Digital Masculinities and Democratic Backlash: Socialization, Spillovers, and Resistance

Abstract

Contemporary extremist and far-right movements increasingly rely on and use digital infrastructures to diffuse gendered ideas of hierarchy, dominance, and belonging. Through influencers, micro-celebrities, and algorithmic amplification, masculinities are re-articulated and mainstreamed, moving from formerly fringe culture into the everyday. This panel collects papers that investigate how masculinities are mobilized, normalized, and contested within digital political ecosystems, focusing on the intersection of gender, democracy, and online socialization. The panel aims to examine how anti-democratic and violent political masculinities circulate through mainstream platforms and influencer networks to shape political imaginaries and democratic engagement. Ultimately, the panel seeks to advance feminist and intersectional studies of how masculinities are (re)produced through digital infrastructures by linking research on men and masculinities with digital politics, extremism studies, and youth socialization.

Title	Details
AI’s Political Geographies of Gender: Algorithms of Oppression and ‘Manfluencer’ Encounters	View Paper Details
From the Margins to the Mainstream: Youth Wings as Catalysts of Anti-Democratic Masculinities	View Paper Details
Detecting far-right discourse in social media platforms	View Paper Details
United by Misogyny: Navigating Black Masculinity in the White Manosphere	View Paper Details
Performing political masculinity on the bodybuilding.com forums	View Paper Details