NEON ELEPHANT

Elliot Rodger, 22, went on a shooting rampage in Santa Barbara, killing six

He posted a video to social media Thursday in which he rants about how women have rejected his advances

Lamenting that he was a 22-year-old virgin, Rodger promises ‘retribution’ and ‘punishment’

He says he plans to enter the ‘hottest sorority on SCSB’ and ‘slaughter’ the girls inside

Death threats

Homophobic slurs

Antisemetic slurs

Shoving

Punching

Groping

Rape threats

Rape

Rumors about my sexuality

Rumors about whether or not I have an STD

My phone number put on a sex work advertising board

A Bebo group about me being fat

A full McDonalds soda cup hurled at me

Rocks thrown at me

Insults about my appearance

Being followed home and getting to listen to an hour of a dude banging on my door

Threats against my cats

and much, much more.

This shit is never a fucking isolated incident, it is directly linked to the toxic masculinity that tells men that they are supreme and women and those they perceive as such are their property, while demeaning them for being sexually available at the same time.

Before anyone jumps in with a not all men let me just tell you, when I tell my male friends about this stuff, I hear “well maybe he was having a bad day” or “maybe you should just give him a chance” or “(x) is a nice guy, maybe you’re taking it the wrong way” or even outright accuse me of lying. When I told a mae friend about my ex husband raping me he put his hand down the front of my jeans and told me I was too sexy for him to control himself. When my male friends actually see this happen I get the same “you’re overreacting” shit. I will hear the doorman at my old bar mention how much he loves his daughters in one breath and call the women walking past in short skirts sluts in the next.