Jay Marquis-Manicom’s “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide’: An Ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal.” had a couple of interesting points that captured my attention regarding how alt-right men behave and think. The’re were some observations that he made that I wouldn’t think would be familiar within this specific social group. Jay also mentioned a few ideologies that these men share between them which were quite uncommon to our current way of life and go against general social beliefs.

One thing about Jay’s experience reminded me of one of the studies explained in “No Man is an Island: Men in Relationships” conducted by Eleanor Maccoby where it is seen how men tend to spend more time within men at an early age: “By the age of six and a half, children choose to spend the majority of their time with same-sex peers.” (Kilmartin 163). Also another study in the same text by Tannen explains how men continue to spend more time with men rather than women. The fact that the alt-right was only composed of males and no females demonstrates how the observations of these studies have impacted these men. The males within the group are used to spending the majority, if not all of their time with other men, hence one of the possible reasons that they find themselves contributing to this political group. Although it is not common to see that a women takes part in an a organization where they talk about abolishing the right for women to vote, it is the upbringing of these men that encouraged them to join a similar group where they are surrounded by people of the same gender and for that reason it is solely populated by them.

Another highlight about Jay’s study that he pointed out was that these men were educated people who have graduated in respectable programs and have respectable job titles. I feel that this may surprise to a lot of people but not for me because I do not see any direct correlation between someone’s educational background and their political views. A doctor, for example, can have an evil mindset at heart and the want to hurt people so he gives them wrong medication on purpose. This is the way I think about this fact that Jay pointed out. However, I could somewhat understand why people would be surprised about it because one would think that men who believe women shouldn’t be able to vote wouldn’t have high demanding jobs that take up their time.

Lastly, an observation that was pointed out by Jay which was very much discussed in class and in the texts was the social hierarchy that existed within the group. Social hierarchy is something that is commonly found in male-male relationships. Kilmartin explains how both parties try to ridicule one another in order that one of them is seen as more “dominant” to the other and any other person that is in the presence of that first male. The relationship between men is more revolved around competitiveness and dominance. For that reason, men have the desire to acquire the “top” status on the others , hence why they form and create a hierarchy.

I attended on Tuesday a very interesting talk by Jay Marquis-Manicom about his thesis, “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide’”, in which the speaker discussed the links between the Alt-Right movement and the Red Pill. Through the talk, he explained how members of the Alt-Right, a far-right white supremacist movement, are often also involved in online male supremacy by taking part in websites such as The Red Pill. Many aspects in this talk stood out to me.

First, in his talk Jay told his audience about The Red Pill, a website where men share tricks on how to get women to sleep with them. He explained that on these websites, men consider women biologically inferior. This is, however, not unique to men who have “taken the Red Pill”. In fact, one of the most important components of stereotypical masculinity and fitting in the man box is to not behave “like a girl”, which includes not showing emotion or any sign of weakness. Showing weakness and vulnerability is unmanly because it is considered a feminine trait, which means that several men view women as being weak. This idea is supported by Christopher Kilmartin and Andrew P Smiler’s work, “Defining Men’s Studies”, which states that “males are encouraged from an early age to avoid behaviors, interests and personality traits that are considered ‘feminine’. Accordingly, men are directed to not show emotion, sometimes referred to as “emotional stoicism”, because emotion is often considered as a central and defining characteristic of femininity (Bem, 1974; Spence and Helmreich, 1978)” (Kilmartin & Smiler 5). Therefore, men who have taken the Red Pill consider women to be weaker for expressing emotion and use this superiority to validate their masculinity.

Another interesting aspect of the talk was the philosophical component that links male supremacists who have taken the Red Pill to Alt-righters. Indeed, these people believe, among other things, that masculinity is in crisis and that “men aren’t men anymore”. But what does it mean to be a man? For these people, it includes as mentioned earlier being superior to women. Jay even said that it would be the end of the world for them if women had equal rights. Furthermore, based on their past as pick-up artists and the goal of websites such as “The Red Pill”, it is safe to assume that being a man, for these people, has got to do with sleeping with many women, or, as referred to on page 5 of Christopher Kilmartin and Andrew P Smiler’s work “Defining Men’s Studies”, “sexual ‘conquest’”. By sleeping with many women, men achieve this “sexual ‘conquest’” and obey to what society considers to be masculine. In fact, Kilmartin and Smiler even suggest, in that same work, that “The combination of Antifemininity and Status and Achievement support the notion that men are inherently superior to women, and thus can be seen as justifications for sexism”(Kilmartin & Smiler 5), which links this paragraph to the previous one: these men believe that women are inferior to them, meaning they are weaker and can be manipulated easily to have sex with men, giving men more sexual conquest and making them more manly.

Lastly, another moment that stood out to me was when the speaker was talking about the demographics of the alt-right movement. He stated that it is dominated by millennial men, which made me think about what it is in women that doesn’t drive them towards so much violence. This can be explained by women’s stronger ability to communicate their feelings, which leads them to resort less to drastic measures and violence. As stated on page 166 of “No Man Is an Island: Men in Relationships” by Kilmartin and Smiler, masculinity “directs men to avoid sharing feelings. Even when they do, their upbringing shortchanges them”, meaning their relationships are less intimate. The same work reported, also on page 166, that men who do have intimate relationships (which goes against what masculinity dictates) report less violence. This goes to show that these men, who want to be viewed as strong, virile and enlightened will clearly not communicate emotion and have violent tendencies such as the alt-right movement. To conclude, understanding masculinity is important if we want to understand the roots of movements such as the Red Pill and the Alt Right. As Jay Marquis-Manicom said himself, understanding the movement is the only way to dismantle it.

On Tuesday, March 9, 2020 we were able to hear a fascinating presentation entitled “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide’: An Ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal.” by Jay Marquis Manicom. Jay placed himself in an environment where he was surrounded with a group of male supremacists. He wanted to observe and interview these dangerous men to analyze the connections between the online male supremacism and the alt-right. In doing so Jay Marquis Manicom brought up some interesting points which all correlate in one way or another.

He brought up the fact that hierarchy plays an immense role in male supremacists. With hierarchy comes power and dominance. Male supremacists believe they can apply assertion to all women. Jay brought up that in the eyes of these males, women are inferior, worthless and that they are there to only serve them. These males filed with fascist ideas believe that going on sites such as “The Red Pill” to diminish and talk very poorly about women online and have others share and comment even worse things about women is their way of expressing how they are feeling in this society. Male supremacists believe that everything in this society is owed to them and that everyone should look up to them and this is certainly why Jay Marquis Manicom also brought up Donald Trump. Donald Trump can be seen as a dictator who he himself does not see women as equal to men but rather below men. Trump just like male supremacists are both very dangerous in having each their own very strong ideas about what they want our society to become which is not beneficial to women in anyway.

Kilmartin has written many stories which help combine what Jay Marquis Manicom has presented. For example in Kilmartins’ story entitled Men In Relationships he talks about how status in men is very important. On page 162, Kilmartin explains the definition of status and how it “refers to an individual’s position within the social hierarchy.” Males are born with the idea that the more they achieve the more advanced they are on the hierarchy. Just like male supremacists who believe that the more power they gain from climbing up the chain of hierarchy, the better they are in the eyes of everyone else. All males want to be seen as role models, even male supremacists. Kimmel has also written many stories that can further explore what Jay Marquis Manicom has presented. For example in Kimmels’ story entitled Masculinity Kimmel states on page 2, “What it means to be a man varies in different institutional contexts, and those different institutional contexts demand and produce different forms of masculinity.” This relates to male supremacists because in their group they see themselves as better than women and as having more power than women whereas in other groups of men this may not be the case at all. There are many males that see themselves as equal to women. There are various definitions of what a man is and in the context of a male supremacist it involves hating on women.

I would personally never want to live in a world where I, as a girl am scared of men and have to obey by there rules. I hope male supremacists stay online and do not act upon what they say.

By: Alexandra Rose Morgan Arseneau