The author of this piece was featured in Dateline's report 'Defending Gender Part 1: Proud Boys'. For another perspective, please read'I am a Western chauvinist'.
The Proud Boys, founded in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, are just one of a plethora of online misogynistic communities, commonly called men’s rights activist groups (MRAs), which have arisen on the internet.
The internet is especially conducive to the formation of these groups because it allows the people in them to remain anonymous when espousing opinions they might not dare to express among others in their real-life communities – and because it can facilitate the coming together of people with fringe opinions who are far-flung across diverse geographic areas.
In these MRA online communities, men’s resentment against the prevailing cultural trend of greater equality with women is validated and even fomented. MRA groups, among which the Proud Boys is no exception, advocate curtailing women’s rights in order to bolster men’s egos as well as dominating and defeating imagined others who they feel threaten their sense of identity. They explicitly espouse women’s subordination, and in many cases the superiority of white people over people of colour – although, to be fair, not overtly so for the Proud Boys, who are an exception in this regard.
The misogyny that is typical of these groups is a common precursor to fascism, which often begins as a resurgence of male dominance and only later extends to espousing authoritarianism and using violence to maintain power. Writer Jason Wilson argues that misogynistic ideas are the “central dynamic that propels the fascist male towards violence.”
He cites studies of men in pre-World War II Germany who were dispirited because of the loss of World War I and turned first to misogyny as a way to shore themselves up – he concludes that “radical misogyny is, and has always been the affective core of violent, reactionary political projects,” such as fascism.
Online MRA groups exemplify pre-fascist characteristics.
In addition to their misogyny, the ideologies of MRA groups run counter to the enlightenment thinking we consider the hallmark of modern, civil, democratic societies. The foundational values of democratic states are the enlightenment ideals of the rule of law, civil discourse, equality, and a reliance on evidence- or fact-based reasoning. The values advocated by MRAs tend toward dominating others, rather than mutual respect and equality; strength and power in the place of justice; and authoritarianism over egalitarianism. These values inevitably lead to advocating violence as a means of achieving the dominance they feel they deserve.
In fact the Proud Boys, more than many of the other MRA groups, emphasise violence and even incorporate it into their ideology.
In January 2017, the Proud Boys’ founder, Gavin McInnis, was filmed punching and shoving a counter-protestor at an unofficial inaugural ball held to celebrate Donald Trump’s presidency. In early February of that same year, after a speaking engagement at New York University turned violent, McInnis commented, “It was a really fun night, and overall I cannot recommend violence enough. It is a really effective way to solve problems.” Indeed, violence is written into the initiation ritual for becoming a member of the Proud Boys: The final step in their initiation ritual involves “a major fight for the cause,” in which the initiate must “kick the crap out of an antifa” (anti-fascist activist) and potentially get arrested.
It’s important to be aware that this relatively new phenomenon of men coming together online to re-establish and re-entrench male dominance preceded Trump’s election in the United States.
A little-known fact is that these MRA groups began forming and mobilising online several years prior to the 2016 US election. In fact, many commentators think that the mobilisation of these groups – which are comprised of an unknown but sizeable number of mostly men – was a decisive factor in Trump winning the election. These groups actively supported Trump in part because his misogyny is a reflection of their own, and because the authoritarianism that is a hallmark of Trump’s leadership style appeals to them. As we are witnessing in the United States, misogyny can morph into authoritarianism and violence—and, potentially, fascism. (More than a few commentators have convincingly argued that Trump evinces fascist characteristics.)
I believe we disregard the influence of these groups at our peril, as they have shown they have both the desire to undermine democratic principles and civil society and the intention to bring about a dangerous regression into authoritarianism and fascism.
Karla Mantilla is a writer and the managing editor of the journal Feminist Studies. She featured in the Dateline report 'Defending Gender Part 1: Proud Boys', which can be viewed on SBS On Demand.
