Online Misogyny and Masculinity Discourse

Online misogyny refers to the targeted denigration, harassment and dehumanisation of women and girls via digital platforms. This discourse often intersects with contested constructions of masculinity, in which men’s rights activism, incel forums and high-profile influencers promote a crisis narrative of male decline. Such narratives draw on tropes of male entitlement, economic anxiety and cultural displacement to justify hostility towards perceived feminine “others”. Research has shown that misogynistic content circulates through affective appeals, peer reinforcement and algorithmic amplification, contributing to normalisation of gender-based violence and shaping youth identities. Computational tools have emerged to detect abusive language at scale, while qualitative studies reveal the emotional and social drivers behind participation in misogynistic communities. Together, these approaches highlight the global reach of online gendered harassment and inform interventions in education, platform governance and policy.

Research from Nature Portfolio

One recent systematic review has mapped the multidisciplinary landscape of online misogyny research, analysing over two thousand publications across social sciences, humanities, psychology and computer science. This work identifies thematic clusters—such as detection algorithms, psychological impacts and counter-speech strategies—and reveals a rapid surge in publications since 2015. Despite this growth, topic interaction analysis points to limited cross-disciplinary collaboration, underscoring the need for integrative frameworks that combine computational methods with sociocultural theory. The review also highlights gaps in understanding non-English and regionally varied forms of online misogyny, suggesting future research priorities should include broader linguistic corpora and ethical guidelines for automated content moderation.

Online Misogyny and Masculinity Discourse publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in online misogyny and masculinity discourse across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Online misogyny: Hostile or demeaning discourse directed at women and girls across digital media.

Hegemonic masculinity: Culturally dominant ideals of male behaviour that legitimise male privilege.

Homosociality: Social bonds and peer reinforcement among individuals of the same gender, often excluding others.

Affective homosocial currencies: Emotional resources (humour, solidarity, fear) exchanged among same-gender peers to validate beliefs.

Networked harassment: Collective online abuse aimed at enforcing group norms and silencing dissenters.

References

1. Mainstreaming the Manosphere’s Misogyny Through Affective Homosocial Currencies: Exploring How Teen Boys Navigate the Andrew Tate Effect. Social Media + Society (2024).
2. How do we study misogyny in the digital age? A systematic literature review using a computational linguistic approach. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2024).
3. Morally Motivated Networked Harassment as Normative Reinforcement. Social Media + Society (2021).
4. “I Don’t Hate All Women, Just Those Stuck-Up Bitches”: How Incels and Mainstream Pornography Speak the Same Extreme Language of Misogyny. Violence Against Women (2021).