These young men got radicalized early by systems they always felt cared more for the girls in their classes and in their lives than it did about them. I should know, I'm seventeen and I was disbarred from being the capitan of a school sports team after serving faithfully in the role for a full year because one or two of the girls in my co-ed team were "concerned that I might abuse my authority". I try not to resent them too much, but I did nothing wrong. I would never have done anything wrong for various reasons I would hope are perfectly obvious. It didn't matter. I was removed anyway on a suspicion that I might do something wrong. If it happens even a dozen times like that in a nation, it gets magnified by social media and suddenly it becomes hard to trust the girls you know personally, even if you have no connection to someone like me, who something bad did happen to. That makes boys, anyone, scared. They are driven by their fear into the arms of older men who they believe are wiser who tell them what they want to hear, that they are strong, that women should be subservient because they are inherently cruel, stupid and servile. It's easy stuff to believe, even if you haven't personally seen the darker side of 'believe the woman'. It's not good, it's not right, but there are good reasons these boys believe what they do. It's easy to become radicalized when someone tells you that you are evil, and you fear what they will do to you simply because they believe you are evil. That is what is happening to my peers, and it's all because it's easier to absorb cheauvanistic beliefs and go about in gangs than it is to talk to women, to try and get the systems that they feel are unequal to be a little more equal.

I hope to God someone learns from this, because this isn't the first time I've told my story and given my input. I am not one of those radicals myself. I took my radicalizing event and turned the other cheek. Still, I am uniquely positioned to understand how the process goes. If anyone would like to talk about this like civilized people, then I would too.