‘The pussy ain’t worth it, bro’: assessing the discourse and structure of MGTOW

ABSTRACT

In the era of networked affordances, misogynistic men’s groups have been rapidly growing and have contributed to several physical fatal attacks along with the propagation of gendered online harassment and e-bile. It is thus important to study the organisational structures and communication dynamics of these groups to provide insight into why they have been successful in recruiting members and how they further spread and normalise misogynistic beliefs. One such misogynistic group is MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way). This study seeks to understand the structure and content of discussion within the forum of the official MGTOW website. To do so, it undertakes a content analysis of comments (n = 1012) inspired by Freelon’s (2010, 2015) multi-norm approach to studying online communication, which draws on the liberal individual, communitarian and deliberative models. It also assesses the broader patterns of commenting (n = 628,745) participation amongst users (n = 33,863). The results suggest that debates on the forum combine elements of each communicative approach and that this reflects a contradiction in their underlying ideology of separation and individualism. In addition, it was found that topics of conversation primarily focused on two topics: women (the majority of which unfold in a misogynistic way) and defining MGTOW – both as a collective identity and a personal journey.

KEYWORDS:

• MGTOW
• Manosphere
• online misogyny
• moderation
• online deliberation
• digital culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Scott Wright is a Professor in Political Communication and Journalism at Monash University. He directs the Research Unit in Journalism and Political Communication at Monash and is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on different forms of political talk, deliberation and political participation online, and the impact of technology on journalism practice [email: [email protected]].

Verity Trott is a Lecturer in Digital Media Research at Monash University. Her published research explores digital feminist activism, feminism in popular media, intersectionality online, online harassment and digital masculinities. She is a member of the Automated Society Working Group at Monash University in which she investigates the impacts of digital technology, AI and automation from a feminist and intersectional standpoint [email: [email protected]].

Callum Jones is a PhD student at Monash University whose research primarily focuses on ideological extremism, especially with regard to the networks and discursive strategies of ideologically radicalised groups and the violence they produce. His research aims to approach violence in a preventative way – a method informed through several years of policy and advocacy work within the violence prevention not-for-profit sector [email: [email protected]].

ORCID

Scott Wright http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4087-9916

Verity Trott http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0288-4044

Callum Jones http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4269-4827

Notes

1 In 2018, a post by an administrator on the subreddit r/MGTOW celebrated the group reaching 54,000 members but by mid-2019 the subreddit had 124,000 members and MGTOW hashtags on Twitter are also very active (Jones et al., 2019).

2 The notion that women are consistently favoured in theory or practice, which places them in a position of dominance over men within a societal hierarchy.

3 Digital refugees refer to users who migrate from one online space to another as a result of the initial space being shut down (e.g. platform decisions, moderation).

4 In our discussions of online posts and tweets we will not be adopting the convention of writing ‘sic’ after grammatical, spelling or syntax errors in recognition of the informality and colloquialisms found in such contexts. This is common practice when studying online discourse (see Emma Jane’s 2014 work on ebile).

5 AWALT is an acronym that stands for ‘all women are like that’ commonly used within Red Pill ideology to assert that all women will behave in the same way in certain situations.

6 Leaving the plantation in MGTOW ideology refers to rejecting modern gender roles – which dictate that men should protect and provide for women financially – and putting oneself first.

7 Monkey branching is when a woman maintains personal relationships with men other than her current partner so that she has ‘back ups’ to swing to should she choose.

8 The notion that women are consistently favoured in theory or practice, which places them in a position of dominance over men within a societal hierarchy.

9 A reference to the fact that traditional gender roles dictate that men within relationships should provide financially and the woman willingly accepts, and at times, exploits this.