Study finds that men's harassment of women in online spaces is linked to their own lack of perceived masculinity

[Veelk]

ABSTRACT

Harassment is a persistent problem in contemporary online environments, with women disproportionately experiencing its most severe forms. While critical scholars posit that online gender harassment may be linked to men's anxieties about fulfilling normative masculine gender roles, this relationship has not been examined by empirical research. We survey 264 young men between the ages of 18-24 about their masculinity anxieties and their perceptions of harassment directed at a woman on Twitter. We find that men who perceive themselves as less masculine than average men report higher endorsement of harassment. Further, we find that the relationship between masculinity anxieties and harassment endorsement is mediated by men's adherence to masculine norms and toxic disinhibition. We interpret these results through the lens of social media's specific affordances, and we discuss their implications for technology designers and other practitioners who wish to better detect, prevent, and remediate online harassment by accounting for the role of gender.

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3313831.3376645

This is gonna be a real "Yupthatswood.jpg" moment for a lot of you, but if you ever found yourself in a debate and for some reason can't leave and instead need to own someone with facts and logic, here you go.


And for the gamers out there, here's a study that links men's performance in video games to how hostile they'll be to women online.

Insights into Sexism: Male Status and Performance Moderates Female-Directed Hostile and Amicable Behaviour

Gender inequality and sexist behaviour is prevalent in almost all workplaces and rampant in online environments. Although there is much research dedicated to understanding sexist behaviour, we have almost no insight into what triggers this behaviour and the individuals that initiate it. Although...

journals.plos.org

Who knew git gud was a socially progressive message all along?

 

[Bundy]

Yep. Not shocking at all. Because it's well known.

 

[NoRéN]

I mean, duh.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

No way!

 

[Messofanego]

Projection is a helluva drug.

 

[Pollen]

I think the most important takeaway for me from that study is the idea that social media does not adequately address harassment/online intimidation because their terms of services' are enshrined for a presumed homogenous group of people. Rather than enumerate terms and potential responses for each marginalized group, everything is applied generally. Very interesting. Would need to read further to see their methodology, but it's interesting to note that they primarily surveyed white men. For future studies, I'd like to see one conducted that measures patterns of behavior within all types of men of different backgrounds.


EDIT: lol just read the Future Considerations section and saw that they agree that studying a more diverse group of men would yield interesting results as well. Also good to see them acknowledge a future direction in comparing the significance of harassment between white women and women of color. Intersectionality yay!

 

[MegaManTrigger]

I mean you see this most evident in incel culture. The whole reason they are lashing out against women is because they perceive their masculinity as being weak. That's why there is a division between Chad and the betas, in their eyes, Chad is the normal person who can practice masculinity as a form of dominance, while the betas are themselves with no real sense of what it means to be a masculine person (masculinity as reduced to stereotypes of having a big dick, muscles, cars, money, instant attraction to opposite sex). Their perception as being unable to express masculinity as we know it results in overwhelming projection and thus harbours intense anger.

 

[wandering]

Sure it might seem like an obvious conclusion, but I'm glad we're getting more dialogue about this, because it's an incredibly pressing issue that doesn't really get adequately addressed. The toxic radicalization of young, disaffected men (of many different backgrounds) in an environment of pervasive media and digital communication is a threat we desperately need to contend with.

We need more honest, open, and emotionally vulnerable discussions about the way contemporary men interface with masculinity and sexuality in an increasingly stressful, divisive, and uncertain era. Right now we have a tendency to mock incels and the like but we really need to figure out how to rehabilitate those kinds of men, and stop men from getting there in the first place.

 

[terminaljeremy]

 

[Crossing Eden]

 

[Hrodulf]

When you look at which "types" of women get the most harassment and what they get harassed over, this isn't really surprising at all.

 

[ItchyTasty]

It sucks to sometimes be the victim of somebody else's feeling of inferiority, but this is how humans lash out when they feel bad about themself.

This is not healthy for anyone, especially when they have safe spaces for themself to foster these negative thoughts on masculinity and women.

 

[Arkanim94]

No way.

 

[Idde]

Sure it might seem like an obvious conclusion, but I'm glad we're getting more dialogue about this, because it's an incredibly pressing issue that doesn't really get adequately addressed. The toxic radicalization of young, disaffected men (of many different backgrounds) in an environment of pervasive media and digital communication is a threat we desperately need to contend with.

We need more honest, open, and emotionally vulnerable discussions about the way contemporary men interface with masculinity and sexuality in an increasingly stressful, divisive, and uncertain era. Right now we have a tendency to mock incels and the like but we really need to figure out how to rehabilitate those kinds of men, and stop men from getting there in the first place.

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Here's a video where it's abundantly clear some men just do not know how to deal with masculinity and sexuality in a healthy way.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/st...eir-own-lack-of-perceived-masculinity.195444/

The guy says some despicable shit (even more in the other Jubilee video of men's rights versus feminism) about how he thinks women should be treated. It's also clear as day he was hurt in a bad way in the past and (probably) had a pretty dysfunctional upbringing. When the girl sincerely asked him who hurt him in the past you can tell he didn't know how to respond to the question. It's also pretty clear he feels inadequate in some ways, including masculinity.

I don't mean this in a 'poor incel' kind of way. But just saying; he's a sexist shithead...isn't gonna stop him from being a sexist shithead. Understanding what factors cause that kind of behavior so it can be changed is essential. Especially seeing how increasingly common, and increasingly dangerous that behavior is becoming to women. Research like this might be a 'water is wet' kind of thing, but it's a part of understanding how radicalization works, and in this case how it manifests online.

Edit: In case anyone thinks I'm implying women/girls should ask incels who hurt them, that's definitely not what I mean.

 

[Ushojax]

It's always the same type of person that harasses and abuses others on social media, the type that doesn't have a sex life. Most people having regular sex don't have the insecurity that leads them to abusing people online.

I think most of these people would stop their disgusting online behaviour if they had some straightforward therapy and gained a bit of self-confidence. It all stems from being lonely and not feeling socially fulfilled. People who are too afraid to talk to people in real life direct their rage towards the seemingly more confident people they see online.

 

[Deleted member 58401]

This is a rare one of those, yeah, no shit studies that I'm glad they did anyway.

I think most of these people would stop their disgusting online behaviour if they had some straightforward therapy and gained a bit of self-confidence. It all stems from being lonely and not feeling socially fulfilled. People who are too afraid to talk to people in real life direct their rage towards the seemingly more confident people they see online.

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Therapy or a healthy sexual education in school and a deemphasis on a) the primacy of sex in culture and b) an understanding that what "men" are supposed to be culturally was determined by men and therefore maybe no super thoughtful toward others. But yeah, probably therapy too.

 

[olag]

A while back something happened to someone close to me and while I was justifiably angry at the time looking back I can now distinctly remember how this person tried to swallow his masculinity /pride and try to explain his emotional position but couldn't.

To be honest, I'm glad studies like these are finally happening because atleast we can now start tackling subjects like cultural/ religious ideals on masculinity and how the entrainment industry pretty much reinforce them.

Obviously this won't solve every issue but the discussions need to start happening.

 

[Conmex]

Where can i read the full study? We cant just take the abstract a face value. Ive learned this from bullshit nutrition studies.

 

[AbsoluteZero0K]

Sure it might seem like an obvious conclusion, but I'm glad we're getting more dialogue about this, because it's an incredibly pressing issue that doesn't really get adequately addressed. The toxic radicalization of young, disaffected men (of many different backgrounds) in an environment of pervasive media and digital communication is a threat we desperately need to contend with.

We need more honest, open, and emotionally vulnerable discussions about the way contemporary men interface with masculinity and sexuality in an increasingly stressful, divisive, and uncertain era. Right now we have a tendency to mock incels and the like but we really need to figure out how to rehabilitate those kinds of men, and stop men from getting there in the first place.

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Well, to start, we have all this data, all this discourse on what toxic masculinity looks like that we don't even know how to talk about the alternative.

As in if you want to practice healthy masculinity via positive reinforcement--not what to avoid doing, but what one should be doing.

 

[Idde]

Well, to start, we have all this data, all this discourse on what toxic masculinity looks like that we don't even know how to talk about the alternative.

As in if you want to practice healthy masculinity via positive reinforcement--not what to avoid doing, but what one should be doing.

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This might seem strange and far from sufficient, but what they did with Thor in Endgame seems like a step in the right direction. Here you have a guy with a literal godlike body, the epitome of masculinity...and you saw him break down on screen. And you his mother accepting that. Not even accepting, but encouraging him to open up, and telling him that's okay. And despite his failures, and feelings of failures, he's still worthy of Mjolnir.

A lot more could've been done with that, but as far as mainstream entertainment goes it's a small step.

 

[iAmPossum]

Insecurity breeds aggression. Makes sense.

 

[Bleu]

no shit, rat dogs always bark the most.

 

[sgtnosboss]

YOU DON'T SAY lol...

 

[Veelk]

Where can i read the full study? We cant just take the abstract a face value. Ive learned this from bullshit nutrition studies.

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In the link I provided. There is an option to download it as a pdf.