Kim Holm and Matilda Plume, clinical psychologist program at the University of Gothenburg, has written a thesis on misogynistic radicalization with Emma as supervisor. The thesis is entitled: Misogynistic radicalization on the Manosphere – exploring the effects of entitlement and negative emotions can be downloaded here.
Abstract
During the last decade the online milieu known as the manosphere has been connected to numerous lethal deeds and acts of violence against women. The overarching purpose of this study was to gain a deepened understanding of the processes of online misogynistic radicalization. Drawing on theories on radicalization, masculinity, and the effects of emotions, we designed and conducted an online survey-based experiment to examine how average men can become misogynistically radicalized towards using or condoning violence. The experiment randomly assigned 596 American men to read fictional tweets designed to either threaten their masculine social identity or to be non-threatening. We used a model of moderated mediation, with entitlement as a moderator and negative emotions as mediators between the threat condition and measures of misogynistic radicalization. Our results showed that threatening messages increased negative emotions. Specific emotions had unique effects, with disgust and fear increasing measures of radicalization. Additionally, the effects of disgust on radicalization were moderated by degree of entitlement. Our results provide experimental evidence for processes of misogynistic radicalization occurring online, and its relevance to the general radicalization research field is discussed.