Chapter 2 is where the interesting stuff is, they assessed people for misogynistic attitudes, and also political ones they deem extreme. They classify left wing extremism as indicated by:
The rich will not give up their wealth easily. Organised violence, including against people, is the only way to make things fair for everyone.
Capitalism is ruining the world and should be resisted with violence
Without getting distracted by a discussion of the um curious decision to classify that in the same way as beliefs like murdering people who wont fuck me is a cool and good I think it’s an interesting result.
Misogyny in left-wing spaces is real, and this survey indicates it’s not automatically less prevalent than in right wing spaces (although particular attitudes may differ). Despite shit like patriarchy and control of women being recognised as a problematic root of oppression by many prominent theorists (e.g. engles on the origin of class relations).
Something I think we should all think about.
Also at least Aussie gen z’ers seem a bit fucking cooked here, how do boomers have better attitudes about forcing sex on your wife than gen z women? wat is going on? I wonder if some of this can be explained through inexperience, but there is a stark difference between older and younger people. Also much less than between men and women than I would have expected.
Why are we failing to reach kids compared to the right wing here?
I think the traditional modes for those sort of misogynistic messages became dated and stale. Like, the big voice for that in the 90’s and early aughts was Rush Limbaugh, talk radio. The youth are not going to be reached by talk radio. So once guys like Bannon figured out there was this youth demo they could reach, they started using more modern methods. Particularly, the parasocial nature of a lot of the platforms the manosphere is on creates the feeling in these young men that they’re getting advice from an older, more experienced friend rather than getting a corporate media message.
That’s the tricky thing about the manosphere, the line between the “hit the gym, read a book” messaging and the red/blackpill stuff is hazy. So you get men who engage with it but never filter down to the ugly level, or just willfully ignore it when an influencer does it.