When Toxic Masculinity Meets Anti-Abortion Panic

On Friday, just one day after millions of Americans sat down for Thanksgiving dinner, a man began anhours-long assault at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs which left a police officer and two civilians dead.

The Washington PostandNewsweekhave since reported that the alleged shooter, Robert Lewis Dear Jr., used the phrase "no more baby parts" when talking to police afterwards. (The comment likely references the heavily-editedvideos an anti-abortion group made about Planned Parenthood, which featured discussion of the -- completely legal! -- practice of fetal tissue donation.) Dear was also oncearrested on "Peeping Tom" charges, and faced an allegation of domestic violence.

Sadly, the news of a mass shooting is no longer surprising. Neither is the fact that this shooting took place at a Planned Parenthood clinic or that the alleged gunman has a history of being accused of violence against women. The whole tragic incident feels depressingly, quintessentially American.

Acts of violence against abortion providers do not exist in a vacuum. There is a long,storied history of attacks on clinics -- this year alone there have been four arson attacks on Planned Parenthood clinics. There's a reason that the staff at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood had completed drills and trainings foremergencies such as an "armed attack."

And there is a long, storied history of vicious anti-abortion rhetoric in this country, much of which aims to intimidate those who provide abortions and the women who get them. After Friday's shooting, many men and womentweeted theirsupport for the gunman, with comments like, "planned parenthood kills a million babies and no one bats an eye. but 1 brave hero tries to put a stop to that, everyone loses their minds" and "Active Shooter Colorado Planned Parenthood. I would think this brave HERO is saving innocent Baby lives!"

Terrifyingly, the tweets don't sound all that different from the language used by Republican presidential candidates. Both Ben Carson andMike Huckabeehave compared abortion to slavery, andCarly Fiorina described gruesome footagefrom an anti-Planned Parenthood video which she said showed "a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain." The only catch? Thefootage never existed.

The Guardian's Jessica Valenti summed up the terrifying power of such rhetoric in two sentences: "We know why this [shooting] happened... Because of hate, because of lies, and because words matter."

Not only do words matter, but representation and education matter, too. It is no accident that we see so few women getting abortions without horrific consequences on television -- in 2015, the normalized abortion storylines on both"Jessica Jones"and"Scandal" still felt revolutionary. And thestate of sexual educationin this country is deplorable. Often students are taught to fear sex but not how to have it safely; they're taught to condemn abortion but not how to avoid unplanned pregnancy.

We live in a culture that breeds people who are terrified of women who exercise bodily autonomy -- especially when that autonomy involves decision-making around sex and family planning. When you combine that fear with a society that tells men they are entitled to women's bodies, time, attention and affection in the waystheydeem fit, and generally does not teach men how to express their emotions in a productive fashion, can we really be surprised that year after year we see the bullets of male rage and toxic masculinity littered across our country?

It is always impossible to pinpoint the exact combination of factors that drive someone to shoot up a public space, whether it's a church or a movie theater or a clinic. Mental illnessmayhave played a part in the Colorado Springs attack. But it certainly doesn't explain why a man targeted a Planned Parenthood and used lies perpetuated by anti-abortion activists to justify his actions.

Reminder: Misogyny is not a mental illness.

It is exhausting to read -- and write -- about shooting after shooting after shooting. Exhausting to see white male shooters consistently labelled "mentally ill lone wolves."

It's exhausting to witness a political climate that tacitly condones women being bullied and terrorized for accessing legal health care. Exhausting to live in a country where people are willing to openly condone a senseless attack thatleft three deadand nine wounded.

Because, ultimately, when an organization that primarily serves women is under attack,allwomen are under attack.

Also on HuffPost:

When Huckabee compared Planned Parenthood to a heroin dealer.

When Rubio talked about the sweet incentives women are given to choose abortion.

When Trump sounded off about "abortion factories."

When a comparison was made between Planned Parenthood and the KKK.

When Fiorina had some opinions on liberal priorities.

When we all learned that rape victims don't need abortion bill exemptions, because rape kits are basically abortions.

When Kurcaba looked for the silver lining of conception from rape.

When Franks was confused about how pregnancy works.

When one Rep suggested forcing women to watch abortion videos.

When Bachmann said Planned Parenthood was just like LensCrafters.

When this dude posited that if women should be allowed to have abortions, men should be allowed to rape.

When that "legitimate rape" comment happened.

When Mourdock thought pregnancy from rape was God's will.

When Koster didn't really get "the rape thing" and how it might relate to a woman's desire to get an abortion.

When Cruz called Planned Parenthood a "criminal enterprise."

When Christie accused Hillary Clinton of supporting "the systematic murder of children."

When Jeb just didn't understand why women's health requires funding.