Join me at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism Conference.

The conference will be held online. You can register here: https://www.theirms.org/conference

Conference presentation

I will be presenting a paper on the following topic. I will update details with the specific time of my presentation when the conference program is released.

Counter or Alternative Narratives: How do we best address the ideology of anti-feminist movements?

With increased recognition of the dangers of global anti-feminist movements, social movements and policy makers are increasingly figuring out how to address this threat. Taking learnings from countering violent extremism (CVE) literature, this paper will examine two approaches to addressing violent ideas – counter and alternative narratives. Recently, movements to prevent and counter violent extremism have focused predominantly on counter-narratives, which are intentional or direct efforts to ‘discredit, deconstruct and demystify violent extremist narratives through ideology, fact, logic or humour’ (Biggs and Feve, 2013, p13). Counter-narratives proactively counter the ideology of extremist groups, by, for example providing evidence of the gender pay gap to counter claims it doesn’t exist, or countering claims of male oppression by pointing out power still held by men.

Counter-narratives take the approach that ideology is what we need to defeat first. Research on the success of counter-narratives however is very sketchy. This is primarily because, for many people, particularly in the edges of these movements, ideology often isn’t the main motivation for joining. Instead, people often join due to a sense of isolation or disconnect from society, with anti-feminist spaces, providing a space where individuals are heard and feel safe (Kimmel, 2018). Counter narratives therefore target the wrong part of the problem. I propose instead that social movements and policy makers use alternative narratives. Alternative narratives aim to reduce radicalisation by giving participants an alternative story to help explain their situation and feelings, providing a different, more positive, path for people to go down (Hemmingsen and Castro, 2017: 32).

Instead of trying to counter misogynistic ideas, alternative narratives seek to talk with men about the real causes of their problems and encourage them to join movements that aim to tackle these causes. This approach is already happening within antifeminist spaces. The subreddits r/IncelExit and r/ExRedPill, support men who have left or wish to leave Manosphere communities (Thorburn, 2023). Insights from these communities show individuals never, or rarely, decide to leave communities after being ‘challenged’ by others, with motivations to leave ranging from discovering ideological inconsistencies within the movement, or through having friendly or warm relationships with women that present alternatives to the anti-women narratives driven by Manosphere leaders (Thorburn, 2023). While not a full solution, alternative narratives should be one part of the toolbox to address growing anti-feminist movements. I will examine what we can learn from CVE literature and how these lessons could be applied to tackle male-supremacist ideologies.