Fantasy, Online Misogyny and the Manosphere: Male Bodies of Dis/Inhibition

Description

This book presents the first in-depth study of online misogyny and the manosphere from a psychoanalytic perspective. The author argues that the men of the manosphere present contradictory thoughts, desires and fantasies about women which include but also go beyond misogyny. They are in a state of dis/inhibition: torn between (un)conscious forces and fantasies which erupt and are defended against. Dis/inhibition shows itself in self-victimization and defensive apathy as well as toxic agency and symbolic power and expresses itself in desire for and hatred of other bodies. The text draws on the psychoanalytic thinkers Klaus Theweleit, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Jessica Benjamin and Wilhelm Reich to present detailed analyses of the communities within the so-called manosphere, including incels, Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), alt-right YouTubers and NoFap users. Drawing on wider discussions about the status of sexuality in contemporary neoliberal technoculture since the sexual revolution of the late 1960s, it illuminates how sexuality, racism and images of the white male body shape the fantasies and affects of many men on the internet and beyond. Integrating a unique theoretical framework to help understand how today’s increase in online misogyny relates to the alt-right and fascism, Online Misogyny and the Manosphere is an important resource for academics in a variety of fields including psychoanalysis, media and communication studies, internet studies, masculinity research and more. Cover Endorsements Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Series preface Preface Acknowledgements Content Warning Glossary Introduction: a psychoanalysis of the manosphere Fascism, the Alt-Right, the manosphere and social media Blue pills, red pills and snowflakes Gamergate Pick Up Artists Psychoanalysis: fantasy, desire, castration and affect Chapter summaries and theoretical positions of this book Why this book? Some self-reflections Reproducing toxicity Us vs. them logic, absent women and lack of alternatives Notes Chapter 1: Male fascist bodies - then and now Sexuality, gender and psychoanalysis Racism and psychoanalysis The Mass Psychology of Fascism and Male Fantasies The fascist character Sexuality and upbringing The absent presence of woman The soldier's body: fragmented ego and body armour Dis/inhibition Conclusion A critical placement Notes Chapter 2: The sexual revolution, the manosphere and (post)feminism The sexual revolution of 1968 Problems of the sexual revolution Feminisms and the birth of the Men's Rights Movement: changing masculinities Whiteness and the alt-right Geek masculinity Postfeminism, porn culture and irony Beyond hegemonic masculinity? Conclusion Beyond the victim ideology Notes Chapter 3: The backlash against the sexual revolution on YouTube The online backlash against 1968 Sexuality and post-1968 moral decline 'Cultural Marxism' Porn addiction, STDs, gay marriage - all caused by the sexual revolution Anti-semitism and homophobia Neoliberalism and the market of sexuality Evolutionary psychology and the rationalisation of entitlement Conclusion Notes Chapter 4: Incels and fantasies of destroying/desiring the other Online misogyny and the manosphere Misogyny and humour Mental health and responses to neoliberalism's failures Destroying and desiring women Fantasies of masculine strength Fascist bodies Conclusion Conscious fantasies The incel's psyche and Reddit Notes Chapter 5: Men Going Their Own Way - MGTOW: woman shall (not) exist MGTOW and the necessary fantasy of woman A psychoanalysis of MGTOW and incel characters: affirmation and denial of difference In/dependence Incels and MGTOWs as obsessional characters Hysterical characters The erotics of fascism? Where is the unconscious? Conclusion Notes Chapter 6: The manifestos of mass shooters and the absent father The real and fantasmatic role of the father Anders Behring Breivik Elliot Rodger Fantasies of fascism From redistribution to retribution: the absent father Conclusion Notes Chapter 7: NoFap: masturbation, porn and phallic fragility The historical evils of masturbation Psychoanalysis, desire, masturbation and pornography NoFap: the promise of the phallus The other man: fears of becoming gay Averting the other's gaze The sissy hypno conspiracy to weaken all men: the thing and the user unconscious The need to name someone The cuck: a racist fantasy from porn to the manosphere A note on masochism Conclusion: the perverse technoculture of phallic entitlement Notes Conclusion: from dis/inhibition to recognition - a space for hope? Sexuality and its discontents The push and pull of the unconscious Capitalism and the utopia of big data Beyond doer and done to The pre-Oedipal model of recognition: in/dependence and discovery Destruction as recognition? Bibliography Index