Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination, racism, sexual violence and harassment, graphic violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and death.

The term “alt-right” refers to a far-right movement encompassing white supremacist, white nationalist, and anti-immigrant ideologies. In Men Who Hate Women, Laura Bates explores its significant overlap with the manosphere and incel communities. Bates highlights the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville as an example of this movement, which centers its beliefs on the idea that white identity is being undermined by political correctness and multiculturalism.

Gamergate was a mass harassment campaign that began in 2014, initially targeting game developer Zoe Quinn after allegations of infidelity by her ex-boyfriend. This online backlash quickly escalated into widespread misogyny and harassment against both her and feminist blogger Anita Sarkeesian, with both women receiving death threats and continuous online abuse. Bates uses Gamergate to demonstrate how online trolls target women in an attempt to threaten them into silence.

“Incel” is a portmanteau of “involuntarily celibate,” referring to men who blame women for their inability to form romantic or sexual relationships. Bates describes this as one of the most violent sectors of the manosphere. Members often harbor extreme resentment toward women, believing that women are the root cause of their personal and romantic failures.