Cécile Simmons writes:

It only took a few hours after news of Donald Trump’s re-election for a sad spectacle to unfold online and beyond. The far-right slogan “Your body, my choice”, tweeted by white nationalist pundit and organiser Nick Fuentes, spread online and off, sparking waves of abuse against women. “You no longer have rights” was one of many similar messages addressed to women by extreme misogynist Andrew Tate, who is facing trial for rape and human trafficking charges in Romania. (He denies these charges.) Meanwhile, calls for the creation of “rape squads” emerged in far-right groups.

This onslaught of violently misogynistic speech made even clearer what had already been plain to see: that too many men do not view women as people with equal dignity and rights but as inferior creatures to be coerced. And this in turn has sparked another reaction. Since Trump’s election, 4B, a South Korean-founded separatist movement of women who swear off relationships with men, has been trending on social media.

This viral moment highlights a feeling that has been brewing for much longer: women’s discontent with heterosexual relationships and their anger at men’s increasingly unchecked misogyny. In recent years, male supremacist ideology has become mainstream, promoted by manosphere entrepreneurs who are thriving in the attention economy by feeding young men’s resentment towards women.

As aggrieved young men have been sucked into social media bubbles, gender polarisation has followed. Boys who have grown up on a diet of misogynistic content are embracing authoritarian strongmen who court them with promises to take away women’s rights. Young women, on the other hand, increasingly favour liberal politics. [Continue reading…]