What Do You Meme? An Exploration of Internet Communication Through Memes

The topic of memes and the ethnographies they create are discussed. Memes that have been created and adopted by alt-right communities, specifically incels, illustrate their ideologies while simultaneously validating their views and recruiting insecure, vulnerable populations. Memes from times past evolve to be viewed as cringeworthy as they fail the test of time and cultural expectations for humor. Content that exists out of the confines of normality in an embarrassing way also becomes constituted as cringe, and can become a meme in this way. New social media platforms allow for novel meme formats to emerge. Furthermore, the concept of new meme formats are explained through TikTok case studies, highlighting the platform’s unique and novel features. Finally, the ethnography that surrounds mental health memes is explored through content analyses of memes discussing mental illnesses like Bipolar Disorder, as well as memes depicting mindful practices. The possibility for trends arising from memes to romanticize negative attributes of mental illness illustrates the potential for negative consequences, like triggering a relapse in self-harm. Memes and their real-world consequences must be discussed as social media pervades daily life

Interrogating the "incel menace": assessing the threat of male supremacy in terrorism studies

Following a series of deadly attacks, and increasingly in recent years, incels have entered not only the public lexicon but also piqued scholarly interest, especially in terrorism research and programmes aimed at countering violent extremism (CVE). However, much of the current analyses largely interpret incel communities as homogenous, and in doing so ignore the complex and often contradictory nature of incel communities. CVE recommendations made by these scholars are often founded on misconceptions of incel identity and community. Through a critical feminist lens, in this article we argue that the focus on incels should seek to understand the role of male supremacy, antifeminism, and misogyny in society. Additionally, we argue against the trend of attempting to classify and securitise incels as a unique form of misogynistic violence, and identify the dangers of a lack of focus on male supremacy

Assessing the threat of incel violence

In recent years, increasingly serious incidents of violence have been committed by young men predominantly in the United States and Canada who self-identify as incels (involuntary celibates). Although these attacks often specifically target women, the principal source of their animus, men as well as children have been among the casualties in the series of shootings and vehicular homicides that have occurred at universities, high schools, and on city streets. Although, the incel worldview is not obviously political, its core ethos entails the subjugation and repression of a group and its violence is designed to have far-reaching societal effects. Accordingly, incel violence arguably conforms to an emergent trend in terrorism with a more salient hate crime dimension that necessitates greater scrutiny and analysis—especially as it spreads to Europe and shows similarities to and has nascent connections with other terrorist movements.PostprintPeer reviewe

The Evolution of the {Manosphere} Across the {Web}

In this paper, we present a large-scale characterization of the Manosphere, a conglomerate of Web-based misogynist movements roughly focused on "men's issues," which has seen significant growth over the past years. We do so by gathering and analyzing 28.8M posts from 6 forums and 51 subreddits. Overall, we paint a comprehensive picture of the evolution of the Manosphere on the Web, showing the links between its different communities over the years. We find that milder and older communities, such as Pick Up Artists and Men's Rights Activists, are giving way to more extremist ones like Incels and Men Going Their Own Way, with a substantial migration of active users. Moreover, our analysis suggests that these newer communities are more toxic and misogynistic than the former

Misogyny and Murder

The Atlanta-area shootings of six Asian women in massage parlors in March 2021 raised awareness about anti-Asian discrimination and violence in the United States. When the perpetrator, Robert Aaron Long, shot the Atlanta-area spa victims, public speculation arose about whether he was motivated by hatred for the Asian victims because of their race. Many wondered whether the shooter would be charged and convicted of hate crimes against the victims. When asked by police about his motives, the perpetrator stated that he had a sex addiction, meaning that the spas created intolerable sexual temptations that he was unable to resist. Considering this comment, a captain at the Cherokee County Sheriff\u27s Office announced that the shooter had a bad day, and that it could not yet be determined whether the violence constituted hate crimes. The captain\u27s minimization of the tragedy created an outcry; many protested, arguing that the perpetrator\u27s targeting of Asian massage parlors demonstrated that his intent was race-based. But few voiced what also seemed obvious: the shooter\u27s comments about his sex addiction were admissions that the sex of the female victims also motivated his crimes. Many commentators have overlooked sex or gender as a motive for potential hate crimes. Moreover, despite the longstanding theory of intersectionality introduced by Professor Kimberle Crenshaw, only a few progressive online opinion pieces by Asian women raised the issue of the intersectional causes of the rampage. Few acknowledged that the most likely motivation was bias against the female victims due to their sex, race, and/or national origin. Masculinities, feminist, and intersectionality theories and familiarity with the dark Internet pages of groups such as incels, reveal that overlooking sex or gender as a motive is a mistake. Incel is short for involuntary celibate.\u27 The incels comprise a group of young men in the United States and abroad who communicate online about their hatred of women because of their failure to have sex with them. In their posts and those of other similar groups, incels invoke racism, white supremacy, and misogyny. Inspired by their hero, Elliot Rodger, who committed suicide after murdering female and male students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the more radical incels advocate the killing and torturing of women. Long and Rodger seem to represent opposite ends of the spectrum of young men living in the United States-Long appears to be a normal but ill-fated frustrated young man who went astray, and Rodger appears to be the leader of a band of evil criminals-but things are not that simple. There is an important link between Long\u27s and Rodger\u27s crimes. Both are the result of misogyny. Misogyny, as defined by feminist philosopher Kate Manne in Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, is systemic. It includes individual or group action, societal norms, and expectations that harm its victims and support the existence of patriarchy. Misogyny is not defined by the individual psychology of the perpetrator, but rather by its effect on the victims. Using this definition, murder because women do not provide the services and care that are expected of them (or because women are evil for tempting men) is misogynistic because it supports the superiority of men over women and punishes women for their failure to abide by the expectations of men and society. Nonetheless, only two-thirds of the states include gender or sex as protected statuses in their hate crime laws. In fact, some states\u27 hate crime laws protect victims based on their sexual orientation and gender identity but fail to do so based on sex or gender. While prosecutors may charge suspects with hate crimes caused by bias against more than one group, none of the statutes explicitly reference intersectional hate crimes. This article examines, through the lens of the Atlanta spa shootings and the incels\u27 movement, mass sex-based crimes that could be characterized as hate crimes or even domestic terrorism. Involuntary celibates (or incels) are a group of radicalized young men, many of whom advocate violence toward women on Internet forums. Some, who are considered heroes by the incel community, have carried out their threats by engaging mass murder. This article employs masculinities, feminist, and intersectionality theories to analyze incels and other similar groups and the dangers they present to society. But it does more than that. It demonstrates, through reference to the Atlanta spa shooter\u27s situation, that misogyny is endemic to the United States and found not only in terrorist movements but also in our institutions such as schools and churches This is the first law review article to analyze the intersection of misogyny, public mass murders, and hate crime legislation. In general, legal scholarship has undertheorized the incel phenomenon and has underappreciated the effects of misogyny, whether it be present in normal institutions or in terrorist movements. Moreover, many policymakers have omitted gender from hate crime legislation, an omission that suggests that women\u27s lives and properties are not as valuable as men\u27s. This article fills these gaps. This article analyzes the failure to recognize gender as a common motivator for hate crimes despite the increase of violence against women by groups and individuals who are motivated by misogyny. It argues that due to misogyny\u27s ubiquity in society, we often fail to recognize or acknowledge it. Only through an understanding of misogyny and the violence it causes and public education and recognition of the link between systemic misogyny and violence can we hope to ameliorate the failure of the general public to recognize gender, specifically misogyny, as a cause of violence against women. To educate the public to recognize the importance of gender and misogyny in violent acts, this article recommends that all states include gender as well as intersectional identities as potential motives for hate crimes. Enacting hate crime legislation has a symbolic and expressive purpose. In this instance, it would serve as a public recognition of the dangers of misogyny and a warning to those who seek to engage in misogynistic violence. Besides adding gender and intersectional identities to state hate crime legislation, this article encourages further research into misogyny as a source of domestic and international terrorism. In addition, based on research findings, this article recommends the implementation of future legislative changes that protect all people whether they be male, female, or nonbinary

Navigating The Manosphere: An Examination Of The Incel Movements’ Attitudes Of Sexual Aggression And Violence Against Women

There is a considerable and established literature on the topic of violence against women. Yet, there remains understudied areas of foci with lesser attention paid to its occurrence within online and digital contexts. Of particular interest is the networked misogyny and sexism of the online group that self-identifies as “involuntary celibates”, or “incels”. Drawing on data collected from online forums and chat rooms, the language and discourse of this particular group are analyzed through an integrated conceptual framework encompassing hegemonic masculinity, aggrieved entitlement, and patriarchy to better understand the prevalence and types of violence promoted by “incels”. Emerging themes revealed the pervasiveness of rape culture, pro-attitudes of violence against women, male victimization and oppression, sexual entitlement, and masculinity crises