "PROVE IT!"

The mass shooting is often a last ditch attempt to prove that. To show other men and women - the arbitrars of masculine identity - that the shooter is indeed man enough. That he is indeed masculine enough. That he has REGAINED his power. That he belongs within their ranks.

But whenever there is "a last ditch attempt" there are by definition other attempts at proving yourself as masculine-enough. Of asserting your manhood. And those attempts will lead you squarely to crimes against women, including stalking, domestic abuse etc.

Of course there's the question of the Jared Lee Loughners and Adam Lanzas of the world. They don't seem to fit this pattern. Well, A) They are firmly in the minority of mass shooters, B) They hadn't been open about that part of their life like the others, C) We have missed it.

And the reason we may have "missed" it is because we don't really take crimes against women seriously in this country. Rape? Domestic violence? Stalking? That's all just boys being boys to us. What greater evidence of this negligence do we need than the White House right now?

And, yet, we keep wondering... What did we miss before a mass shooting? Is there some way we could have prevented the mass shooting? Maybe something in the shooter's past? A hint in their criminal record that they might do more serious harm? SOMEBODY POINT SOMETHING OUT PLEASE!

Crimes. Against. Women.
Stalking. Domestic Abuse. Rape.
Misogyny. Dehumanization of women. Expressions of entitlement to women's bodies

Predictors. They are all predictors of a future as a mass shooter. Take them seriously now. Now. NOW!

Told you. bit.ly/2wvj0vh

So the Texas church shooter, too, had committed domestic violence against his wife and child...

taskandpurpose.com/texas-church-s…

More evidence.

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