Laura Bates, a white woman with blonde hair wearing a long black dress, is mid-speech. She is standing next to a large sign on the left of the image which reads “The annual Pankhurst lecture” with a pen illustration of Emmeline Pankhurst underneath.

Laura Bates: ‘We are living in the midst of a backlash’

News | 19th February 2025

By Scarlet Chambers

Everyday Sexism Project founder says there is ‘still a need for feminist movements’ in 2025
Online misogyny movements spark major concerns
Featured image credit: Scarlet Chambers

Bestselling author Laura Bates says the rise of a toxic online culture is leaking into everyday life and normalising hatred towards women.

In a wide-ranging talk on Thursday (13 February) which included incels, pickup artists, and the harassment of women, she said even boys as young as 11 affected by online forums which creates the ideology that women are seen as inferior and men ‘deserve better’.

Bates, founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, opened the night with a speech on the rise of the incel movement in the UK, before going on to explore the double-standards women have become accustomed to showcasing what is and isn’t being done to level the playing field.

“Women write a quarter of front page articles,” she said. “One woman every three days is killed by a man, just 18 of the 108 High Court Judges are female, and only 28% of women in films have speaking roles.”

Laura Bates sits on a black chair to the left of the image, she is a white woman with blonde hair and a black floral dress. To the right is a large banner that reads 'The Annual Pankhurst Lecture' with an illustration of Emmeline Pankhurst. — Laura Bates speaking at the annual Pankhurst lecture | Credit: Scarlet Chambers

The rise of online movements

In a room full of women with men scattered few and far between, Laura went into detail about the activities of incels and pickup artists. She defined incel as “a term associated with a mostly online subculture of people, who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, and who may blame, objectify, and denigrate women and girls as a result”.

A huge increase in online platforms like Discord, Instagram, Reddit, and YouTube in recent years have made way for toxic speech, tips, tricks, and advice, aimed at allowing incel men to “take control of their women”.

With some of these forums raking in as many as 750,000 followers, it is far from a small movement.

‘A society that is anything but equal’

Laura delved into the topic of ‘pickup artists’, which she said was an international industry worth an estimated £100m, influencers within the movement have been known to offer ‘bootcamps’ ranging in price from £250 to £8,000 in most major cities across the globe – including the UK.

“[Pickup artists] are people whose goals are seduction and sexual success,” Laura said.

“Predominantly heterosexual men, they often self-identify as the ’seduction community’ or the ‘pickup community’.”

The dehumanisation of women, accompanied with the reassurance that men have an entitlement to women’s bodies and lives, is a shared thread between both groups.

“Things are interrelated in ways that society doesn’t even want us to realise,” Laura continued.

”Extremism of any kind is only able to flourish in a society if low-level instances of inequality and prejudice are considered normal, or are excused, with individuals expected to shut up. This builds a background context for a society that remains anything but equal.”

More young boys know Andrew Tate than PM

In 2023, a selection of young boys across the UK were given a poll featuring two photographs: one was a picture of Andrew Tate, a self-proclaimed ‘misogynist influencer’; the other, a photo of then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Andrew Tate | Credit: James English (Anything Goes with James English CC), James Tamil (Wikimedia)

Let image: Andrew Tate, a bald man with a beard wearing a grey shirt. He is looking past the camera.

Right image: Rishi Sunak, a brown man with short black hair looking directly into the camera and wearing a suit. — Andrew Tate | Credit: James English (Anything Goes with James English CC), James Tamil (Wikimedia)

According to the poll, conducted by anti-fascism charity Hope not Hate, boys aged between 16 and 17 were up to 21% more likely to have consumed Andrew Tate’s material than had heard of Rishi Sunak.

In a study of American men cited by Laura, she said: “27% of them said that they would not have a one-to-one meeting in the workplace with a woman.”

’We are living in the midst of a backlash’

Although most men disagreed with the statement, Laura said the survey revealed how toxic ideas fomented online have now leaked into real life.

“Looking back at traditional structures like mainstream media, you can see that it has had a play in normalising the radical ideas from the dark web into normal everyday consumption,” Laura said.

“Mainstream media isn’t seen to promote misogyny or extremism because it’s done so casually.

“We are living in the midst of a backlash. There is an intense effort to send the message that to talk about feminism or women’s rights comes with the connotation that women hate men, to undermine them or threaten them. However it’s never actually highlighted why there is [still] a need for feminist movements.

”Feminists seek to address the inequality in today’s world. And that is what is the threat.”