Blog 2: Shift in Society

In the past few years, I’ve seen the popularity of “incel” behaviour and hateful ideologies rise through social media, more particularly on YouTube and TikTok. The documentaries Charlottesville: Race and Terror and Inside Incel as well as Michael Kimmel’s essay, Masculinity as Homophobia, have given me insight on why it is that men have been gravitating towards ideologies of racism, sexism and homophobia. I think that part of it is because men feel as the they automatically deserve respect, but feel threatened by the loss of power they’ve experienced in the past decades. I believe that these hateful movements are a way for many men to regain a sense of power and importance within Western society.

To start off, it’s no secret that throughout the past decades, we’ve seen a shift in the western world in regard to the importance of the traditional role of men in society. We’ve seen the development and acceptance of the feminist movement and with it, the dismissal of traditional masculinity where men were viewed as strong, powerful, and authoritative. The past decades have also shown a significant diversification of its communities in the in more and more places, instead of just in major cities. And more recently, we as a society have learned to accept queer people and their culture. I think that these rapid and drastic changes have made many men feel that the importance of their role in their communities is under threat. In Masculinity as Homophobia, Michael Kimmel explains that insecure men have a tendency to exclude and bully those that they deem as less manly such as women, gay men, nonnative men, and men of colour in the hopes that they can “reground their sense of themselves without those haunting fears and that deep shame that they are unmanly and will be exposed by other men.” This is the basis of the hate that they demonstrate which Kimmel calls “the manhood of racism, of sexism, of homophobia.” I think that this is a good start to understanding why many boys and men could have more racist, sexist and homophobic tendencies. We see examples of this kind of behaviour in the documentaries. For example, in an interview in Race and Terror, Christopher Cantwell expresses a deep hate for non-white people by claiming that they are more inclined to violence, while completely dismissing the idea that many white men have committed violent crimes.

In Inside Incel, they explore the how loneliness is a big factor that influences how young men think and act, more particularly towards women. A lot of men have been struggling to find their worth because of their lack of romantic relationships. I think that this loneliness is the main reason why this sort of incel behaviour has become more prevalent. They try to find a reason as to why they’re having such a difficult time making meaningful connections with women, but some fail to see the faults in themselves and end up blaming women for their suffering. It’s easier for them to make women the target of their anger than to acknowledge and to understand that they, as men, are no longer as valuable to society as they always were. This results in tragedies, like when Alex Minassian drove over pedestrians on a mission to seek revenge. Sadly enough, this has caused men who relate to his feelings of isolation and exclusion to admire him and use his case as a way to justify their own anger and thus are inclined to following his horrible example. We can observe a similar phenomenon in the documentary Charlottesville: Race and Terror. We see how the loss of power white men have experienced has made them angry, and that this anger has manifested through racism. In the film, a group of racist men work together to commit violent acts towards groups of people that they think are below, notably people who are non-white. As it was for the incels, we can deduce that a feeling of inferiority is what led them to become overtly racist and proud of it. When interviewed about the movement, Christopher Cantwell proudly proclaims that “you can’t feel about race as much as I do” and that he’s like “a much more racist Donald Trump.” In the documentary it is said that their displays of hate give them the illusion of control over others which in turn makes them feel more important than everyone else who isn’t a white male.

In conclusion, I believe that the majority of men are unable to adapt to the radical shift in society that has occurred throughout the recent decades. Because of this, they are falling behind and suffering from loneliness and loss of power. This has led many to turn to hateful ideologies to give an explanation to their suffering because it’s easier to blame others than to accept that the traditional man that they wish to be is no longer as valued in the communities that they are part of. This also shows why it is so crucial for men to grow up with positive role models, particularly in real life rather than online, to guide them in the proper way of manhood, the one that is secure and accepting, and to not let them fall into a hateful way of life. Finally, I think that it is also important for us as a society to educate and try to understand the men who have fallen into it, rather than shun them and unintentionally fuel their anger.