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

The ethnography “From the Red Pill to White Genocide” by Jay Marquis-Manicom was presented on march 3, 2020. Jay is an anthropologist, who did his field work on a group called the red pill. The study of these men is very dangerous as the only believe in fascist ideas, a hierarchy and male supremacy. This study was challenging as a lot of participants use publishers to help spread their views and ideas but this was not the point of the study. The point of the study was to educate others on White Male Supremacy but not have a biased opinion. This study was conducted to understand how these men viewed society and how these men wanted political control

One thing that stood out to me is when he went over how these men are not the stereotypical weirdos/drug addicts but instead are people who are all around us. In the text Masculinity by kimmel he states ” Gender is thus not only a property of individuals, some “thing” one has, but a specific set of behaviors that are produced in specific social situations. Thus gender changes as the situation changes.” This quote explains how a group of men influence one another. In this case the red pill are a group of men who believe in far right ideas and believe in male supremacy and believe in dominance.

The red pill is a online organization that was created for men who value Masculinity and believe that women are less superior. A lot of the topics Jay Mentioned were covered/talked about in our humanities course. Example the men in this organization believed that they were far more superior in society because they were “men”. Because men don’t show their emotions. A male’s name was brought up during the presentation and it someone who we are all familiar with. Donald Trump, The president of the united states. Jay said Trump is the perfect example of what male supremacy looks like and how trump believes in men running politics.

On Tuesday March 3, a presenter named Jay Marquis-Manicom spoke about online male supremacism and the alt-right. Jay is an anthropologist who stated a lot of interesting things which stood out in his presentation. He said the alt-right and far-right are not unified. The far-right have a lot of arguments but are very educated. The left values equality where as the right values hierarchy. He also stated that the alt-right won’t have a racist constitution take over Canada.

Jay spoke about liberalism and how he was not for it, he stated liberalism is “the established political order that we live in.”Jay built on ethnographic data to theorize about masculinities within the movement with a particular focus on gendered hierarchy. He concluded that “ male supremacism constitutes one path into the alt-right.” He also stated how the alt-right gives people a right to be who they are. Also anti feminism brought up and how it is the online male-supremacism. “Feminism is seen as a catastrophic ill.”-Jay He kept repeating the word “red-pill” and said it acts as a filler and recruiting ground.

In the men’s right activism movement and it’s sub-movement “the red-pill has expanded and bloomed online, offering support and advice to men who feel their masculinity is being challenged by societal shifts.” Jay mentioned how he had a friend named Felix who also took part in the alt-right group.

I can connect this presentation to the reading covered so far in the course. Both (the readings and the presentation) deal with the concept and idea of “Masculinity” and it’s power and rights. What it is to be a man in the workplace, or in society in general. “Males hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority and societal privilege.”

For this blog, I interviewed one of my close friends who has a very good relationship. I don’t have many close friends, no more than five, and he is the best among them. We met him six years ago. He He is also a man full of wisdom and reason. Although we are not in the same country now, I still interview him using chat software.

My first interview question with him was “why you close with your friend?”, And his answer was: “Because I am a human and human beings are social animals, they need to communicate and support each other, although some of them People do n’t like that, but I ’m not. I ’m part of the mainstream. We need friends to support and help each other. This is an instinctive action that is engraved on our genes and the body and brain will take. ”

My second interview question with him was: “What kinds of things do you like to do together?”, And his answer was: “Usually we go out to eat together because eating together is a way for humans to socialize It is also an essential part of promoting feelings and communication. At other times I will sit down and smoke and chat together, and sometimes play games together. “

My third interview question with him was: “Have you ever told your friend how much he means to you? If so, what did you say and how did he react? If you have never told him how much he means to you, why not? ”His answer was:“ Of course, for close friends, revealing your true heart is the best communication, showing your true emotions, and expressing it in words.

My interview with my guy friend aka my boyfriend went as expected. His answers were very basic. His answer to the first question was that he was close with his best friend because they grew up together and his friend has been there most of the time he’s down. What they mostly do together is just play video games, go to the gym and when they were younger, they would ride bikes, steal fruits and get in trouble together. In the text” Men in Relationships” it’s said that ” The term friend is typically used to demote some level of emotional support. This quote goes on to explain that my guy friend and his ” best friend” how much he means to him because his best friend will say that that’s gay. So they’re just friends and not best friends, thus the description of best friend ” designating friends who are emotionally intimate.”