‘“I Want to Kill You in Front of Your Children” Is Not a Threat. It’s an Expression of a Desire’: Discourses of Online Abuse, Trolling and Violence on r/MensRights

Abstract

This chapter adds to the growing body of literature on online misogyny and studies of Reddit by focusing on an online culture which perpetrates and encourages forms of ‘online othering’, including misogyny and violence. It focuses on Men’s Rights Activists’ (MRA) discussions of trolling and gendered violence, and their online othering of ‘outsiders’. This includes the denigration and abuse aimed at feminists and social justice warriors (SJWs). Findings are presented which focus on: denial of women and feminists as victims of online violence; the victimization of men online; and constructions of online violence. These previously unexplored online discourses provide us with a valuable insight into the construction of notions of online acceptability and deviance vis-à-vis digital communication, the boundaries between online/offline violence and culture wars.