"Too much internet and not enough real life makes Jack a paranoid boy": the affective attraction of the manosphere

Abstract

This thesis explores why certain men are drawn to three specific Manosphere forums: /r/TheRedPill, /r/MGTOW, and Incels.co. I begin by acknowledging that the men on these forums are genuinely suffering as a result of the pressures of performing masculinity in neoliberal societies. The confluence of these two factors drives certain men to seek alternative discourses to both explain their situation and offer solutions to it. To explore this, I construct a theoretical framework that synthesises the work of Ty Solomon and Sara Ahmed, that outlines the relationship between discourse, affect, and emotion. This framework allows me to understand how the discourses on all three groups translate men’s affect into recognisable emotional signifiers and, in doing so, construct men’s affective experiences as experiences of loss – specifically a loss control, masculine identity, and meaning. At the same time, each discourse offers these men an encounter with control over their lives and women, masculine identity, and a sense of meaning which allows them to understand their circumstances and the world around them. Each discourse therefore becomes a site of strong affective investment, both attracting men to the forums and keeping them there. None of these discourses, however, successfully delivers on their promises of wholeness. Instead, these men are left to oscillate between wholeness and lack, striving to regain control, identity, and meaning but never quite getting there. But herein lies hope. This oscillation means these men are not securely held within the logic of these discourses. Instead, there is a chance they might divest from them, and seek another alternative. The promotion of alternative discourses that do not work on a violent and misogynistic basis and are instead founded on positive feminist values can thus offer a more sustainable and less harmful alternative to these men.