On Tuesday, March 3, we all attended Jay Marquis-Manicom’s talk about his thesis entitled “From the White Pill to ‘White Genocide’: An Ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal.

The first thing from his talk that really stood out to me was that the men that are apart of this group look like typical well educated white males. This gave me the idea that really any white man that I see walking on the street could be apart of one of these groups and that there isn’t really anything that would allow me to know that mans beliefs. For the most part, I find this frightening because just as much as it could be any man, it could also be a man that I know or whom I look up to. When thinking of this, I also thought about the fourth episode of “Man Enough” which we viewed in class a few weeks back. In this episode it was explained how most women and men have gone through some sort of sexual abuse or have done some acts of sexual abuse. Many ordinary people have gone through it, but you cannot tell by the outside of a person or what the person will allow you to know about them to see it. Its the same concept with the men that are apart of the Alt-Right group and victims of sexual abuse, these are not things that are discussed openly, therefore do we really know anyone entirely?

Secondly, he explained how Alt-Right groups are against the rights of woman, how they are against the concept of women being equal to men. This means that woman shouldn’t have the right to vote, lower salaries and other things. There ideas were more based on traditional values that are no longer appropriate in any way. This concept in my opinion is unacceptable due to the fact that we are in 2020 and applying such a concept would cause complete chaos. Most importantly, us women shouldn’t be valued as less because we now play a major role in society and are just as well educated as men, therefore we should not be treated as anything else. When thinking about this idea, I referred back to the text “Masculinity” that we read. In the text by Michael Kimmel, it is said, “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes”, this means that institutions are responsible for teaching us gender differences. Gender differences that are taught can be a cause for the creation of these Alt-Right groups, they are taught about certain ideas that are taught by institutions, so institutions are responsible for the creation of Alt-Right groups in a way because ideas must originate from somewhere. To solve some of the issues with these groups, we must look into the issues and flaws in our institutions that push some of their ideological beliefs.

In conclusion, there were many things that stood out in Jay’s talk about the Alt-Right group which he studied. The things that caught the eye the most are that these men are really just typical white men that we see everyday and that a reason that we have such groups is because of issues within our institutions. These groups are a product of our own mistakes, we should try to fix the flaws in out institutions to prevent the creation of these kinds of groups.

On March 3, we were fortunate enough to listen to Jay Marquis-Manicom to talk about his thesis entitled “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide’: An Ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal.” He presented his experiences by surrounding himself with a group of men that have similar ideas: A group of white supremacist who hold antifeminine ideologies called The Alt-Right.

One thing that stood out to me during his presentation was when he said that the Alt-Right people are normal looking people. It shook me because we typically view them as drug addicts with tattoos all over their body, but to know that their looks are similar to ours is honestly alarming because we may not be able to distiguish them in our daily lives. They might look normal but its their loneliness that makes them change their ideologogy. Jay said that they often lack a sense of belonging which results in joining a group and this causes them to change their views on certain things. In the text “Masculinity” by Kimmel, he stated that “each of these people is deeply affected by the gender norms and power arrangements of their society.” They may at first have a positive view on women but by joining a group like Alt-Right, it forces them to change it and become brainwashed into thinking that men are superior and that women has no values in the society just to fit in the group.

Moreover, Jay also talked about the Red Pill, a place where men can discuss their hate towards women. Sexual conquest is one of their topics in the Red Pill. In Killmartin’s text “defining men study”, he stated that “Men gain status by being successful in all that they do especially in sport, work, and sexual “conquest”. So by bragging on having sexual intercourse on the The Red Pill, they feel powerful and earn other mens respect. They are ranked higher than other men to the point where others asks them advices on how to get a women to sleep with them.

As of the late 20th century, the equality and equity between men and women have progressed. Although we don’t hear it much often, a big community of an all-men group has been formed to create a movement which goes against the dominant culture. A week ago, Jay Marquis-Manicom gave us a visit and told us about his observation as he was disguising himself as part of the Alt-Right in Montreal, which is a part of his thesis entitled “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide’: An Ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal.”

First of all, I must say that Jay Marquis-Manicom was quite brave to be able to withstand being in a community that goes against his own beliefs. As he was explaining that the Alt-Right was quite strict when it comes to masculinity, he mentioned the term biological determinism, which means that if you are born male, you should act like one. This have reminded me of the reading on Kimmel’s definition of masculinities, as it was explained how “the evolutionary processes produce two distinct categories of humans, one that represents the traditional masculinity and another that is more passive and submissive”. Furthermore, in this same reading it was scientifically proven that biologically, male are superior than women. The Alt-Right community are good examples of those who has a hegemonic definition of masculinity, as they are rejecting all the feminine traits. We can also associate them as Anti-femininity, men in a box. (Ch.1 p.5)

Lastly, as the guest explained how the red pill promotes masculine norms and are against gay marriage, I assume that they are indeed homophobic. “Homophobia is the fear that other men will unmask us, emasculate us, reveal to us and the world that we measure up, that we are not real men” ( Ch. 24: Masculinity as Homophobia, p,147). I believe that people in the Alt-Right fears each other which is another way of defining homophobia.

In conclusion, I admire Jay Marquis-Malicom for his effort and risks so that we can raise the awareness of how men can be in need of special help sometimes.

 Listening to Jay Marquis-Manicom talk about his thesis entitled “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide’: An Ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal.” was pretty interesting and he brought up many important topics that needs to be discussed a lot more in today’s day and age. To find concrete material for his thesis, he “hung out” with a couple of people who believe that while male supremacy is their ideal society. Also known as the Alt-Right.

During his presentation he explains one of the four key concepts that the Alt-Right follow: their philosophy. He basically stated that these men do not know how to be men and are anti-feminists. Like in “Defining Men’s Studies”, these people are described as individuals who submit to society’s definition of a man being that you have to “dominate”. From the Alt-Right’s perspective, they basically join dominance and anti-femininity to describe their Utopian or ideal society. Furthermore, these men only correspond through this white male supremacy movement and do not connect on an emotional level. Just like Kilmartin said, some friendships are activity based and provide no real growth relationship-wise like how an emotional-based one does because they reveal their true feelings, but creating that kind of relationship between these men is going to be impossible if they keep seeing that showing emotion is a sign of weakness and not “stoicism”.

Another strong point that Jay Marquis-Manicom is how they are mostly composed of millennial men and that they are the “techy” generation meaning that they were good with technology. Most millennial men are regarded, as kids, as people who stay behind their computer playing with other people online and talking to people online, who are a lot of the time only males, and not face-to-face. This reminds me of the part in “Defining Men’s Studies” where they talk about how some people talk to their peers side-by-side and not face-to-face” because they feel more comfortable that way. And that millennial behavior is very similar because they don’t meet in person and they are activity-based relationships most of the time. Moreover, since the demographic of the Alt-Right being all male also reminds me that Kilmartin mentions that, at a very young age, you start spending more time with the same sex rather than the opposite. Since males grow up with the idea made by society that a man should be dominant and show no emotion and that females are basically the opposite, they aren’t afraid to show their feelings, it might explain why they develop these anti-feminine ideas and why women have an upper-hand when it comes to communication.

Another good point was when he mentions that people join because they are lonely and are searching for their “identity”. From my perspective, I’m just guessing that these men are just looking for someone to talk to, but are scared to talk to open up, so they look for people in the search of the same thing but in the end they’re just fed with these dangerous ideologies.

I think some interesting points that we heard about last Tuesday fall in three basic categories. Primarily we heard some interesting facts about gender and how there is a small/ insignificant number of women who take place in the alt right movement. Secondly we heard about race and how it seemed that the major players in the alt right movement (notably nazis) were white. Finally what seemed to me as being the most interesting part of this presentation was that members of the far right/ neo nazi group that was infiltrated were more likely to have come from less severe right leaning group, in this case, a misogynist group called the red pill.

So an interesting part of the presentations that tied in nice with our course was the role that men played in the leadership of these right leaning groups. In reading literature from this course it becomes clear the role men play in conflict and leadership along with conflict resolution. Example : Why men would declare war on half of the worlds population (women) instead of developing social skills to cure celibacy.

Secondly, the racial aspect to the alt right was an important topic at the talk. Obviously the Neo nazis were white but what was interesting to me was the way this tied in with the mass murderer/ sociopath profile which tends to be isolated lone white male.

Finally and to me the most interesting point brought up in the presentation was this idea of men following other men down a rabbit hole. These members of alt right groups aren’t just born fascists, they follow important figures they look up to, the same way incels look up to mass murderers.

Last week, I assisted to a talk given by Jay Marquis Manicom, named “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide”. During this talk, Manicom basically explains his conclusion after being surrounded by a group of Alt-Right, and the links that relied the Alt-Right and the Red Pill together. Sadly, they are both against the power of the women and want men to be as powerful as they were before, taking away most of the women’s rights.  

First, Jay talks about how the Alt-Right and the Red Pill are both antifemininity. Usually, the indoctrination starts by the Red Pill and then people join the Alt-Right community, where the hate toward women is brought to another level. They want to feel more powerful than women and to prove that they are stronger than them. Their main goal is to be everything a woman is not. As Kimmel explains on page 2 of his text “Masculinity”: “What it means to be a man is to be unlike a woman.”. Therefore, the group is known as a group that doesn’t show any weakness and doesn’t talk about their emotions, which are considered as women trait. The only emotion that they do talk about and share together is their anger towards women. For men, showing the emotion of anger is totally fine, it only proves that they are more masculine, just like when they get into fights.

Also, the Red Pill is basically a place for men to discuss how they hate women and where they share tips about how to get women. By doing that, men, once again, are trying to prove their superiority over women and that they are real men. According to Kilmartin, in his text “defining men study”, statue and achievement is one of the fourth terms enumerated to prove someone’s masculinity. “Men gain status by being successful in all that they do especially in sport, work, and sexual “conquest”. Powerful men earn respect and admiration of others.”. Which is basically what the Red Pill is about. Men are out there sharing tips about how to get women to sleep with them and trying to convince/prove that and that women should only be used for their need because they don’t worth anything. As they talk about tips to get women to sleep with them, they talk about what has worked for them, therefore they do talk about their sexual conquest and others at them with admiration wishing desperately that it will for them as well.

More, the Red-Pill and the Alt-right is all about a social hierarchy. As mentioned earlier, those men want to feel more powerful than women, and if they could they would like to bring back the system where women are at home doing what their man tells them to do and where women had no right. As Jay mentioned in his presentation the Alt-Right really wants to take away from women some rights that they have, like their right to vote for example. Moreover, there isn’t just a social hierarchy toward women, there is also one inside the group. They divide the group deciding who is going to be superior and inferior. We can say that they use manhood toward each other. Which Kimmel expresses as the power over women and men that men used to prove that they are powerful than others. By denigrating others, they probably feel more in control and confident, which provokes a feeling of power.

Throughout the last decade, we made a significant amount of progress in fighting for equality between man and woman. However, there are still people who keep the same old mindset about how women should be labelled as objects. This way of thinking feeds men’s ego to the point where they created an ideology of it. And that group is called the Alt-Right, where they believe in all white male supremacy. On March 3rd, we listened to Jay Marquis Manicom’s ethnographic study called “From the Red Pill to “White Genocide”: An ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal”, where he talked about how the group came together and ended up being part of the Alt-Right movement. 

While Manicom was presenting his thesis, he mentioned one point that was disturbing. He said that the group he was studying all went to “The Red Pill” to talk poorly on woman and set ideas on how women should be placed in society. Some examples he used was that they wanted women to not vote anymore, to have no political position, and to basically stay out of their business. In addition, they use violent words and/or actions to express their manhood because like Kimmel said “violence is often the single most evident marker of manhood” . To continue, not only to they talk badly on woman, they also talk about how to get laid. They try so hard to be the stereotypical man that only wants to be superior than woman. Kimmel stated that men are afraid to be called and to be seen as feminine that they put a mask to “remove” their feminine side. And in this case, the sole purpose of that website is to hide their sissiness and to prove that they are the definition of man, which we all know isn’t true. 

Moreover, Manicom said while interviewing them he realized that they all had normal jobs and normal lives. They were not “crazy”. They just had crazy ideas about how they wanted to “rule the world”. This group really proves to us how thinking you have the power over anybody can lead to irrational thinking and behavior. Also, this sort of bonding they have, Kilmartin would call this acquaintances. They are just buddies that meet and talk about specific topics. No actual “emotion” and “intimacy” are shown within them. (Kilmartin). That kind of relationship is toxic and lead to no real friendship. Furthermore, what’s also shocking is that this group is from Montreal. We are here thinking that multiculturalism and equality are 100% supported, but sadly it is not. That is why we need more people like Jay M. to talk about important subjects like the Alt-Right because they are preventing women to reach their great potential. That being said, it is sad to still hear and see that groups like them think that their ideas are valuable. What men like them need to do is face the truth that they’re too scared to admit that they are miserable without us women.

On March 3rd, we have had a visit from Jay Marquis-Manicom to talk about the thesis “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide’: An Ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal.” It talks about a group of white males, named the “Alt-right”, who would love for Canada to go back to the way it was when white males “ruled the world”. They were like Montreal’s Neo-Nazis for White supremacy. The members consist of only male members but, they are people like us who, through various experiences of which we do not know, chose to join. I could imagine how difficult it must have been for Jay to not speak out of line with these guys. He explained that he just went along with the flow and subtly contradicted them. There were not many subjects that he touched that caught my eye until he started mentioning words that we covered in class.

First off, Jay started talking about the philosophy that the Alt-right followed as one of the four key concepts. He explained that the group believes that masculinity is important, that they are against modernization, and they view male supremacy as the better option. Then, Jay mentions the words “antifemininity”, which made me think about the text written by Kilmartin with the chapter named “Defining Men’s Studies.” In that text, Killmartin describes an antifeminine person as a person who steers clear of behaviours, interests, and personal traits that people would say are feminine (Kilmartin “Defining Men’s Studies). Therefore, we know that the group is not a big fan of showing each other their emotions. Furthermore, the text also states that many theories suggest that antifemininity is the mother brain of all the other concepts. Plus, as I learned in psychology, the way you think will influence the way you feel, and the way you feel affects the thing you do and the way you behave.

Next, Jay mentions the hierarchy system that the group has when he is describing the fourth concept “Outlook of the group”. The hierarchy system is a system in which people ranked based on the status they have. In this case, the supremacy group, of course, class women as inferior and men as superiors, which again, is probably because of bad experiences. However, since they have this social hierarchy, they cannot have close friends. Kilmartin’s text “No Man is an Island: Men in Relationships”, states that men who give in to the stereotypes of being a man are bound to suffer from loneliness and have more conflicts based on psychological intimacy (Kilmartin). Based on this claim, I highly believe that the men in the group do not have much trust between each other. They might view the others as acquaintances because they probably only see each other when it is time for a meeting, or as buddies since they share this activity. Either way, they lack the deep connection to form a strong bond between the other members.

Lastly, the demographic side of the group. The group is mostly formed of millennial men, zoomers, people who are good with computers, and gamers. What all these people have in common is that they don’t socialize, mostly because they can’t. states that in men-only groups, they will interact using insults, silence, and direct questions to show acceptance and agreement, or the opposite (Kilmartin). The way to notice the difference can be explicit, like the words used, or explicit, such as the tone of the person’s voice. I’m not sure why, but it is probably because if you are talking to someone over a computer chat, or a game chat, people judge you less. As Michael Kimmel mentions in the text “Masculinity as Homophobia”, fear makes men feel ashamed, because it is proof that they are not as manly as they pretend to be. I feel bad for them, but at the same time, I sort of understand how they feel. Society programs us to think that we need to be a certain way, and they will insult you by calling you weird for example. I take weird as a compliment, because, no one else can do what I do.

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.