Recently, a collaborative investigation between Channel 4’s Dispatches, The Sunday Times and The Times revealed allegations against Russell Brand for sexually assault, harassment and abusing young girls and women outside and inside of the entertainment industry.
Not long after, the timeline on X (formerly Twitter) was filled with fundraisers for a young South African woman, Nikita Kabuli, who was blinded permanently after being attacked with a brick by a stranger, simply because she refused to give him her number. This mirrors a similar story of a young African American woman, Rho Bashe, who was also slapped across her face with a brick – prompting widespread debate on whether women have the right to defend themselves. And, of course, Londoners are still reeling from the death of Elianne Andam, who was killed defending her friend from unwanted male advances.
Despite happening in different countries, all of these events are linked. None of these events are happening in isolation and some attribute this to the rise of ‘red pill incel’ content led by men such as Andrew Tate, who argue for men to “reclaim” their masculinity. This content does not stop with consumption by impressionable young boys and insecure men, but it has also popularised and normalised a culture of violence against young girls and women – the outcome resulting in the extremes of a needless death.Femicide is a global health crisis.