Male-dominated online spaces threaten the safety of women

By Summer Brannan Taylor columnist

Editors Note: This story contains mentions of rape and pedophilia.

Arecent report regarding the incel movement has revealed that rhetoric within online forums hosting such a mentality pose a rising threat towards women.

“Incel,” originally meaning involuntarily celibate, was a term first coined in the nineties to encourage others to share their own experiences. In the years since, the term has been adopted largely by heterosexual men who often harbor animosity towards women as a whole, based on the belief that they are being denied sex they feel entitled to. These men commonly connect online through various forums like incels.wiki, Reddit and even Twitter.

While the majority of incels do not commit heinous crimes, it would be remiss to not highlight how this dangerous ideology online bleeds into real-life treatment of women.

These cases included attacks, like one committed by self-described incel Elliot Rodger, who went on a stabbing and shooting spree in 2014 that left six dead. The first act of violence motivated by the incel ideology that was officially labeled an act of terrorism occurred in 2020 after a Toronto spa was attacked, leaving one dead and two injured. Both perpetrators cite their involuntary celibacy as a motive for committing such attacks.

Though these instances are statistically rarer, even incels who do not commit atrocities propagate dangerous content on incel forums. An analysis of the forum conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate showed that members post regarding rape every 29 minutes, with the vast majority agreeing that rape is permissable and even beneficial for the perpetrators. Of all members, over 50% support pedophilia.

The most popular forum, incels.wiki, specifi- cally targets men they label as “normies” in order to spread these views to those who wouldn’t typically hold them. Many men who fall into this trap are exactly how they sound: normies. These are normal men who are typically introverted and lacking in sexual experience, which exacerbates feelings of deep loneliness. However, once falling down the incel rabbit hole, these men become increasingly radical, fueled by others on the site.

The result is a group of enormously miserable and misogynistic men who blame everything for their celibacy, from their bone structure to women’s dating habits. Their sexual insecurity manifests into a violently misogynistic outlook inflamed by their own self-hatred.

Commiserating with others who face similar experiences may be appealing, but this self-pity presents a slippery slope of defaulting into anti-women sentiments. If unchecked, the participation in vile discussions could translate into how a member treats women outside of the internet. On a larger scale, this could mean motivated attacks, but does not necessarily just apply to the more radical reactions.

If a man internalizes the dehumanization of women that are rampant on such forums, this would logically affect his treatment of women in his life. Though most will not extend this treatment to homicide, it is not illogical to assume incels will participate in the degradation of women on a smaller scale outside of a forum. level to play the zone well enough.

However, some measure of sympathy is in order for men who fall into the rabbit hole of incel ideology out of sheer loneliness. Many who adopt the title incel start as impressionable teenagers who feel as though they’ve missed a developmental benchmark. This isolation leads them to forums that have publicly stated their mission to be the conversion of such vulnerable people. Already at-risk men and boys being faced with such an apparent threat would understandably be susceptible to adoption of this toxicity.

This does not act as an excuse for the terrible rhetoric they spout, but it does offer an understanding that the incel community is clearly predatory. Intimate relationships are such an essential hallmark of the human experience; someone lacking in them for any reason would likely be depressed and are therefore easily influenced. Any outcast would seek a community that they feel so excluded from, and the incel community is looking for exactly that breed of desperation.

It is easy to fall into feelings of hopelessness when considering that the incel problem as digital misogyny has presented itself as more and more of a threat. The spread of misogyny has only increased since the internet provided a vehicle to communicate such messages. However, falling into despair does not remedy the issue.

Within communities and schools, greater credence can be lent towards these men who show warning signs. Compassion needs to be extended. Instead of shunning a man who finds himself falling down the wrong path, mentorship and intervention can be the answer to the real-life threats digital misogyny poses for women.

Summer Brannan Taylor is a frehsman in the College of Arts & Sciences. She can be reached at sutaylor@syr.edu.

Boeheim hinted at his retirement after Wednesday’s second round loss to the Demon Deacons in a convoluted postgame press conference. He said that he made his retirement speech after the Orange’s final regular season game on Saturday. Boeheim said, though, that the decision to bring him back for another season is ultimately the university’s call. After bringing in a signing class of six freshmen and knowing Girard, Edwards and Benny Williams were coming back, Boeheim said he decided to stay for another year.

“The university hired me, and it’s their choice on what to do. I always have the choice to retire, but it’s their decision. I’ve been very lucky to coach my college team … and never having to leave Syracuse,” Boeheim said.

But Boeheim stands as one of the winningest coaches in NCAA basketball history, compiling 1,014 recognized wins and taking Syracuse from a solid team under then-head coach Roy Danforth to a national powerhouse. Boeheim finished 26-4 in his first year as head coach and took SU to the Sweet 16 after eight seasons as an assistant coach under Danforth. It was the first of 35 eventual NCAA Tournament appearances, from page 1 acc tournament chance 3-pointer from the right wing, converting on another deep ball from the opposite side to extend the Orange’s lead to eight. He also finished a wide-open layup after the Demon Deacons’ double-team on Edwards backfired.

“Everybody can make shots, but what else can you do? That’s all we were trying to do, be active,” Bell said.

Williams continued to make an impact, putting back a contested missed jumper from Edwards. He swatted away an inbound lob attempt too, leading to an easy layup for Mintz in transition. Still, the Demon Deacons were only down by two at half, eight less than last weekend.

Syracuse started to miss shots at the start of the second half, which Boeheim said took a toll on the defense. The Demon Deacons took the lead with back-to-back baskets at the start of the period and Tyree Appleby’s lob to Bobi Klintman empathically extended their lead to six with 14 minutes left.

Boeheim called a timeout, but SU wasn’t much better out of the break. Mintz missed from page 12 powell stuff,” Lindsay said. “As his teammate, I was spoiled every day.”

Springer said Powell had one of the best first steps, able to break anybody down in front of him. He used his first step and complete offensive package, scoring 70 points in his first year to rank second all-time among SU first-year players. That season, Powell led Syracuse to the National Championship in 2001 versus Princeton.

Lindsay said Powell carried the team in the final few minutes of the game, scoring the game-tying goal to send it to overtime. But the Orange lost to the Tigers 10-9, failing to win a second straight title.

Powell came back hungrier as a sophomore, becoming “everything” for the team, Springer said. Despite the Orange having a talented senior class, Powell continued to lead the offense. He was just as skilled on the ride as he was with scoring. There wasn’t any facet of the game that he didn’t excel in, Desko said.

“We had unbelievable players, but when you have Mike Powell on the field, it’s a different animal,” Lindsay said.

Powell snatched the Tewaaraton Trophy after leading the Orange back to the national title game, playing Princeton again. The Tigers defense tried to stop him, but it wasn’t enough. He scored four goals and dished out four assists, notching SU’s game-winning 13th goal off a from page 12 goal, but she doesn’t get too high after a save.”

Before Sweitzer had a clear picture of her mindset in goal, she built her skill set with Gebhardt. He has volunteered his time with the SU women’s program since 2019 after graduating from the Syracuse men’s program in 1998. His 265 saves in 1996 still ranks third all-time in a season in program history.

Gebhardt does specialized goalie drills with the “g-unit,” as Sweitzer called it, such as crosscrease and inside shots. He also runs them through off-the-wall reaction drills and other reactionary training, Sweitzer said. Gebhardt said that this season, he’s been working with Sweitzer on her reaction time to assisted shots.

18 Sweet 16 berths, seven Elite Eight appearances, five Final Fours, three national championship appearances and the culminating national championship in 2003, headlined by freshman Carmelo Anthony.

When the Orange moved to the Big East short on a drawn-up play then Girard fell to the ground and lost the ball. Appleby nailed a 3 in transition after Girard’s turnover and Williamson knocked down another 3 following a missed wide-open layup from Mintz. Boeheim called another timeout with Wake Forest up by 12.

This was unfamiliar territory for the Orange, who hadn’t completed a 12-point comeback since defeating Notre Dame 78-73 two months ago. The key to help SU come out on top of that win was Bell and the full-court press. The latter made the difference again in Greensboro.

After Williams nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing, Girard deflected Wake Forest’s inbounds pass straight to Mintz, who hesitated to let a defender blow by before finishing the layup. Less than a minute later, the Demon Deacons completed the inbounds pass to Appleby, but Quadir Copeland forced him to cough the ball out of bounds, sitting on the ground and flexing after causing the turnover. Girard hit a 3 off a pass from Copeland seconds later to cut Wake Forest’s lead to one with six minutes left.

Edwards said the Orange’s comeback was right whip into the top right corner.

“Anytime you can win that last game, it’s very special,” Desko said. “You strive as a player to reach that goal, and it’s certainly really rewarding.”

Springer said Powell rarely had an off-day. But the Orange struggled during Powell’s junior season, losing to Johns Hopkins in the Final Four. For Powell, it was a low point. He scored a career-low 64 points, and there was a lot of negativity around the team for not reaching the National Championship, Lindsay said.

But, just like the rest of the challenges in Powell’s career, he rose to the pressure. During his senior season, he broke Ryan and Casey’s record in SU’s regular season finale against Georgetown, leading the Orange back to the national championship, this time versus Army.

The Golden Knights game-planned around Powell, thinking that if they could stop him from scoring, they could win the game. But Powell’s ability as a “complete player” made him more of a facilitating threat. Lindsay said he was always looking to feed.

“He had eyes in the back of his head,” Desko said.

Powell took on the task of being the primary distributor, Lindsay said. He finished with four assists to cap off an illustrious career back on top of the mountain.

“The guy is the greatest player to pick up a stick,” Lindsay said. “What he sees on the field, not a lot of people can see. It was just a matter of (if you’re) ready to catch the ball.” anish.sujeet@gmail.com

“We really focused on getting all the goalies to tighten up movement in the goal,” Gebhardt said. “A lot of times, you aren’t just standing still and waiting on the shot. There’s a feed that comes and you have to come and have a quick reaction.”

As a result of her mental and physical training leading up to the season, Sweitzer has anticipated opponents’ aim before the ball leaves their sticks.

On Virginia Tech’s first possessions of the second half, Paige Tyson received a pass inside the 8-meter. She took a few hard steps toward Sweitzer, but she saw her redirect back for a high shot and stuck her crosse out to meet it at the release point. The ball skipped off. Visibly frustrated, Tyson ran back to the Hokies’ sideline. SU grew its 8-1 lead to a 16-5 blowout, and Sweitzer recorded her career-high in saves for the third in 1979, he went on to win the regular season conference title 10 times and the tournament title five times. He was inducted into the NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005 and was named coach of the year in 2010 after going 30-5 and losing in the Sweet 16.

“natural” with the flow of the game and that they started playing better overall. Bell added the comeback was a testament to the strength of full-court press, something they work on at every practice.

“Effort, that’s all that it was,” Bell said. “We made a comeback and we were back in the game.”

1,557

The final five minutes were much of the same back-and-forth play throughout the night, but both teams had different options to step up. Hildreth nailed a 3-pointer before he scored inside. Edwards muscled his way into the lane for layups in between both Hildreth baskets.

Mintz also had his moments with a 3-pointer,

After the 2014-15 season, the NCAA suspended Boeheim for nine games to start ACC conference play and took away 12 SU scholarships over the next four years for violating the league’s code of conduct. A multi-year investigation found that, beginning in 2001, the university had committed academic violations, including giving athletes impermissible assistance from tutors and mentors. It also found that the university gave basketball players improper academic benefits and didn’t follow its own drug policy. As punishment, the league vacated 108 total wins between 2004 and 2012, the third-most wins ever permanently vacated by one program.

Boeheim began his career with Syracuse as a walk-on from Lyons, New York, eventually working his way up to becoming team captain his senior year with the Orange. In his final year as a player, Boeheim and Dave Bing led the team to a 22-6 record, earning the school’s second-ever NCAA Tournament berth. He played professionally with the Scranton Miners of the Eastern Professional Basketball League, but retired from basketball and joined Syracuse’s coaching staff under Danforth as a graduate assistant in 1969.

“I’ve been here for 47 years. I got to coach my sons,” Boeheim said. “I’ve just been lucky to be able to coach this long.” anthonyalandt29@yahoo.com @anthonyalandt layup and dish to Williams in the final three minutes. His pass to Williams led to a 3-pointer, which awarded a 74-72 lead to SU. But Hildreth quickly drove in inside, spun and drilled a floater over Edwards’ outstretched hand.

“They got a little bit more penetration,” Boeheim said. “Hildreth hurt us getting into the lane a little bit.”

With 28.4 seconds left, Boeheim called a timeout. He drew up a high-low play for Edwards, but Williams couldn’t get to him inside. Instead, Girard isolated himself on the left side and stepped back for a 3-pointer.

Girard was the hero in a one-point win over Louisville, his late 3-pointer gave SU the final advantage. But his shot barely grazed the front of the rim against Wake Forest, which delivered seconds later on the only chance it needed.

“We’re always going to fight to the end of the horn, and we’ve done that a lot this year to come back in games,” Girard said. “We just couldn’t do it tonight.” anish.sujeet@gmail.com

@anish_vasu time this season.

Sweitzer saved 15 shots on a .750 save percentage in the win, which was Sweitzer’s second straight game with a 75% save rate. She also picked up two ground balls and forced six turnovers in what was “one of the best individual performances I’ve seen all year,” Treanor said “I hope to break (my personal best) again. I’m ready,” Sweitzer said when asked about breaking the mark for a third time.

Gerbardt said the team has increased their practice reps on free-position shots from the 8-meter. And more shots for the position players translates for more reps for the goalies.

With the defense that SU plays, Gebhardt said there are a lot of shots off of inside feeds, but that Sweitzer has done phenomenal handling them all season.

Against Maryland, Kate Sites stood at the wing of the 8-meter, her back foot twitching with anticipation. When the whistle blew, she sprang forward a few steps and then fired off the turf to the left of Sweitzer. Sweitzer swiped up with her stick, and the ball dropped inside the crease between her feet. She scooped up the ground ball with urgency to give SU possession.

That was her 11th save of the game, tying her then-career high. She went on to save 13 shots in a dominant win over then-No. 2 Maryland.

“She’s confident, and she’s in such a good mind place with her psychology, (and is) just seeing the ball really well,” Treanor said of Sweitzer. “She’s gotten a little better every game, but she’s been terrific for us all season.” wbmiller@syr.edu @wymill07