Misogyny as Gateway Drug? Examining the Inter-Connection Between Male Supremacist and White Supremacist Radicalization Trajectories

Since the 2018 Toronto van attack, which killed 10 people and was coined by its attacker as the beginning of a so-called ‘incel-rebellion’, the manosphere – a network of digital spaces, whose members connect over misogynist red-pill ideologies of unfair male victimization – has increasingly been discussed in the mainstream media. A common media narrative is that the manosphere serves as ‘gateway drug’ to other radical online and offline white supremacist spaces, such as the racist Alt-Right and a variety of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In fact, a range of manifestos written by right-wing terrorists, such as the Christchurch shooter, contain references to and from the manosphere. However, while there is increasing evidence that right-wing extremism and male supremacism appear to cross-fertilize each other, there is no proof for the assumption that male supremacism necessarily precedes white supremacism in the radicalization process. Building on feminist research on gendered processes of radicalization, this article, therefore, sets out to fill this gap. Based on a mixed-method analysis of the posting history of Reddit users who became ‘activated’ into two of the most radical subreddits of the manosphere in 2018, I analyze whether the manosphere indeed represents a natural pre-stage for what is considered as more radical groups and networks online. Following the overview of the user base, based on qualitative analysis, the paper develops a typology of different user behaviors, which expose different ways of engagement and cross-fertilization between male and white supremacist groups online. Since these have quite different implications for de-radicalization and feminist counter-action, I argue that future engagement with radicalization trajectories should be more mindful of advancing unilinear theses like the gateway drug thesis.