27 Taking the Red Pill: Awakening the Phallic Curse

Keywords: internet, subculture, deviance, echo chamber

What is the Manosphere?

The men’s liberation movement was formed in the 1970s in response to the social climate brought about by second-wave feminism (Messner 2016). Initially, the movement was intended to coincide with the feminist ideology of the time, however, these anti-sexist views were not homogeneous within the group (Messner 2016). Nearing the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s, the men’s liberation movement split into two separate branches, one of which was pro-feminist, and one that was anti-feminist (Messner 2016). Since this split, men’s rights circles have expanded and adapted with the times. With the rise of social media, a new online world has emerged and with it, a new wave of men’s liberation (Ging 2019).

The Manosphere is a term popularized by porn marketer Ian Ironwood through his publication of The Manosphere: A New Hope for Masculinity (2013). This online network refers to a loose confederacy of communities concerned with male rights, and more critically, the threat of female power (Ging 2019). As a result of online networking, these groups have been able to connect and form a subculture through which they propagate radical ideologies and form a harmful echo chamber that shields them from societal policing.

Who is in the Manosphere?

The Manosphere consists of four core communities. Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) are those who believe that gender equality and feminism directly serve to disadvantage men (Marwick and Caplan 2018). They believe that women’s right to education, right to a life in the public sphere, and women’s right to vote have all contributed to a decline in male power (Marwick and Caplan 2018). They advocate for political movements to reverse women’s rights and increase male status (Marwick and Caplan 2018). Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) is a community that believe society is tailored toward feminist ideologies and that women are inherently toxic (Lin 2022). MGTOW will typically avoid any connection with women and separate themselves from wider society (Lin 2022). Pick-Up Artists (PUAs) are the influencers of the Manosphere who teach men how to manipulate women into giving them what they want (Jane 2018). They disregard consent entirely and believe that men are owed sex by default. Popular PUA websites, such as the (now deleted) Return of Kings page, validate rape and mock sexual consent based on their own sexual entitlement (Jane 2018). Involuntary Celibates (incels), much like PUAs, feel as though they are entitled to relationships and sexual encounters with women, but are unable to attain them. They feel that they are discriminated against and barred from sexual fulfillment because of female cruelty (Radicalisation Awareness Network 2021).

Although each group within the Manosphere represents a unique set of struggles and concerns, they all share a common ethos. The foundation of this network lies in gynocentrism, which is the belief that modern society has been infiltrated by women and tainted by feminism (Lin 2022). Through this supposed power struggle, they believe that women hold unsubstantiated and unnatural power that must be taken back by men through forced submission. Additionally, these communities all share a common set of linguistic features and symbolic models that unite them as a subculture.

Subculture

Previously, the cultivation of community has been reliant on geological proximity and the construction of in-person relationships (Blackman 2014). Naturally, this traditional method of community formation is a slow and prolonged process that requires time to gain substantial reach beyond inner-circles and underground movements. The internet, however, has eliminated the necessity of proximity and accelerated the formation of communities and subcultures through the rapid exchange of information and enhanced reach.

Although radicalized groups have been historically capable of obtaining reach and influence, the internet has allowed for the Manosphere to expand substantially and at rapid speeds. Reddit forums, social media platforms, and specialized websites have provided platforms on which these individuals have shared their opinions and created communities around their struggles. These platforms have aided in the formation of an anti-feminist utopia, serving as a safe place for the most violent male impulses.

Subculture formation is driven by society’s stigmatization of deviant groups (Blackman 2014). As prospective members of a subculture form feelings of shame and victimization due to their ideas or ways of life. They search out others who share similar political and/or identity markers in order to connect and feel less alone in their struggles. This is true for the Manosphere. As wider society has become increasingly validating of women’s rights and feminist ideologies, the ideals of those within the Manosphere have become deviant and looked down on. As a result, those who hold these ideologies have become radicals and deviants of a society in which they believe they are disenfranchised. This results in feelings of stigmatization and ostracization (Daly and Reed 2022). The simple action of sharing these common experiences and ideologies online has resulted in a male-centric internet culture with its own cultural symbols and linguistic features.

The cultural symbols of the Manosphere reside in the adaptation of the Red Pill and Blue Pill, a concept derived from the film ‘The Matrix.’ To take the Red Pill, according to those in the community, is to learn the “truth” about female nature, dominance, and male oppression (O’Malley, Holt, and Holt 2022). It is to awaken oneself to the agenda of feminist society and to realize that men are the victims of societal progress. The Blue Pill is the default and describes those who remain ignorant and live in accordance with gynocentrism and “the female will” (O’Malley et al. 2022).  Additionally, the community has created a third option, the Black Pill. To take the Black Pill is to relinquish your will and realize that there is no way out (O’Malley et al. 2022). It is the white flag of the meninist world, usually accompanied with feelings of suicidality and hopelessness. In conjunction with the Black Pill, incels may report that they are “going ER.” This is a reference to Eliot Rodger, a self-identified incel and misogynist terrorist who killed six people and injured seventeen before committing suicide (O’Malley et al. 2022). Before his death, he sent out a document explaining his motivations which included hatred toward women, jealousy toward sexually active “normies,” and helplessness (O’Malley et al. 2022). This document has become a manifesto for the incel community and to “go ER” is to relinquish hope and ultimately enact violence against others and themselves (O’Malley et al. 2022).

The linguistic features of the Manoverse include terms such as: Alpha Male/Chad, Femoid, Betabux, and The Wall, among others (Radicalisation Awareness Network 2021). An Alpha Male or Chad exists at the top of the social hierarchy. He is physically attractive, appealing to women, and therefore holds the most privilege among males under gynocentrism (Radicalisation Awareness Network 2021). Femoid is a term used in reference to women in order to delegitimize their humanity and, in turn, legitimize harmful ideas and acts that may be done toward them. A Betabux is a man who is not a Chad, but who has managed to attain a relationship with a woman (Radicalisation Awareness Network 2021). According to the forums, women resort to engaging in relationships with Betabux only after they have hit “the Wall” or if they are seeking financial support from them. “The wall” refers to the age at which a woman’s sexual marketability declines, which according to those in the Manosphere, is twenty-five (Radicalisation Awareness Network 2021).

Online spaces have given a platform to anti-feminist communities that have evolved to form a network of deviantized groups with similar radical ideologies. Accelerated reach, communication, and stigmatization have all resulted in the formation of a subculture with its own cultural symbols, linguistic attributes, and political focus. These characteristics and communication methods set the stage for the normalization and propagation of deviant ideologies as the subculture evolves.

Echo chambers and normalization

The aforementioned linguistic and symbolic features of the Manoverse contribute to the formation of an echo chamber in which deviant, and oftentimes violent, rhetoric and actions are normalized. Echo chambers are environments in which opinions, political stances, and/or belief systems are continuously reinforced through repeated interactions with others who share similar attitudes (Cinelli et al. 2021). Due to the commonalities shared by individuals within the echo chamber, outside influence is unsubstantial and quickly dismissed. It is through this constant perpetuation and re-framing of information and testimonials that the communities within the Manosphere have constructed these chambers.

In addition, methods of neutralization are used to justify and normalize deviant behaviour. Neutralization refers to the ways in which deviants justify their behaviour through the cultivation of internal acceptability (Sykes and Matza 1957). Through the neutralization process, these behaviours are validated, normalized, and separated from the moral compass of wider society (Sykes and Matza 1957). These techniques serve to delegitimize the harm of radical idealization and violence, ridding the perpetrator of guilt and external morality (Sykes and Matza 1957). Common neutralization techniques found in Manoverse discourse include the denial of the victim, the condemnation of the condemners, and the appeal to higher loyalties.

Denial of the victim, or victim blaming, is typically associated with the idealization of sexual violence and acts of forced submission. Validation comes in the form of blaming the victim for the acts of violence they have endured rather than the perpetrator. Victim blaming is commonly used in events of sexual violence by insisting that the victim was “asking for it” due to provocative dress or mannerisms, or that they deserved it as punishment as a result of being rude or offensive (Jane 2018).

Condemnation of the condemners is used to shift the scope of blame from the perpetrator to the institutions or individuals who condemn their behaviour (Sykes and Matza 1957). For example, blaming modern society for separating women from their natural role and, in turn, forcing men to re-establish hierarchy through violence. This technique is used as a means through which the morals of Manoverse communities are separated from the moral compass of society. Through condemning the systems that serve to repress their behaviour, a community is able to create their own set of moral standards and locus of acceptability.

The appeal to higher loyalties involves the justification of deviance based on the claim that the deviant is a partisan of values that are higher than those that belong to their condemners (Sykes and Matza 1957). This technique is present in the Manosphere’s favourability toward evolutionary biology and psychology (Van Valkenburgh 2021). They often assert that it is simply natural for women to submit to men and that the gynocentric order of modern society has removed individuals from their natural states of being (Van Valkenburgh 2021). In this, feminism and female power are categorized as unnatural and directly defiant of evolutionary norms. Thus, it is pivotal that men reclaim their power and should not be subject to retaliation as they are simply restoring natural order. Although society may condemn a perpetrator on account of his violence, the higher powers of evolution and natural order permit him to act in his “nature” regardless of societal norms and moral regulations.

The delegitimization of women is also used as a technique through which normalization occurs within Manosphere communities. The term “femoid” specifically serves to remove personhood from women entirely, likening them as more comparable to droids than human beings. Additionally, women are often referred to based on their value within the sexual market. For instance, in an incel chat room, women are said to have all of the power as they possess a “pot of gold between their legs” and are “born with the power to hand out the prize of the only real goal that exists” (O’Malley et al. 2022). Through the delegitimization of women, the legitimization of violence and hostility towards them is validated. This sexual objectification typically declines as a woman hits “the Wall” and becomes sexually inadequate, according to the beliefs of the Manoverse. This is interesting to note as women over twenty-five retain societal power in the real world, however, they are not recognized as important by those in the Manoverse as they are not sexually favourable.

The dangers of the Manosphere

Members of the Manosphere are typically socially isolated, reject outside information, and do not have buffers or protection against the radical views they readily consume through online spaces. Incels in particular have described themselves as NEET (not in education, employment, or training) (Radicalisation Awareness Network 2021). This is an issue as intervention is rendered impossible as they become further integrated into their ideologies, turning echo chambers into sinkholes (Radicalisation Awareness Network 2021).

Additionally, these dialogues do not exist in a vacuum. Although specified forums are the pillars of the Manosphere, its influence seeps into other social media spheres and is readily accessible. For example, TheMan0verse is one of many YouTube channels that are easily searchable and contains graphic videos of women being beaten and humiliated in public with vulgar titles such as “Cop DESTROYS Feminist Face!” and “DESTROY Modern Women Seeking EQUAL Rights!”. Algorithms are also an issue in the propagation of harmful content through social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook. One wrong click or misguided Google search has the potential to expose impressionable minds to these radical ideologies as algorithms race to form new suggestions based on initially innocent interactions with ambiguous content. This avid accessibility is especially concerning as new generations of young men join the online world and potentially become influenced by misogynistic ideologies.

The influence of the Manosphere is not confined to online spaces or manufactured echo chambers. Forum discourse readily validates violent fantasies towards women and encourages aversive behavior through the encouragement of rape, intimate partner violence, and other acts of gender-based violence. The case of Eliot Rodger is only one of the numerous acts of violence against women that have been applauded in MRA, PUA, and incel circles where members idolize anti-feminist hate crimes (Blackman 2014; O’Malley et al. 2022).

The Manoverse is not a dark corner of the internet that can be disregarded or diluted. The normalization, perpetuation, and idealization of violence against women cannot be ignored as these acts of terrorism continue to take the lives and basic rights to safety away from women around the world. Internet connections are not a buffer against misogyny as it continues to perpetuate both online and in the physical world despite decades of progress in women’s rights. The Manoverse is not a hidden club of delinquents, but a propagating agent of hate and violent masculinity that is far too prevalent in all “verses” of life.

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