Dr. Alexandra Krendel: The Reddit manosphere as a text and place: what do they say and why does it matter? Event
- Time:
- 17:00
- Date:
- 29 May 2024
- Venue:
- Avenue Campus and online
Event details
In this talk, I will discuss a series of papers in which I analysed the language used within the loose online anti-feminist network called the manosphere in various ways, focussing on the Reddit manosphere in particular. The manosphere includes groups such as pick-up artists, the Red Pill and involuntary celibates (also known as incels) and individuals such as Andrew Tate, some of whom have committed offline attacks which are motivated by manosphere beliefs.
In the first paper, I analysed the representation of gendered social actors across the five main sub-groups of the manosphere using a corpus-based approach. I did this to determine what representations are consistent across the manosphere. I then focussed on one sub-group, The Red Pill, which serves as an ideological hub for multiple manosphere sub-groups. I used a corpus-assisted discourse approach to investigate the appraisals made about gendered social actors, to reveal beliefs that a corpus-based methodology may miss. Finally, I used an approach based on speech act analysis to consider the relationships between people who post on The Red Pill, to examine how manosphere sites may function as an enticing community. I conclude by demonstrating how these methods complement one another and how these findings feed into discussions about the spread and mainstreaming of manosphere ideas.