New research by La Follette Assistant Professor Mariel Barnes analyzes the online ecosystem dubbed the “manosphere” to better understand a subculture largely ignored by researchers and journalists but which now exerts considerable influence in national politics, according to Barnes.
In a paper published last month in Comparative Political Studies, Barnes and Sabrina Karim of Cornell University analyzed more than 140 of the most popular English-language manosphere sources from the last two decades to develop a typography of the manosphere. This novel approach provides a fuller perspective of the online movement against feminism, women’s rights, and gender equality.
Their typology includes men’s rights activists, pick-up artists, incels, Christian men’s rights groups, and more. Each subgroup has its own set of priorities in their desires to slow, or even reverse, the gains made in recent decades toward gender equality.
“I think most of us now realize how serious the assault on women’s rights is in this country, but importantly, these restrictions are the culmination of decades of work by a variety of manosphere actors and groups,” Barnes says. “While high-profile acts of violence have made the headlines, the more organized and less violent spaces in the manosphere methodically worked to advance the retrograde ideas that are now sadly in vogue and infiltrating policymaking.”
Barnes’ research also establishes two dimensions to help establish a group’s likelihood for, among other things, collective action or political violence. The first dimension of the typology focuses on how the manosphere groups interact with women in real life romantically or sexually.
For example, an incel has difficulty finding an intimate partner and stays involuntarily celibate and resentful toward women as a result. Conversely, Christian men’s rights adherents encourage a high level of romantic and sexual interactions with women if the relationships conform to traditional patriarchal standards and men remain in control.
The second dimension relates to group cohesion – the degree to which a manosphere subgroup fosters a shared collective identity. Incels, for example, have tended toward isolationism and do not typically cultivate strong community, while groups in the Christian men’s rights camp tend toward high collective identity and camaraderie.
According to Barnes’ research, the manosphere began in the early 2000’s when men’s rights activists took their grievances online.
“For years, the manosphere has been either ignored or dismissed as an unserious byproduct of the Web 2.0 era,” Barnes says. “The reality is that while our backs were turned, the manosphere metastasized and grew more sophisticated, ultimately setting the stage for today’s popular podcasters and influencers who increasingly mainstream and sanewash the manosphere’s deplorable ideas.”
Barnes is a founding faculty member of UW-Madison’s Sexual Violence Research Initiative and her research focuses on how social policies impact domestic and intimate partner violence and gender dynamics. She is currently working on a book that addresses the politics of domestic violence in the context of developed European nations that have purportedly advanced gender equality yet struggle with high rates of domestic violence.