Blog

Was the Toronto van attack caused by porn?

Police in Toronto are still trying to piece together evidence in their attempts to find the reason as to why a driver plowed a rented van along a crowded sidewalk leaving ten people dead and a further 15 severely injured. The suspect, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, was seen in a tense confrontation with law enforcement authorities just a few blocks from where his van jumped the sidewalk and continued for a mile, leaving a trail of death and injuries in his wake. While police have been unable to come up with a motive, it appears porn may have motivated the attack. No shit.

Facebook post

His motivation for the attack is yet to be confirmed, but those who knew Minassian personally spoke of someone who had ‘some mental issues.’ Perhaps anyone looking for a clue would find it in a Facebook post the suspect uploaded before the attack. The post read in part: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!” Facebook Canada has confirmed the authenticity of the post.

I know you are still wondering how all that that is connected to porn but relax. I’m coming there. I will start with the “incel” movement (meaning “involuntary celibates”) which is an online group of guys who for some strange reasons seem to think the society is complicit to a grand scheme to deny them women‘s affection. The ‘Chads’ means men who receive affection from women while ‘Stacys’ refers to women who reject the ‘incels’ but happily grant their affection to other men. Now that got The Porn Dude a bit confused because, once an “incel” wins the affection of a woman, doesn’t that make him a “Chad?” Anyway…

Entitled to female bodies

It only gets stranger from there. The group is a kind of cult that celebrates mass murderer Elliot Rodger for apparently bringing attention to their cause through the murders. In fact, more ‘incel’ forums were abuzz with praise for Minassian.

The group feels that they are ‘entitled’ to female bodies and that any lack of physical affection they receive is an injustice that demands the attention of the society, if not retribution.   But why do they refer to Rodger as the “Supreme Gentleman?” The reference is derived from his “Day of Retribution” video in which Rodger expresses his disgust at how other men were having successful relationships with their female partners while he, a “supreme gentleman,” continued to languish in a single life.

It now appears that porn had a significant role to play in turning Elliot Rodger from a young guy who grew up in a wealthy family to a misogynist serial killer. He was first exposed to porn at age 11 after his friend sent him erotic photos. He vividly recalls the moment in his manifesto and swears never to forget it as it changed his life forever.

When I looked at the pictures, I was shocked beyond words,” he wrote. “I had never seen what beautiful girls looked like naked, and the sight filled me with strong and overwhelming emotions. I was traumatized. My childhood was fading away. Ominous fear swept over me…Indeed, a whole new world had opened up before me, and I had no idea how to prevail in it. I still wanted to live as a child.”

Defined by porn

As it turns out, Rodgers’ adolescent was defined by porn and his desire for sex.  His trauma only worsened when he saw real porn at age 13. He says “The sight was shocking, traumatizing, and arousing.” He continued to say that he felt so guilty and was unable to talk about it with his parents before adding that “Not getting any sex is what will shape the very foundation of my miserable youth.

Because you are a quick learner by now, you have seen the connection with porn. If the Toronto van attack was motivated by the ‘incel’ rebellion as Alek Minassian said in his Facebook post and considering the “supreme gentleman’s” strange relationship with porn, you see where whole porn angle comes in.

Expectations

Not all men are like this, of course, but porn creates a sense of expectation to some that women bodies are primarily made to be entertainment tools for men. Criminology professor Nicole Westmarland of Durham University seems to agree with this assessment, saying: “If you didn’t have the culture of expectation in the first place, you wouldn’t have the culture of rejection. It’s all bound to the idea that women are sexual objects for men to do with what they want...”

Porn seemed to twist Rodgers’ life beyond repair, and he became a compulsive masturbator where he would search the internet ‘for photos of beautiful women to use.’  His disgust must have come from being unable to find in real life what he could easily access online. He made a final decision: “If we can’t solve our problems, we must DESTROY our problems. One day incels will realize their true strength and numbers and will overthrow this oppressive feminist system. Start envisioning a world where WOMEN FEAR YOU.”

Final Word

With the majority of porn depicting some form of violence against women (the popularity of porn for women notwithstanding), it would be hard not to see how Rodgers used that to conjure a world that would only exist in his imaginations. By doing so, he paved the way for the likes of Alek Minassian to perform such senseless acts of killing in the name of bringing attention to their cause. ThePornDude thinks such individuals should grow a pair.

You Might Also Like