Childhood best friends Tyler and Kyleen begin college promising to be each other’s “keeper” on the path to righteousness, but when a budding romance with an alpha jock threatens to lead Kyleen astray, Tyler seeks guidance from the online Manosphere. Adopting the misogyny of his new pro-masculine community, Tyler is determined to keep Kyleen on the straight and narrow... by any means necessary.

In contrast to how anthropologists usually study groups that we readily sympathize with, this thesis sets out to create an understanding of one of the most anti-mainstream groups in Sweden: Men Going Their Own Way. Through combining an engaged fieldwork with extended interviews, I aim to explore the emic experience of finding, being, and practicing MGTOW. With the aid of certain theoretical frameworks and concepts concerning feelings of tension and frustration, processes of discipline and exclusion, and acts of everyday resistance, my informants' experiences and accounts are understood and contextualized. In addition to contributing to a very thin field of academic knowledge production around MGTOW, I hope to nuance the polemic debate through which "the other" is perceived.

In recent years, a group known as “Incels” has caught the public eye. The group consists ofmen who believe themselves to be in “involuntary celibacy”, without the means to ever finda sexual or romantic partner. The community is predominantly based online, organized innetworks and forums, where a worldview consisting of anti-feminism, sexual determinismand a hatred of modern society thrives. But why is the community successful, and how doesso many men end up on the forums? In this thesis, the mechanisms of the incel-forum areexamined by conducting a netnography on one of the larges incel-forums, incels.is, andevaluate the findings through a sociological lens. With this perspective, it is possible tounderstand incels as a societal phenomenon rather than something unique andindividualistic; because even though incels are unusual in their extreme rhetoric and actions,the mechanisms that influence them are not. By understanding incels within the specificcontext of love and sex in modernity, where romantic and sexual relationships have becomean important source for a sense of self-worth and romance and sexuality is in a state ofanomie, the level of misery expressed by members of the group becomes understandable.To combat this misery the power of groups becomes evident, where the expressions ofcontrol, status within the group, establishing group borders and creating a sense ofbelonging all contribute to protecting and strengthening the community. For incels, theforum becomes a place where meaning is created. In a state of anomie, incels reject societyand turn to retreatism, where the group becomes the place where they create their own setof strict rules and morals for the members of the community to follow.

The main aim of this thesis was to examine the ‘Men Going Their Own Way’ (r/MGTOW) community on Reddit. This aim was carried out by exploring (1) the themes perpetuated in the community, (2) how r/MGTOW fits in the contemporary ‘manosphere’, (3) the linguistic identity of its users, (4) the presence of hegemonic and inclusive masculinity, and lastly (5) the role of social media logics on r/MGTOW. The theoretical framework was comprised of theories about the characteristics of the manosphere, linguistic identity, hegemonic masculinity theory and inclusive masculinity theory, discourse, and social media logics.The analysis was comprised of research tools from Thematic Analysis, Content Analysis, and Foucauldian discourse analysis. The Content Analysis was facilitated by qualitative and quantitative software, WordStat. Through the use of these tools it was found that female nature, feminism, masculinity, society, and self-improvement were common themes in the community. Furthermore, masculinity, the dismissal of femininity, and a distinct lingua franca were elements that created a common antifeminist identity among the r/MGTOW users. Alleged scientific theories and beliefs about female nature and feminism were used as means to justify the position of men as victims. And lastly, most of the ideals of hegemonic masculinity, except for stoicism, were accepted.Taking social media logic into account, we see that users on certain platforms can boost certain content. This principle also applies to Reddit, which is the platform that hosts r/MGTOW. Therefore, research should further explore if online platforms can be held accountable for user-generated content. Additionally, further research should look into other methods for conduction the analysis, such as interviews, and should consider cross-fertilization of ideas between different manospherian communities. And ultimately, concepts such as victimization and identity formation online ought to be examined in this setting to acquire a broader understanding of the manosphere. The limitations of this thesis are the short timeframe of study and the lack of data triangulation.

This thesis offers an overview of the representational politics of the online antifeminist community known as the ‘manosphere’. It analyzes how gender and gender politics are represented in the discourse, with an eye to how traditional gender constructs, and traditional gendered norms and inequalities, are reproduced. This project—the first study to focus exclusively on the manosphere—contributes to our understanding of the community in two ways; it addresses a significant gap in the literature on the topic, and it tests the accuracy of the ‘conventional wisdom’ on the manosphere. Using mixed-methods critical discourse analysis, the study analyzed the discourse of the two primary subcultures of the community, and found that traditional gender norms and relations are reproduced therein, and that for the most part the conventional wisdom is accurate: femininity and women are disparaged, masculinity is imagined to be ‘in crisis’ (constantly under siege by feminizing forces), and feminism is represented as hypocritical and oppressive.

Existing research about the manosphere and the subculture of Incels is primarily focused on the discourse on the American online discussion forums. After several high-profile attacks performed by Incels, resulting in severe casualties, the phenomenon of Incels has reached the mainstream media as well as public interest in the forums where members of the manosphere communicate. The discourse displays a highly misogynistic worldview, where the belief in a hegemonic patriarchy is oozing with toxic masculinity. The shared misogyny has also led to discursive interactions between Incels and the alt-right movement. Men are considered to be entitled to women, and a rejection is an excuse for violence. This study aims to investigate if the of misogynistic discourse expressed in the American manosphere as well as in the alt-right has gained hold in a Swedish context. Mainstream media, as well as alternative media, have been investigated and analysed with discourse theory. In discourse theory, language plays an active role in constructing the social world and discourse creates a world that looks real or true for the writer. The Swedish online discussion forum Flashback is where most of the communication seems to take place for groups within the manosphere as well as the alt-right and where most of the misogynistic context can be identified. Themes and concepts from the American misogynistic manosphere can be recognised and has gained a strong hold in the alternative media as well as mainstream media in Sweden. The strong hold of the misogyny in a Swedish context may display a risk for future violent actions.

In this thesis I will use a ‘men’s rights’ influencers fanbase as an example of a new generation of people who values toxic and traditional masculinity. I will do so by doing a critical discourse analysis on 1200 comments from the platform Reddit, using Fairclough's three-dimensional model as inspiration. Furthermore, to deepen the analysis I have chosen to analyze the comments in relation to parasocial relationships, hegemonic masculinity as well as the concepts of traditional and toxic masculinity. I found through my analysis that the fanbase views the influencer as a form of ‘beacon of truth’, and made a plethora of external references in regards to the movie 'The Matrix’. Moreover, the fans articulate masculinity in a way where ‘strength’ is prevalent, and is in line with traditional and toxic masculinity - whilst holding the influencer as a form of ideal of this form. In the discussion I draw parallels to how referencing the Matrix as a concept could speak of a mistrust towards the government, and how the countermovement to ‘modern’ masculinity could result in dangerous practices. To conclude, I highlight how there is still more research to be done on the field of alternative influencers and what consequences this ‘countermovement’ may have.

The aim of this study is to make visible and analyze how male subordination is described and which ideals of masculinity are highlighted as worthy of aspiration in material from internet personality Andrew Tate. The material consists of interviews and podcasts that are available on the internet. The analysis draws on a qualitative content analysis, in which three feminist perspectives are used as an analytical lens for interpreting the material: liberal feminism, radical feminism and queer theory. The results show that male subordination is described as coming from an inverted gender order, a matriarchy, as well as inherent differences between the nature of the sexes that inhibit men. Among these inherent differences is a male sense of duty and a societal view of male value as lower than female. The results also show that violence, dampening of emotions, and money constitute masculinity traits that are highlighted as desirable. Tate's view of male subordination and ideals of masculinity is characterized by a tendentious argument that collides with the three feminist perspectives. Thus, it is possible to understand Tate's approach as anti-feminist, which is consistent with research on, among other things, the Manosphere that Tate can be connected to.

Following a series of terrorist attacks, online communities for men built around misogyny and resistance to feminist values – commonly known as the manosphere – have recently become subject of scholarly attention. In research, the manosphere is usually explored as a phenomenon in the Western world, often described as a backlash movement in countries where gender equality is most progressive. This thesis seeks to widen the geographical borders of manosphere research by exploring discursive articulations of tropes related to the international manosphere on an open-access Bulgarian online Q&A platform. By choosing this platform as a case study, this project aims to fill a knowledge gap by exploring whether discourses fundamental to international, largely English-language communities of the manosphere are found relevant on a mainstream online space in an Eastern European, Balkan country like Bulgaria, and what (if any) additional locally specific tropes emerge in this context. Drawing on a discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis informed by social identity theory, the study seeks to unpack how these tropes serve the practice of online social identity construction, with a focus on whether the social identities that emerge could be classified as potentially extremist. The research problem is approached both by analyzing discursive elements in a purposeful sample of user comments, and by keeping a focus on the affordances of the online platform as a space where these discourses are co-produced and disseminated.

Tidigare forskning har främst belyst incels i relation till våld och radikalisering. Förhållandevis lite akademisk uppmärksamhet har tillägnats det som kan förstås som kärnan av incelgemenskapen; avsaknaden av intima relationer. Följande studie ämnar fylla detta tomrum genom att undersöka incels föreställningar om maskulinitet och intima relationer, samt hur de kan förstås i relation till teoretiska perspektiv på maskulinitet och sexualitet. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod med en socialkonstruktivistisk forskningsansats. Materialinsamlingen har skett i form av ett tidsbaserat urval där skrivna inlägg från de tre internationellt största diskussionsforumen för incels inhämtades, vid tre olika tillfällen. Alla foruminlägg som publicerades inom en specifik timme inkluderades i urvalet. Empirin bearbetades med en induktiv konventionell innehållsanalys. De teoretiska perspektiven utgår från hegemonisk maskulinitet, och en utveckling av Bourdieus begrepp om fysiskt kapital. Erotiskt kapital användes som kompletterande teoretiskt begrepp. De övergripande resultaten visar att många av personerna på incelforumen förhåller sig till två föreställda strukturer inom vilka intima relationer antas uppstå. Den ena strukturen utgår från en föreställd maskulinitetshierarki där endast män med hegemonisk status antas kunna inleda intima relationer med kvinnor. Den andra strukturen består av en föreställd sexuell marknad där medlemmarna menar att kvinnor strävar efter att inleda relationer med attraktiva och framgångsrika män. Personerna på incelforumen försöker utveckla och etablera strategier för att uppnå en överordnad position i maskulinitetshierarkin och på den sexuella marknaden. Syftet med att avancera inom hierarkierna utgår från en föreställning om att endast en överordnad position kan möjliggöra intima relationer. / Previous research has placed incels in relation to violence and radicalization. Relatively little academic attention has been paid to what can be seen as the essence of the community; the lack of intimate relationships. The following study aims to close this gap by exploring how incels view masculinity and intimate relationships, and how this view relates to theoretical perspectives on sexuality and masculinity. This study is based on a qualitative method with a social constructivist approach. Data was collected in the form of a time-based sample where written posts from the three largest international forums for incels were collected on three different occasions. At each occasion all forum posts that were created or updated within a chosen specific hour were included in the sample. The material was processed using an inductive conventional content analysis. The theoretical perspective is based on hegemonic masculinity, and a development of Bourdieu's concept of physical capital. Erotic capital was used as a complementary theoretical concept. The overall results show that people on the incel forums relate to two imagined structures within which intimate relationships are assumed to arise. One structure is based on an imagined masculinity hierarchy where only men with hegemonic status are assumed to be able to initiate intimate relationships with women. The second structure consists of an imagined sexual market where forum members believe that women strive to initiate relationships with attractive and successful men. The people on the incel forums try to develop and establish strategies to achieve a superior position in the masculinity hierarchy and on the sexual market. The purpose of advancing within the hierarchies is based on the notion that only a superior position can enable intimate relationships.