Toxic Anger

&
Woodstock
99
• In September 2015, the hashtag #MasculinitySoFragile
was trending on Twitter. The ostensible purpose of the
hashtag was to illustrate the precariousness of “toxic
masculinity,” a (heterosexual) masculinity that is
threatened by anything associated with femininity
(whether that is pink yogurt or emotions).
• We are in a new era of the gender wars, an era that is
marked by alarming amounts of vitriol and violence
directed toward women in online spaces. These forms of
violence are not only about gender, but are also often
racist, with women of color as particular targets.
• a phenomenon refered to as “networked misogyny.”
Anonymity is a common culprit, as are the technical
affordances, structures, and policies of online platforms
• these explanations for online harassment (and other
forms of networked misogyny) fail to acknowledge the
structuring nature of misogyny

• (BANET-WEISER: “From Pick-Up Artists to Incels”)

attributing violence against women to technological elements, an insufficient legal system, anomalous
individuals, or other factors encourages a distraction from the deeply embedded contextual factors that
legitimate the logic of misogyny.

That is, misogyny is not only widespread and deeply entrenched in Western culture, it is naturalized. The
focus on technical and legal elements, while important, thus becomes a means to address specific
components of networked misogyny, rather than fighting what seems to be an insurmountable cultural
and normative battle.

While popular feminisms have varied goals and different means of expression, there is a predominant
theme: what women need is self-confidence.

Popular misogyny is, at its core, a basic anti-female violent expression that circulates to wide audiences
on popular media platforms.
a masculine lack of confidence and perceived lack of empowerment identify a clear culprit: women
and feminism. It is important here to note that the men who comprise the Men’s Rights Activists
and Pick-Up Artists (MRA /PUA ) communities are not men that are considered to be
hegemonically masculine. In fact, the primary demographic of the MRA /PUA movement is young
men who fall into the “geek/nerd” category.

However, incidents of weaponized misogyny are not simply a response to entitlements that never
came to fruition. They are also a response to the incursion of women and people of color into what
were previously almost exclusively white, male spaces.

This fear of female encroachment is far from relegated to online social spaces: men are also
threatened by potential economic loss as a result of this apparent feminine invasion.
• “incels” (“involuntarily celibate”), a member in an online community
of men united in their injury by their inability to convince women to
have sex with them.
• In 2014, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded
14 others in Santa Barbara, California
• reason behind his massacre was that he was a “frustrated pick-up
artist.” He justified his actions in his “manifesto” as retaliation
against women as a group for refusing to provide him with the sex
he felt he was owed.
• Rodger went on his rampage apparently because he identified as
an incel
• A study by The Washington Post on the rise of the extreme right in
the United States found that White males are more likely to feel
“white vulnerability,” or a “strong perception that whites are losing
ground to other groups through no fault of their own”
• Although not all mass killers identify as incels, since 2007 in North
America, many mass killings have been claimed by them, and
almost all are White
• It is clear that mass shootings often have a gendered dimension to
them; a recent article in The New York Times states, “A professed
hatred of women is frequent among suspects in the long history of
mass shootings in America”
The rather overused word “neoliberalism” can refer to its modes of subjectivation
—the ways that postwar governing has encouraged the formation of selves through
various
discourses, strategies of address, and techniques of transformation

Three dimensions of this mode of subjectivation: entrepreneurship, expertise, and

expectations

Clearly, misogyny is not unique to the contemporary moment.

However, recent developments in the digital media environment have been crucial
to constructing what is referred to as the “manosphere,” a corner of the Internet
that supports and amplifies different kinds of masculinities and men’s rights,
including “anti-feminists, father’s rights groups, ‘incels’, androphiles (same-sex
attracted men who don’t identify as homosexual), paleomasculinists (who believe
male domination is natural) and even more obscure fringe groups”

What binds the manosphere is “the idea that men and boys are victimized; that
feminists in particular are the perpetrators of such attacks”

These narratives cohere in what is called the Red Pill philosophy (TRP). Taken
from the movie The Matrix, TRP touts itself as a revelatory shift in masculine
thinking that “purports to awaken men to feminism’s misandry and brainwashing,
and is the key concept that unites all of these communities”
Sexual confidence is seen as a resource, one in short supply. The more women
have it, the less men do. Once sexual confidence is defined as a scarce resource,
women are considered threats to the supply and are thus themselves turned into
resources. Thus, women must be controlled and made less confident in order for
men to become confident.

Neoliberalism’s social care deficit means there is no social support, only antisocial
support.

What incels call an uprising or rebellion is thus the latest version of the war on
women that accompanied the rise of capitalism
• Incels have gone further back in history to claim killers as one of
their own, including Marc Lepine of the 1989 Montreal Massacre
• Contemporary incels are birthed in an inwardly focused, mutually
assured antisocial sociability
• Despite its intersections with misogyny and overwhelmingly male
groups, the person credited with coining the term “incel” was
actually a woman.
• Alana, who is known only by her first name, first popularized the
term in the 1990s, through a personal website called “Alana’s
Involuntary Celibacy Project” for those who were struggling to
form loving relationships.
• Based in Toronto at the time
• The term “incel” became a part of the language she used with
her followers as they discussed feelings of shyness and social
awkwardness. However, as the term spread, it began to take on
different meanings.

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45284455
Woodstock 99
• Woodstock '99) was a music
festival held from July 22 to July
25, 1999, in Rome, New York.
• After Woodstock '94, it was the
second large-scale music festival
that attempted to emulate the
original 1969 Woodstock festival.
Woodstock was the most famous of the
1960s rock festivals. Its full name was The
Woodstock Music and Art Fair. It took
place on a farm property in Bethel, New
York, August 15–18, 1969.