Beyond the manosphere: a panel discussion exploring the wider phenomenon of male-centred online communities

Abstract

The manosphere is a loose network of anti-feminist and more broadly reactionary male-centred online spaces, influencers and communities. A range of scholars, activists, practitioners and policy makers have turned their attention to generating strategies aimed at countering the misogynistic reactionary ideologies that boys and young men influenced by the manosphere are increasingly adopting. While great work is being undertaken in this space, what if there are also answers to this worrying phenomenon in the wider landscape of male-centred online community building? Are there other male-centred online communities at the margins of, adjacent to, or actively seeking to counter the manosphere that might hold keys to better understanding and combating its rise? How can thinking through the wider phenomenon of male-centred online communities inform new imaginaries that challenge, rather than perpetuate, male supremacy? In this curated conversation, we bring together key scholars whose work on masculinities, the manosphere and the wider phenomenon of male-centred online community building might help us to better understand and more effectively counter the manosphere. This panel addresses the digital conditions that have allowed male supremacist discourse to proliferate and imagines what could lie beyond the vitriol for men online through imagining alternative spaces and thought.