Like many other teenagers, Instagram is one of my most frequently used apps. Despite the generally positive algorithm I’ve curated for myself, misogyny always leaks into the reels I watch.
Sometimes the misogyny—hatred towards women—is subtle, disguised as a negative comment. It’s obviously cruel, but unless you were an expert at identifying internet chauvinism, it would slip by. The fact that these comments are subtle is the whole point; they’re meant to degrade women.However, due to the fact that these comments are so subtle, pointing out the misogyny makes one seem like a “deranged feminist”, instead of someone who is pointing out the obvious. These comments or videos often degrade women’s hobbies as being frivolous, which could just be construed as a way to critique consumerism; or they are critiques upon celebrities, always appearance based, and rarely towards men. However, one of the most prevalent examples I’ve seen is those saying that they can easily beat a woman’s lifting record; conveniently ignoring the differences in muscle mass between men and women.
Of course, then there’s outright misogyny. Comments that say that women are unintelligent, or don’t have rational skills like men have. These comments sometimes have an add-on about women not being capable of being in office or undeserving of suffrage.
Violent threats or denial of violence is common too. Denial of violence usually comes in the form of victim blaming or straight denial of sexual violence faced by women, despite the fact that according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center 81% of women have reported some type of sexual violence or harrasment in their lifetime. These comments come in the form of the ever dreaded “its because of what you wear” or “you’re too ugly to ever be raped.” The intimidation of women falls under sexual categories often; however, sometimes they are just outright threats of violence.
Although misogyny has existed for a long period of time, a network of online communities known as the manosphere make these comments more prevalent online. The manosphere perpetuates anti-feminist and anti-woman ideas, often placing blame on women for men’s issues in the modern world. These online spaces exist in every platform; from r/TheRedPill on Reddit, infinite 4Chan boards, and lurking under the surface of Instagram through hashtags such as #lookmaxxing.
In more moderated spaces such as Instagram, the manosphere exists in such a way where it becomes virtually impossible to find unless you know what you are looking for. Due to the subtlety of these spaces, it becomes increasingly easy to get sucked into misogynistic ideology. Those in the manosphere refer to those being sucked into the ideology as red pilling—a term taken from “The Matrix”; a film ironically directed by two transgender women. Due to the algorithmic nature of Instagram and TikTok, manospheric content becomes easy to access through common searches such as bodybuilding or building social skills. Those in the manosphere prey on insecure men and oftentimes those who search these things will often be pushed towards the manosphere through videos generated by the algorithm.
As the manosphere is easy to both access and become sucked into, sexism becomes popular for those that witness it. Through that, those that accept the beliefs of the manosphere become more likely to bring those beliefs to the mainstream of internet spaces, outside of their hateful bubbles. With those ideas being brought into the internet, women’s online communities are disrupted. Places that once seemed safe and bonded become toxic through the comments of web-surfing chauvinists. As awareness about the manosphere is raised, it is important that those that witness it call out problematic beliefs that lead to a rise in misogyny. By working to prevent misogyny, the world will be a more stable place for women globally in both the physical and digital worlds.
