The Manosphere

BY KATE GINGER '23, Co-Editor-in-Chief

This article contains sensitive content, including mature discussion about misogyny, inappropriate sexual behavior, and violence against women. Read at your own discretion.

“You take the red pill— you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes, ” says Morpheus when tempting Neo, the protagonist, in a scene from the Matrix. The rabbit hole refers to the “reality ” that women are oppressive forces in society and men are victims. This belief is held specifically by members of the Red Pill, the most widely-known misogynistic online Reddit forum and one manifestation of the manosphere.

With extraordinary advances in gender equality through the most recent fourth wave feminist movement, blacklash is inevitable. The rise of Internet hate and antifeminist ideologies have funneled into the manosphere, an online space that targets women with degradation and hostility. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, a peer-reviewed journal, states this collection of “[w]ebsites, blogs, and message boards … are dedicated to a worldview that celebrates hegemonic masculinity and decries feminism. ” A number of anti-women groups and individuals have surfaced on the Internet, most recently and prominently, Andrew Tate, whose degradation of women and perpetuation of toxic masculinity constitute the quintessential alpha male icon of the manosphere.

The manosphere is not limited to just misogynistic individuals. In fact, it comprises four broad subgroups: “Men’s rights activists” (MRAs), “Men going their own way ” (MGTOW), “Pick-up artists” (PUAs), and Involuntary celibates (Incels). These ideologies vary across a spectrum, incel being the most extreme and potentially violent.

The University of Chicago Press Journals (UCPJ) explains, “Online, [MRAs] adopt a position of patriarchal resistance, which forcefully denies that feminist issues such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and gendered wage gaps are structural issues that (re)produce women’s oppression, ” essentially, discounting the centuries-old historical discrimination against women and the current state of gender inequality. Furthermore, MRAs argue that feminism has “systematically reduced men’s social, political, and economic opportunities, which has resulted in the oppression of men. ”

According to Psychology Today, the “paranoid vision” of MGTOW is that we live in “a world that is ‘gynocentric, ’ with men as victims of a system that favors women and persecutes men. ” Hence the name, men should abandon women to escape the oppression of a society that supposedly espouses women and, in doing so, harms men. The online presence of MRAs and MGTOW has declined over the past ten years as their members become more radicalized, contributing to the recent spike in PUAs and incels.

PUAs “attempt to coax women into having sex with them through a mixture of flattery, psychological manipulation and coercion, ” as reported by The Guardian. These practices, “such as negging— insulting a woman to undermine her confidence, and make her feel as if she has to seek your approval” undoubtedly perpetuate the objectification, harassment, and marginalization of women. This group uses terms like “alpha, ” symbolizing an attractive, successful, dominant male presence and “beta, ” representing a submissive man lacking masculinity or control over women. These labels perpetuate stereotypical ideals of toxic masculinity, which is harmful to men who suffer the

psychological consequences. This community is becoming increasingly prevalent. If not monitored, mainstream social media platforms, namely Tiktok, may have potentially dangerous consequences for the younger generation.

Incels, members of this online culture, support the hatred of women because they are unable to attract women sexually. Their beliefs are based upon attractiveness being predetermined by genetic factors and the fact they are “substandard” in this category as stated by the Center for Research and Evidence on Security Threats. Also, incels consider women to be inferior to all men and solely “driven by their sexual desire to reproduce with genetically superior men. ”

A manifesto titled, “My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger, ” was released electronically amidst a fatal attack; he was effectively turned into a hero within the incel community.

“ ... I will punish all females for the crime of depriving me of sex. They have starved me of sex for my entire youth and gave that pleasure to other men. In doing so, they took many years of my life away. I cannot kill every single female on earth, but I can deliver a devastating blow that will shake all of them to the core of their wicked hearts. ” -excerpt from “My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger”

“In 2014, Rodger went on a shooting and stabbing spree, killing six and injuring 14 at the University of California, Santa Barbara, ” states the MIT Technology Review. The incel community views this violence as a liberating act of revenge. Though they are often influenced by factors related to prior mental health issues, the dangers of this ideology unquestionably play a part. As seen, this subculture has the potential to encourage violence against women.

The Red Pill forum was “exclusively apolitical, ” according to the UCPJ, up until the 2016 election when the “neoliberal, misogynistic collective identity ” was aligned with Trump’s public persona of alpha masculinity. In a “Men’s Rights” post titled “Sexual Assault, ” one user commented, “When somebody accuses a powerful or famous figure like Trump of ‘sexual assault, ’ I don’t look the other way. I don’t denounce them or their behavior”; the user continued that this “accusation by the establishment” is a “beacon to find our allies in war. ” The election of a man who has openly bragged about sexually assaulting women reaffirms the rampant sexism and antifeminist rhetoric within the manosphere.

Biden’s administration has recognized how misogynistic ideologies proliferating online can impact everyday gun violence. As reported on his official website, the administration will “establish a new Task Force on Online Harassment and Abuse… to study rampant online sexual harassment, stalking, and threats, including revenge porn and deepfakes, and the connection between this harassment, mass shootings, extremism and violence against women. ” The manosphere has cultivated an environment that encourages most if not all of these extreme forms of violence, which have rippling effects in not only our country but the world. Further, it remains a rapidly growing threat today, as users have only moved toward more extreme forums.

Notably, it is impossible to ignore the fact that beliefs within the manosphere stem from mainstream ideas about gender and sexuality. In discussing these dangerous ideologies, I hope to draw connections to seemingly harmless conversations in our everyday lives, whether they occur between friends or over social media. The manosphere markets itself as a “safe place” for men who share feelings of emasculation in an age of social reform. However, this underlying sexism is not limited to the manosphere; it pervades every aspect of our culture. From the governance of our institutions to the expectations of gender roles, women are consistently viewed and treated as inferior to men. Continuing this conversation about the gender dichotomy is the only way to begin to expose the origins of this discrimination and, subsequently, work to create a safer, more equal world.