Aggressive Communication Online: From Familiar Anti Women Sentiments to Misogyny Influencers and Male Supremacism in the Manosphere

Routledge Handbook of Conflict and Peace Communication Seminar Series 

17 April

17:00 UK Time 

While aggressive communication toward women is far from new, its growing proliferation in the online arena is a comparatively recent phenomenon, one that contributes to the increasing polarisation and inaccessibility of online spaces. This talk explores how misogynist hostility is accomplished online through familiar tactics of gender-based slurs, stereotypes, and graphic threats, juxtaposing these with the recent rise in structured male supremacism spreading from the Internet’s manosphere to mainstream platforms. I highlight the intersectional nature of misogynist hostility, demonstrating that its collusions with racism, queer and femmephobia, and transphobia works to subjugate particular identities in quantifiably different ways.

Allysa is a final-year PhD Candidate in Criminology at the University of Manchester. She’s spent over six years researching male supremacist communities online, with the bulk of her work focusing on misogynist incel forums.