Abstract
In Fantasy, Online Misogyny and the Manosphere, Jacob Johanssen presents a series of interrelated analysis which prove that the men of the manosphere are entangled in contradictory fantasies, desires and thoughts about women, which are deeply rooted in patriarchy and misogyny, but can go beyond them to extend to fascism. The book reimagines and traces how racist men, who harbor fascist ideologies converge, share ideology, influence and motivate each other on internet-based platforms. According to the writer, forum platforms and social networks such as 4Chan, 8Chan and Reddit as well as other commercial social media like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook have contributed to the rise and mainstreaming of alt right ideology in recent times (P. 1). The book therefore tries to answer the basic question of what forms misogyny and how misogyny is articulated amongst the different communities of the manosphere.
The book does not lay blame on the internet, but uses historical antithesis to prove that fascism and racism have been around from at least the Nazi invasion of Germany. The men of the manosphere therefore embody a belief which long existed before the internet and the fora they occupy. Theoretically, the book is motivated by psychoanalytic theory. The writer is largely drawn towards Freudian ideas in his analysis of the men of the manosphere. Lacan (1977) also influences the writer's analysis on desire, sexuality and fantasy. The book uses a historical multi-disciplinary approach to show the significance of certain events in relation to the men of the manosphere today. The strength of the book is that the writer analysis specific online communities (YouTube, Reddit, NoFap) and specific personalities ((Breivik and Rodger). He is therefore able to draw adequate and legitimate conclusions on their behaviors by adopting a thematic approach which is based on the work of other psychoanalytic theorists such as Young-Bruehl (1996) and Theweleit (1987, 1989).
In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the book is organized into seven chapters. The introduction presents the general ideology and theoretical motivations for the book. The objectives of the book, its significance and the personal reflections of the author are also laid bare.
Chapter one is titled; Male Fascist Bodies- Then and Now and presents the underlying framework of the book. Other works which are central to the author's arguments, such as prejudice and character types are explained in this chapter. The author exclaims that the men of the manosphere embody a particular type of masculinity which places them within a fascist state of mind. The book further uses Theweleit's work on the soldiers of Nazi Germany to explore the current authoritarian turn in legal, political and popular discourses of sexual freedom, which is central to the beliefs and fantasies of the men of the manosphere. One of the central ideas I picked from this chapter is the writer's commentary on psychoanalysis, racism and white supremacism. He draws on Hook (2018) to explore the idea that racist fantasies and actions bring sadistic joy to the people who act on them. This provides a peek into a fascist state of mind and shows how it articulates itself in the fantasies and desires of the men of the manosphere. The writer further argues that the men of the manosphere embody fascism because individuals cannot always adapt and sometimes lag behind and therefore seek to defend themselves against social change which they find threatening (p. 39).
Chapter two builds its narrative around the sexual revolution, the manosphere and (post) feminism. This chapter generally analyzes and reviews arguments in feminist theory and sociology. The changing nature of human sexuality as a result of the social changes that occurred because of the sexual revolution is also discussed. The writer also builds arguments from the angle of feminism, the evolving changes in gender and identities, men's rights movement and the alt right. The writer argues that fascist politics are intrinsically connected to the sexuality of the men of the manosphere. The men of the manosphere in their arguments for fascism believe that the sexual revolution led to an increase in homosexuality, abortion, and the sexual freedoms of women, according them, all these have led to the feminization of men. The men's rights movement therefore claim men have lost most of their rights and they are advocates in helping men win back those lost rights which include women's sexual submission. The problem with the men's rights movement is that, they cannot accept the forms of liberation in sex and freedom of choice that women enjoy today. The writer also builds a connection between whiteness and the alt right movement. He states that the election of Donald Trump as president of America has seen a strengthening of the manosphere and an increase in men's rights activists as well as men's rights movements. The writer explains that queer theory and gay rights (which are both part of the sexual revolution) have changed how sex is seen and experienced, and this is very unsettling for the men of the manosphere, hence they find solace in joining alt right movements and misogynist online fora.
Chapter three draws insight from the backlash against the sexual revolution on YouTube. It discusses videos from YouTube channels which belong to content creators who identify with the alt right and its related movements. The YouTube channels analyzed in this book are very specific in their content. They blame the sexual revolution as the single event in modern history that has led to the decline in the moral standards of society. According to the alt right YouTube channels, the sexual revolution led to women's sexual liberation, the commercialization of pornography and the spread of homosexuality. The backlash against the sexual revolution of 1968 is the key component of the YouTube content analyzed in this chapter. As far as the alt right content creators are concerned, social problems such as divorce and teenage pregnancy are somehow effects of the sexual revolution. An example is when YouTube Channel, The Daily Wire claims the declining divorce rate is a direct result of the sexual revolution (p. 79). Vendee radio, another alt right YouTube channel analyzed in the chapter attributes the freedom in sexuality these days to forces which are working to undermine heterosexual white males. The perceived effort to undermine heterosexual white males becomes easy to understand when one takes into account the sexual privileges that these males have, privileges that traditionally include a submission from women. According to the book, fascists also have perceived notion of cultural Marxism which they capitalize on to spread the hate and abuse of anybody they consider an enemy. The hatred and abuse of other groups such as women and minorities by fascists is further explored when the writer delves into how the Nazi regime in Germany described Jews as decadent, lustful and hedonistic people who are out to destroy the existing social order (p. 87). The idea of evolutionary psychology is also introduced when the writer alludes that the men of the manosphere misrepresent gender differences as biological facts in order to prop up patriarchy as a structural system which needs to be supported by sexism and misogyny.
Chapter four to me is one the interesting chapters of the book because it discusses incels and their ironic fantasies of destroying but simultaneously wanting and craving the attention of women (The Other). This chapter is unique because it analyzes data entirely from Reddit. Incels subscribe to a system of sexual hierarchy. By their own estimations, attractive white alpha males who are known as Chads are at the top of the sexual table and are the kind of men preferred by Stacy's (attractive, beautiful, white women). According to law they are the least attractive kind of males and remain at the bottom of the sexual hierarchy, therefore women who fall within the same attractive scale should be force by law to be with them. Incels discuss the fundamental concern of lack of sex in their discussions on their Reddit channels. Whereas they desire to destroy all women, they harbor a simultaneous desire of attraction for these women. The book through its analysis of incel data from Reddit proves that the anonymous nature of the internet allows the men of the manosphere to abuse, troll and harass women. The chapter also discusses humor as one of the strategies deployed by incels in their discussions of women, sex and relationships. For incels, their lack of confidence in attracting the women that they desire is one of the failures of neoliberalism, because they are still too depressed, unattractive or lack the economic status to attracted Stacy's (p. 105). Whereas incels display a hatred and violent fantasies of getting revenge on women and ignoring them, they also exhibit a desire to be chads and be with Stacys. In essence this is a form of masked violent invasion which shows a level of hatred of women because of rejection.
The work of Young-Bruehl (1996) is introduced in chapter five where the writer analyzes another group of men within the manosphere known as Men Going Their Own Way (MGOTW). Just like incels, MGTOW fantasize about women but advocate male separatism from women. Some MGTOW advocate for men to abstain from sex and masturbation because it makes men feminine. The MGTOW community is full men congratulating each other on making the choice to live in solitude without women. They blame their parents for their miseries. Whereas the MGTOW movement survive on a fantasy of life without women, the men of the incel community depend of the heterosexual woman as an abstract, universal category of interest (p. 125). The book further postulates that, just like incels, the MGOTW movement is built on an underlying desire and want of heterosexual women. The writer by reflecting on the psychoanalytic framework of Young-Bruehl describes MGTOW as hysterical and obsessional characters and concludes that even though the men of the manosphere claim a fascist state of mind, they need not be fascist to do so. Fascism in the case of the manosphere provides a provides a perceived armor to protect the fragmented egos of these men.
Chapter six focuses on the writings or so-called manifestos of two mass shooters (Breivik and Rodger). Both manifestos display misogyny and a clear hatred of women. Rodger who was a self-professed incel filled his manifesto with fascist ideas and so did Breivik. Whereas Rodger's hatred was simply directed at women and Chads, Breivik's was of a religious nature. Breivik displays Islamophobia when he writes in his manifesto that by the year 2083, Islam in Europe will be defeated for the second time. Just like the Nazi soldiers who were used in the persecution Jews, Breivik feels threatened and thinks his ego is falling apart because of a powerful Other (Islam). Rodger on the other hand encourages incels to realize their true power and overthrow the oppressive feminist system. Whereas their anger is directed at different Others (Islam and women), the two mass shooters recognize an otherwise less powerful Other gaining power and superiority, for which reason they must be stopped. Both mass shooters bemoan a childhood of neglect from their fathers, who are supposed to be their role models. This neglect by the phallic figures in their lives lead to their social awkwardness, a reason they blame for their inability to attract women. The mass shooters examined in this book fantasize a fascist society where women are banished and kept away from men. Evidently, the men of the manosphere blame their women for their fathers’ inability to love a and mentor them because their dads were feminized and turned into betas. The chapter places more weight on the phallic figure when it argues that mass shooters kill because they believe the act of killing will lead to them being recognized by their fathers who have long neglected them.
Chapter seven discusses and analyzes data from the anti-pornography and the anti-masturbation community NoFaP. The chapter analyzes content from the community's official forum NoFap.com. The community is a self-help group where people (read men) who claim to have been addicted to pornography document their progress while discussing strategies to help them overcome their addiction. NoFap started on Reddit until they had their own dedicated website/ forum. Members of the community advise each other on ways to stay away from pornography and masturbation in order to overcome their addiction. The users of NoFap.com present themselves as helpless addicts. This enables them to grow through a process of self-victimization, because it provides them an opportunity to blame other people such as women and the sexual revolution for their addiction. Whereas incels reject neoliberalism, NoFappers aspire to be neoliberal. Amongst the groups of the manosphere that the book discusses, NoFappers appear to be the most progressive because, they are the only community who have genuinely identified a problem and are taking steps to solve it. According to NoFappers, addiction is something that has been brought unto them because their brains are wired to respond to sexual stimuli. The first step towards ending an addiction is to admit it. NoFap.com allows men the opportunity to accept their addiction, without being judged.
The book's conclusion introduces a new approach to theory. The writer adopts Jessica Benjamin's (1998, 2018) theory of intersubjective recognition for analysis. The writer then expresses that the rise of Donald Trump in American politics motivated a rise of other alt right politicians elsewhere in the world and this facilitated the strengthening of fascist communities online. The book concludes that the men of the manosphere are not in control of their bodies and are not in touch with who they really are, and that the desire for sex while harboring thoughts and fantasies of destroying women is actually a desire for recognition.
Besides the technical nature of the book which made it quite difficult to read for a social researcher like me, because I have never studied psychology or psychoanalysis, I found it really interesting and I will like to commend the writer on his strategy of presenting his ideas in sub themes within the broad themes of the various chapters. That may be the reason I enjoyed reading the book even though I had to keep an eye on google and the various references so I could understand the psychoanalytic terms, theories and jargons.
