The reporting of Holly Willoughby's kidnapping downplayed the very real threats of violence against women

It was arranged online by a "network of like-minded individuals", but instead the focus has been entirely on one of the suspect's weight

Up until today, there were only three things I could tell you about the terrifying plot to kidnap This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby.

1. The suspect was a 35 stone man

2. He used to work in pizza hut

3. He's unable to leave the house due to his weight

So, I’ll admit that when I read Holly’s This Morning resignation statement on Instagram, I was a little surprised. After all, the reporting had made it seem like this was hardly a credible threat.

However, her resignation encouraged me to read more into it and I was subsequently embarrassed to learn just how serious and distressing this entire situation must be for Holly and her family.

Rather than focusing on this man’s weight and the fact he used to work in a fast food restaurant, the headlines should have been that there was an online “network of like-minded individuals” working alongside him to plot this kidnap.

Surely that is more in the public interest than his weight? Especially when you consider the rise of incel groups online and Andrew Tate wannabes.

How many are in this group? How did they come together? Where are they based? Have they planed attacks on other women? How many more like-minded groups like this are there out there? Why is this incredibly concerning information hidden half way through the article?

In January this year, The Guardian reported how there was a large rise in men being referred to the government’s ‘Prevent’ scheme due to their “women-hating incel ideology”.

The term incel stands for ‘involuntary celibate’ and began on Reddit after young men started to console one another over their lack of sexual activity, whilst blaming women for it.

With more and more men self-identifying as “incels” online, their hatred of women has spread into real life. As that same Guardian article points out, the 2021 Plymouth shooter who killed 5 people and injured 2 others, had viewed incel content before his attack. He was 22 years old.

This is exactly why these online spaces are so dangerous, as they allow these misogynist views to breed and spread into real life violence. But yes, let’s focus on weight because obviously the most important fact about this man is that he’s fat, not that he arranged to fly someone over from the US to kidnap and murder a female TV presenter.

It’s fat-shaming, but more importantly, it downplays these very real threats of violence against women.

And to be clear, I’m not concerned about this POS’s feelings when it comes to being shamed about his weight, but I am concerned for the people who look like him and are once again reminded that no matter what they do, their weight is the only thing that matters.

For example, this is The Mirror’s headline: “Holly Willoughby 'murder and kidnap' plot suspect is 35st ex Pizza Hut worker Gavin Plumb”

Rather than jeering at the fact a fat man used to work in Pizza Hut (which is completely irrelevant to the conversation), can we not look into these online spaces where these horrific conversations are happening? Can’t these publishers spend their time investigating how many other men are purchasing “kidnap and restraint kits” online?

As a woman who sees these Alpha bro videos pop up online far too often, I know that hatred against women is a very real problem online currently and it honestly terrifies me. So, I cannot begin to imagine how Holly must be feeling with this very real and very credible threat.

And while it might not be the entire reason, I’m infuriated for her that it’s resulted in her having to give up a job she loves.

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A note on yesterday’s post:

You may have seen that I deleted yesterday’s Substack post. I always want to be transparent with you and this was because despite some great positive discussion, I had two private messages and one email that clearly showed it had upset people on both sides, which was the complete opposite of my intention. It was clearly arrogant of me to think I could attempt to broach the topic of Israel - Palestine and not cause hurt.

For my own mental well-being and more importantly to avoid any confusion and upset to people who are going through unimaginable pain, it’s not a topic I will address online again. But please don’t think that means I’m not thinking of the innocent people and communities impacted by these atrocities or taking forms of action, offline.