Updated May 27, 2014 at 11:50 a.m.
In a disturbing, now-removed YouTube video, the suspect in the murder spree near Santa Barbara, Calif. promised his revenge against the women who he says forced him to live “an existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires.”
“You girls have never been attracted to me,” Elliot Rodger, who killed six people before taking his own life, said in the video. “I don’t know why you girls aren’t attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it. It’s an injustice, a crime, because… I don’t know what you don’t see in me. I’m the perfect guy and yet you throw yourselves at these obnoxious men instead of me, the supreme gentleman.”
Rodger’s comments inspired an online conversation Saturday around the #YesAllWomen hashtag to criticize the way society teaches men to feel entitled to women at the expense of their health, safety and, in Rodger’s case, lives. Here is a sampling of some of the tweets happening on Twitter now:
Because every single woman I know has a story about a man feeling entitled to access to her body. Every. Single. One. #YesAllWomen
— Emily (@emilyhughes) May 24, 2014
“I have a boyfriend” is the easiest way to get a man to leave you alone. Because he respects another man more than you. #yesallwomen — Rylah (@JBRylah) May 25, 2014
Because every woman I know has experienced some form of sexual harassment, abuse or assault, myself included. #YesAllWomen
— Leah Pickett (@leahkpickett) May 25, 2014
I’ve spent 19 yrs teaching my daughter how not to be raped. How long have you spent teaching your son not to rape? #yesallwomen
— Deanna Raybourn (@deannaraybourn) May 24, 2014
#YesAllWomen b/c not returning someone’s feelings, or as society calls it putting them in the “friend zone”, should not make me feel guilty
— Business Sam (@Sam_Slagle) May 25, 2014
In college, we’d regularly find girls who had been roofie’d and left passed out in the parking lot next to our dorm. REGULARLY. #YesAllWomen — jennifer laughran (@literaticat) May 25, 2014
Because I used to tip car drivers 40% for “not raping and killing me” when I was in high school. #YesAllWomen — Michelle Wiss (@michellerwiss) May 25, 2014
I shouldn't have to hold my car keys in hand like a weapon & check over my shoulder every few seconds when I walk at night #YesAllWomen
— Sophia Bush Hughes (@SophiaBush) May 25, 2014
Girls grow up knowing that it’s safer to give a fake phone number than to turn a guy down. #yesallwomen
— Kate Tuttle (@katekilla) May 24, 2014
When I had a seizure in my home, the EMS guys asked my roommates if it was possible I was trying to get a boy’s attention. #YesAllWomen
— Ashley Ford (@iSmashFizzle) May 25, 2014
#yesallwomen because when someone writes threats about us online, Twitter says it is ‘not abuse’, not a warning sign, not even unusual
— Leigh Alexander (@leighalexander) May 25, 2014
Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them – Magaret Atwood #yesallwomen
— Selin Kara (@Selintifada) May 25, 2014
BC when my husband asks me to slow down when we walk together I realize he hasn't spent his life avoiding street harassment #YesAllWomen
— Soraya Chemaly (@schemaly) May 24, 2014
BC when my husband asks me to slow down when we walk together I realize he hasn’t spent his life avoiding street harassment #YesAllWomen
— Soraya Chemaly (@schemaly) May 24, 2014
Lethal misogyny hurts anyone unlucky enough to be in the vicinity when the person becomes violent. Men, women, and children. #YesAllWomen
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) May 26, 2014
Why does the suggestion that half the human race be treated with respect by the other half arouse such fury in the latter half?#YesAllWomen
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) May 27, 2014
#YesAllWomen because when a girl is harassed or even groped by a stranger in public, we’re told to “take it as a compliment”
— AB (@bottrill) May 25, 2014
Because I shouldn’t have to wonder how posting my experiences to #YesAllWomen will affect my job. And it will.
— Amber Naslund (@AmberCadabra) May 25, 2014
In college, a police officer told us to scream FIRE if we were in danger of being assaulted otherwise people won’t get involved #YesAllWomen
— Carrie K. (@OneBookishMom) May 24, 2014
Because when I want to call out somebody for making a sexist joke or comment online, I worry I’ll burn professional bridges. #YesAllWomen
— Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) May 25, 2014
Because we’re prudes when we don’t sleep with you and whores when we do. #YesAllWomen
— Erin Campbell (@OriginalOestrus) May 25, 2014
The #yesallwomen hashtag is filled with hard, true, sad and angry things. I can empathise & try to understand & know I never entirely will. — Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) May 25, 2014
Just gotta say, on the almost-summer's day, I love you my brave web friends #YesAllWomen
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) May 27, 2014
Editor: Domestic homicides not newsworthy bc they happen all the time. Me: Aren't they newsworthy BC they happen all the time? #YesAllWomen
— Jennifer 8. Lee (@jenny8lee) May 26, 2014
Because there is more outrage over whether women can do things (be funny, be president) than the things that are done to women #YesAllWomen
— Aparna Nancherla (@aparnapkin) May 25, 2014
#YesAllWomen deserve to live free from threats of domestic violence & sexual assault. We must shine a bright light on such despicable crimes
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 27, 2014
This post was updated to include more tweets.
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