Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

"30 million women rejected me" - a narrative analysis of perpetrators of gendered mass murders

Wedding, Tova LU (2022) SOCM04 20221
Sociology
Department of Sociology
Abstract
This thesis examines how perpetrators of misogynistic mass murder utilise narrative and storytelling
to make meaning of their violent acts towards women. This thesis is hereby an attempt to
understand gendered mass violence, and its narrative resources that precede and promote such
actions, as part of a wider, misogynist culture centered on a denial of the existence of patriarchal
societies and oppression of women. Utilising narrative criminology and gender studies as theoretical
frameworks, this thesis carries out a textual-and thematic analysis of personal accounts of three mass
killers in order to understand - how they utilise narratives to justify their violent acts towards
women as a group. The main findings show these... (More)
This thesis examines how perpetrators of misogynistic mass murder utilise narrative and storytelling
to make meaning of their violent acts towards women. This thesis is hereby an attempt to
understand gendered mass violence, and its narrative resources that precede and promote such
actions, as part of a wider, misogynist culture centered on a denial of the existence of patriarchal
societies and oppression of women. Utilising narrative criminology and gender studies as theoretical
frameworks, this thesis carries out a textual-and thematic analysis of personal accounts of three mass
killers in order to understand - how they utilise narratives to justify their violent acts towards
women as a group. The main findings show these perpetrators conveyed an ‘underdog’ narrative of
contemporary “male oppression” and “women holding too much power”. These men constructed
their masculine identity as threatened, as their expressions of sexual and romantic interest were
constantly dismissed by women in unjustified means. These men also used discourses of misogyny,
resembling the very contents and ideologies discussed within the manosphere, and attempted to
justify their acts through their victimhood-narration of themselves as a product of their treatment
and rejections by women. By engaging in such violence, these men also seemed to believe it would
protect and restore their manhood. Their acts of mass harms operated as both a gendered narrative
accomplishment and as an act of insurgency. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wedding, Tova LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOCM04 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
mass murder, misogyny, narrative criminology, hegemonic masculinity, homosociality, male entitlement
language
English
id
9085002
date added to LUP
2022-06-28 10:03:35
date last changed
2022-06-28 10:03:35
@misc{9085002,
  abstract     = {{This thesis examines how perpetrators of misogynistic mass murder utilise narrative and storytelling
to make meaning of their violent acts towards women. This thesis is hereby an attempt to
understand gendered mass violence, and its narrative resources that precede and promote such
actions, as part of a wider, misogynist culture centered on a denial of the existence of patriarchal
societies and oppression of women. Utilising narrative criminology and gender studies as theoretical
frameworks, this thesis carries out a textual-and thematic analysis of personal accounts of three mass
killers in order to understand - how they utilise narratives to justify their violent acts towards
women as a group. The main findings show these perpetrators conveyed an ‘underdog’ narrative of
contemporary “male oppression” and “women holding too much power”. These men constructed
their masculine identity as threatened, as their expressions of sexual and romantic interest were
constantly dismissed by women in unjustified means. These men also used discourses of misogyny,
resembling the very contents and ideologies discussed within the manosphere, and attempted to
justify their acts through their victimhood-narration of themselves as a product of their treatment
and rejections by women. By engaging in such violence, these men also seemed to believe it would
protect and restore their manhood. Their acts of mass harms operated as both a gendered narrative
accomplishment and as an act of insurgency.}},
  author       = {{Wedding, Tova}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{"30 million women rejected me" - a narrative analysis of perpetrators of gendered mass murders}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}