Misogyny and Extremism Across Forums, Podcasts, and Manifestos: A Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract

Over the past decade, gender-based hate, online harassment, and ideologically motivated violent extremism have increased significantly. Digital platforms have played a central role in this shift, facilitating the large-scale circulation of misogynistic grievance and extremist narratives that increasingly translate into offline harm. This dissertation examines misogynistic discourse across three digital infrastructures: incel forums (across both mainstream and alt-tech platforms), manosphere podcasts, and violent extremist manifestos. While existing research on extremism has often treated these sites in isolation, this study examines how they share overlapping narratives that orient and normalize extremist worldviews. Across these infrastructures, misogynistic narratives collectivize grievance, legitimize violence, and inscribe ideological legacy. The dissertation argues that gender-based bigotry and misogyny function as an ideological glue at the center of these dynamics, underpinning and amplifying other forms of harm and hate, including racism, xenophobia, and anti-authority sentiment.

The first study (Chapter 2) analyzes over 33 million posts from Reddit (r/Incels, r/Braincels, r/IncelExit) and Incels.is to show how incel discourse transforms experiences of despair and rejection into epistemic “truths.” Using topic modeling (BERTopic) alongside qualitative discourse analysis, this study identifies recurring patterns of biologized rejection, misogynistic dehumanization, and glorified violence. Incel ideology is conceptualized as an affective epistemology: a system in which emotional pain is converted into ideological belief through repetition, shared resonance, and cross-platform circulation.

The second study (Chapter 3) examines more than 1,800 podcast episodes produced by Andrew Tate, Nick Fuentes, and Gavin McInnes. Through a combination of topic modeling (BERTopic), text classification (misogyny and emotion detection), and qualitative discourse analysis, the study shows how these influencers mainstream subcultural grievances by embedding them in humour, storytelling, and everyday advice. Podcasts function as affective infrastructures that cultivate parasocial intimacy, naturalize patriarchal dominance, and frame grievance as a core masculine identity, thereby normalizing resentment and positioning violence as a legitimate or restorative masculine response.

The third study (Chapter 4) analyzes 100 violent extremist manifestos authored between 1966 and 2025, representing the first largest systematic collection examined to date. The analysis demonstrates that misogyny anchors hybrid or “salad-bar” extremism by providing the emotional and ideological thread linking racism, antisemitism, anti-government sentiment, and anti-LGBTQ+ hostility. Suicidality emerges as a structural feature of gender-motivated attacks, with perpetrators framing self-annihilation as an integral component of their violent performance. Lastly, this chapter argues that manifestos function as batons, where perpetrators cite prior attackers and legitimize violence for future actors.

Overall, this dissertation demonstrates how misogynistic discourse operates across different digital spaces by integrating computational text analysis with qualitative discourse analysis. In doing so, it shows that ideologically motivated violent extremism cannot be fully understood without attending to its gendered foundations. By positioning misogyny as a central force that sustains grievance and connects otherwise distinct extremist ideologies, this research provides an integrated account of gender-based extremism with implications for prevention, policy, and scholarship.