How Misogyny Fuels Violent Extremism | Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss joins Susan Demas

Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss calls misogyny “the law enforcement arm of the patriarchy,” and that phrase lands like a lens snapping into focus. Suddenly it’s clear the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot isn’t just about political grievance but about enforcing gender order with threats and weapons. When men with rifles chant “grab the bitch,” they aren’t inventing a new language of revolt — they’re channeling the oldest kind of discipline. What should terrify us most is not just the plot itself, but how the violent rhetoric surrounding it was brushed off as exaggeration.

That helped inspire Miller-Idriss to write her new book, which just came out on Sept. 16: Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism.

Susan’s memory of covering right-wing protests at Michigan’s Capitol during the pandemic in 2020 prior to the arrests makes that invisibility harder to stomach. “There was a Barbie doll that looked like her … where they put a noose on it,” she recalls of Governor Whitmer’s effigy. For anyone paying attention, that was a death threat dressed up as political theater, and yet the national coverage mostly skipped past it. When effigies at rallies are decorated with slurs and nooses, it’s not a sideshow — it’s the main act.

The digital ecosystem only deepens that normalization. Dr. Miller-Idriss explains how young men, often isolated and economically insecure, search online for guidance and are rewarded with influencers peddling grievance: “Women’s rights have gone too far.” Algorithms amplify the most outrageous content, profiteers cash in on resentment, and an entire generation is sold the fantasy that masculinity requires domination. Susan connects that pitch to the widening gap between Gen Z men and women, where one group is opting out of marriage and motherhood while the other is told they’ve been robbed of important opportunities.

Even Dr. Miller-Idriss’ self-deprecating anecdote in her epilogue about entering her “Oh, sorry, ma’am” era carries an edge of urgency. She notes that her catcaller’s apology wasn’t for the act, but for misjudging her age — as if harassment is only inappropriate once a woman is no longer seen as young. That absurd moment becomes a call to action: women who can step out of the crosshairs must fight for those still in them. Tune in for this vital exchange on why confronting misogyny is inseparable from confronting extremism itself.

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