Australian landmark study identifies misogyny as primary predictor of violent extremism among youth

A recent Australian study has found that hostility toward women and attitudes permissive of gender-based violence are the single strongest predictors of violent extremist orientations across all ideological spectra.

Published by the University of Melbourne and authored by Dr Sara Meger, the report, Misogyny, Online Radicalisation, and Youth Extremism in Australia, surveyed more than 1,100 adolescents, along with thousands of adults and teachers. The data demonstrate that misogynistic attitudes account for up to 59 per cent of the variance in predicting extremist support, proving far more determinative than traditional indicators such as religious belief, political leaning, or overall screen time. Nearly a quarter of adolescent boys surveyed agreed that feminism should be resisted with violence, with exposure driven primarily by "manosphere" influencer ecosystems, pornography, and dating platforms rather than passive internet usage.

For counter-terrorism medicine, threat assessment teams, and acute mental health practitioners, the findings demand a fundamental shift in risk stratification. Fixated Threat Assessment Centres, clinical diversion programmes, and frontline youth healthcare providers must treat domestic abuse histories, coercive control, and pronounced misogyny not as peripheral behavioural issues, but as primary clinical red flags for mobilisation toward mass-casualty violence. Integrating gender hostility into standard risk assessment models and breaking the programmatic silos between public health violence-prevention and counter-extremism represents a critical operational priority.

Suggested citation:

Meger, S. (2026).

Misogyny, Online Radicalisation, and Youth Extremism in Australia.

Research Report.

The University of Melbourne, June 2026.