Women Are Just As Violently Angry As Men; And That Saddens Me
When we talk about political violence, we almost always assume that its perpetrators are young men. And that makes sense; men are statistically more likely to engage in physical aggression and get arrested for violent crimes at much higher rates. At the same time, many are dealing with rising unemployment, declining educational achievement, and growing social disengagement. Given all that, researchers may reasonably assume that young men are the ones driving greater tolerance for political violence. Well, new data seems to complicate that assumption. A recent survey by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutgers University found that under certain conditions, women were more likely than men to express support for political violence. The findings were so counter to the prevailing narrative that they surprised even the researchers. At first, it certainly surprised me! It started making sense, though, when I kept reading and star...