Discrimination in absentia: Online misogyny and the manosphere

In this talk, I will review an ongoing research project that focuses on language use in the so-called manosphere. The manosphere can be described as a loose online network of websites and discussion forums dedicated to specific issues that are relevant to its members, such as techniques for seducing women, male separatism, men’s rights activism, and involuntary celibacy. Consistent across many of these sites and forums is the legitimation of misogyny through discussion of ‘red pill philosophy’, which disavows feminism and gender equality. The MANTRaP (Misogyny and The Red PIll) project examines language use within and

between manosphere communities and considers how the popularisation and normalisation of misogynistic discourse, especially online, may have profound social effects on beliefs, values and social behaviours. The talk will introduce the members of the project team (Jessica Aiston, Alexandra Krendel and Mark McGlashan), highlighting their contributions and elaborating on the special aspects of manosphere discourse that they work on. This will be followed by a review of publications that have resulted from our collaborative work, alongside other previous studies that inform our research. I will also present some current work on how specific concepts of manosphere discourse are argued and talked about online. The focus here will be on the often blurred boundaries between hate speech, verbal aggression and linguistic discrimination. The team has worked with a broad range of academic and non-academic research partners to develop tools and strategies for countering the social harms resulting from the normalisation of misogynist discourse and practices, especially via mainstream online media. Accordingly, the final part of my talk will focus on collaborations between the MANTRaP team and individuals and organisations in academia and beyond.

Veronika Koller is Professor of Discourse Studies at Lancaster University (UK). Her research interests centre on language, gender and sexuality, political discourse, and corporate discourse. She has published widely in those areas, with book-length publications including Metaphor and Gender in Business Media Discourse (2004), Lesbian Discourses: Images of a Community (2008), Discourses of Brexit (co-edited, 2018) and Voices of Supporters: Populist parties, social media and the 2019 European elections (co-authored, 2023).