American University Professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a national expert in gender-based violence who visited campus in February, shared with an Elon audience that online grievance culture and rigid masculinity norms are shaping pathways into hate, isolation and, in some cases, mass violence.
A nationally renowned researcher urged an Elon University audience to treat misogyny not as a “side issue” but as a central driver of far-right extremism and political violence, arguing in a recent lecture that the same forces that police gender roles can also mobilize hate and violence.
Professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss delivered her remarks on Feb. 26, 2026, in the university’s annual Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Lecture, named in memory of a woman murdered in 2011 by an ex-boyfriend weeks before she was to enroll at Elon University with the Class of 2015.
Miller-Idriss’s remarks to more than 100 audience members inside the McBride Gathering Space of the Numen Lumen Pavilion drew from her latest book, “Man Up,” to describe what she called a persistent blind spot in how the United States defines and fights domestic threats.
For years, she said, national security institutions created a “false separation” between domestic and intimate partner violence, typically handled by local law enforcement and the Justice Department, and political violence treated as a homeland security problem.
That divide obscures a foundational pattern, she said: “Misogyny is a constant.”
Miller-Idriss, a professor in the School of Public Affairs and School of Education at American University where she directs the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab, defined misogyny as the “law enforcement arm of patriarchy” that pressures women, LGBTQ people and men who don’t conform to dominant ideals of masculinity to “get back in your place.”
That policing, she argued, can show up in everyday life and online culture and then be “channeled into something much more violent.”
Miller-Idriss cited research showing a strong overlap between mass violence and histories of domestic abuse. She told the audience that 60 percent of mass violent attackers in the United States have a documented criminal history of domestic or intimate partner violence, noting that such violence is often underreported and that many datasets do not capture stalking, harassment or online threats.
She also described how investigators, journalists and policymakers often categorize attacks only by the immediate target — a school, a workplace, a racial or religious community — and miss gender-based motivations that can help predict escalation. In some cases, she said, perpetrators circulate inside online subcultures that glorify punishment of women and idolize previous attackers, building shared language, memes and “success strategies” around domination.
Those dynamics, she said, are amplified by algorithm-driven platforms where teens can be served misogynistic content without seeking it out. Citing work by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, she said a “sock puppet” account designed to mimic a teenage boy began encountering such material within minutes after searching for gender-coded topics like sports or fitness.
During a question-and-answer session, one audience member asked about a recent video described as showing male athletes laughing as a teammate made a sexual joke. Miller-Idriss called it an example of how easily people “don’t stand up,” noting that bystanders often tell themselves they did nothing wrong because they weren’t the person who made the joke.
But silence still sends a message, she said, especially in environments shaped by peer pressure.
Asked what can change the online ecosystem, Miller-Idriss said she supports social media regulation but doubts sweeping changes are likely in the U.S. under the current legal framework, pointing to the protections platforms receive as content hosts. In the absence of regulation, she advocated for teaching young people and caregivers how online actors profit from outrage, misinformation and gender grievance narratives.
Despite frustration with U.S. inaction, Miller-Idriss expressed cautious optimism, citing the response to her work from educators, students and men’s wellness groups seeking healthier models of masculinity.
“Young people are hungry to have these conversations,” she said.
In attendance at the lecture was Malcolm Astley, Lauren’s father, who delivered brief remarks where he thanked the program’s organizers. Astley also shared details about his daughter’s death and her ex-boyfriend’s behavior leading up to it before thanking the audience for the courage and honesty in confronting the issue of intimate partner violence.
Such violence is not isolated, he said. As many as three girls and women are similarly killed each day in the United States. Nearly one in 10 teens experience physical abuse within intimate partner relationships.
“I hope we can gain important and effective insights this afternoon on this vital matter of building self respect in ourselves, in others, and in future generations, to provide care and dismantle false drives to gain self worth by creating power over others,” Astley said. “Thank you for taking on the challenges together and building a strong, caring community.”
About the Lecture Series
The Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Lecture is supported through a gift from the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund, started by Lauren’s parents, Malcolm Astley and Mary Dunne, to educate and inform the Elon University community about mutually effective relationships, emphasizing preventing boys’ and men’s violence against girls and women and other boys and men.
Astley was to have been a member of the Class of 2015. In July 2011, she was murdered by her former boyfriend, who was sentenced to life in prison for his crime. Directed by Elon’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies program in partnership with other university offices and programs, the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Lecture features speakers, workshops, or any educational program formats that speak to the mission of the gift.