Not #MeToo: The Seduction Community’s Nice Guys, Bad Apples, False Allegations and Anxiety
DOI:
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.54885/AUB-SP-YJWG1410Cuvinte cheie:
pick-up art, masculinities, men’s rights movement, sexual violence, MeTooRezumat
This paper explores the Dutch seduction community in an effort to understand how its members’ inter-subjective frameworks relate to wider issue of sexual violence. Part of the men’s rights movement, the seduction community is a transnational, self-help community aiming at empowering men who are “deficient” at social skills and particularly at successfully “picking up” women. The embodiment of masculinity is central to this rule-based, essentialist framing of sexuality and attraction in which men aim at instrumentally influencing sexual interactions in a quest to regain control and felt lost power over intimate relations. Sexual success becomes a token of manhood that not only helps “socially awkward heterosexual men” climb up the social ladder of masculinities but also one that promises soothing of anxieties and mastering of emotions. Based on twelve qualitative interviews of the Dutch seduction community’s members, this paper examines how its members frame their involvement with pickup in light of the anti-sexual harassment activism represented by MeToo. The paper argues that the community resorts to an intertwining of two complementary discursive frameworks: hegemonic masculinity versus victim power, emphasizing what scholars have called hybrid masculinity.Referințe
ABC News. 2009. George Sodini's Blog: Full Text by Alleged Gym Shooter. ABC News (online). https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8258001&page=1
AHMED, Sara. 2014. The Cultural Politics of Emotion, 2nd edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
ALLAN, Johnathan A. 2016. Phallic Affect, or Why Men's Rights Activists Have Feelings. Men and Masculinities 19(1): 22-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X15574338
ALMOG, Ran & Danny KAPLAN. 2015. The Nerd and His Discontent: The Seduction Community and the Logic of the Game as a Geeky Solution to the Challenges of Young Masculinity. Men and Masculinities 20(1): 27-48. https://doi.org/10.1177/10 97184X15613831
ALVAREZ, Pilar. 2018. La sentencia de La Manada desata una tormenta política y social El Pais.com (May 3, 2018). https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2018/05/02/actualida d/1525286725_262083.html
BARBALET, Jack M. 1985. Class Theory and Earnings Inequality. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology 21(3): 327–348. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783385 02100301
BARBALET, Jack M. 1998. Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure: A Macrosociological Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
BERICAT, Eduardo. 2016. The sociology of emotions: Four decades of progress. Current Sociology 64(3): 491-513. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392115588355
BEVACQUA, Marie. 2000. Rape on the Public Agenda: Feminism and the Politics of Sexual Assault. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
BLAIS, M. & F. DUPUIS-DÉRI. 2012. Masculinism and the antifeminist countermovement. Social Movement Studies 11(1): 21-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2012.640532
BOYLE, Karen & Chamil RATHNAYAKE. 2019. #HimToo and the networking of misogyny in the age of #MeToo. Feminist Media Studies 20: 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/1468077 7.2019.1661868
BRATICH, Jack & Sarah BANET-WEISER. 2019. From pick-up artists to incels: con(fidence) games, networked misogyny, and the failure of neoliberalism. International Journal of Communication 13: 5003–5027.
BRIDGES, Tristan & C.J. PASCOE 2014. Hybrid Masculinities: New Directions in the Sociology of Men and Masculinities. Sociology Compass 8: 246-258. https://doi.org /10.1111/soc4.12134
CHANDRA, Giti & Irma ERLINGSDÓTTIR. 2021. The Routledge Handbook of the Politics of the #MeToo Movement. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367809263
CONNELL, R. W. 2005. Masculinities, 2nd edition. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
CONNELL, R.W. & James W. MESSERSCHMIDT 2005. Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept. Gender and Society 19: 829–859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278639
COOK, Ian. 2006. Western Heterosexual Masculinity, Anxiety, and Web Porn. Journal of Men's Studies 14: 47–63. https://doi.org/10.3149/jms.1401.47
COSTON, Bethany M. & Michael KIMMEL 2013. White men as the new victims: Reverse discrimination cases and the men's rights movement. Nevada Law Journal 13(2): 368-385.
DE MARICOURT, Clotilde & Stephen R. BURRELL. 2022. MeToo or MenToo? Expressions of backlash and masculinity politics in the MeToo era. The Journal of Men's Studies 30(1): 49-69. https://doi.org/10.1177/10608265211035794
DEMERTZIS, Nicolas. 2020. The Political Sociology of Emotions: Essays on Trauma and Ressentiment. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351212472
DEMETRIOU, Demetrakis Z. 2001. Connell's Concept of Hegemonic Masculinity: A Critique. Theory and Society 30(3): 337–361. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017596718715
DENES, Amanda. 2011. Biology as consent: Problematizing the scientific approach to seducing women's bodies. Women's Studies International Forum 34: 411-419. https://doi.org /10.1016/j.wsif.2011.05.002
EMERY, R.L. 2017. The Problem With Men Responding "Not All Men" To The "Me Too" Campaign". Bustle.com. https://www.bustle.com/p/the-problem-with-men-respo nding-not-all-men-to-the-me-too-campaign-2930844.
EMIRBAYER Mustafa & Chad Allen GOLDBERG. 2005. Pragmatism, Bourdieu, and collective emotions in contentious politics. Theory and Society 34(5-6): 469–518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-005-1619-x
FENIG, S., I. LEVAY, R. KOHN, & N. YELIN. 1993. Telephone vs. Face-to-face Interviewing in a Community Psychiatric Survey. American Journal of Public Health 83: 896–898. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.83.6.896
FOX, Nick J. 2005. Emotions, affects and the production of social life. The British Journal of Sociology 66(2): 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12119
GILL, Rosalind & Shani ORGAD. 2018. The shifting terrain of sex and power: From the "sexualization of culture" to #MeToo. Sexualities 21: 1313-1324. https://doi.or g/10.1177/1363460718794647
GING, Debbie. 2017. Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere. Men and Masculinities 22(4): 638-657. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097 184X17706401
GOTTELL, Lise & Emily DUTTON. 2016. Sexual violence in the "manosphere": Antifeminist men's rights discourses on rape. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 5(2): 65–80. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v5i2.310
HANNA, P. 2014. Foucauldian discourse analysis in psychology: Reflecting on a hybrid reading of Foucault when researching "ethical subjects." Qualitative Research in Psychology 11(2): 142-159. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2013.853853
HAMBLING-JONES, Oliver & Andrew John MERRISON. 2012. Inequity in the pursuit of intimacy: An analysis of British pick-up artist interactions. Journal of Pragmatics 44 (9): 1115-1127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.04.008
HENDRIKS, Eric C. 2012. Ascetic Hedonism: Self and sexual conquest in the seduction community. Cultural Analysis 11: 1–16.
HOCHSCHILD, Arlie Russell. 1990. Ideology and emotion management: A perspective and path for future research. In Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions, ed. T.D. Kemper, 117-142. Albany, NY: State University NY Press.
KAISER, Susanne. 2022. Political Masculinity: How Incels, Fundamentalists and Authoritarians Mobilise for Patriarchy, trans. V.A. Pakis. Cambridge: Polity Press.
KIMMEL, Michael. 2013. Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era. New York: Nation Books.
Analele Universității din București. Științe Politice [Annals of the University of Bucharest. Political Science series] XXIV (2): pp. 123-153. https://doi.org/10.54885/AUB-SP-YJWG1410
NOT #METOO: THE SEDUCTION COMMUNITY'S NICE GUYS, BAD APPLES, FALSE ALLEGATIONS AND ANXIETY
KLERES, Johen. 2010. Emotions and Narrative Analysis: A Methodological Approach. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 41: 182-202. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468- 5914.2010.00451.x
Le MONDE 2018. Nous défendons une liberté d'importuner indispensable à la liberté sexuelle. http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2018/01/09/nous-defendons-une-lib erte-d-importuner-indispensable-a-la-liberte-sexuelle_5239134_3232.html.
MADDISON, Sarah. 1999. Private Men, Public Anger: The Men's Rights Movement in Australia. Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies 4: 39–51.
MASSANARI, Adrienne. 2017. #Gamergate and the Fappening: How Reddit's Algorithm, Governance and Culture Support Toxic Technocultures. New Media and Society 19(3): 29-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815608807
MENZIES, R. 2007. Virtual backlash: Representations of men's "rights" and feminist "wrongs" in cyberspace in Reaction and Resistance: Feminism, Law, and Social Change, eds. E.D. Chunn, S.B. Boyd, H. Lessard, 65-97. Vancouver: UBC Press.
MESSNER, Michael A. 1998. The limits of 'the male sex role': An analysis of the men's liberation and men's rights movements' discourse. Gender & Society 12(3): 255-276. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243298012003002
MESSNER, Michael A. 2016. Forks in the road of men's gender politics: Men's rights vs. Feminist Allies. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 5: 6-20. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v5i2.301
MONTEMURRO, Beth & Christina RIEHMAN-MURPHY. 2018. Ready and Waiting: Heterosexual Men's Decision-making Narratives in Initiation of Sexual Intimacy. Men and Masculinities: 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X17753040
NICHOLAS, Lucy & Christine AGIUS. 2018. The persistence of global masculinism: Discourse, gender and neo-colonial re-articulations of violence. London: Palgrave MacMillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68360-7
O'NEILL, Rachel. 2015. The Work of Seduction: Intimacy and Subjectivity in the London "Seduction Community." Sociological Research Online 20(4): 5. https://doi.org/1 0.5153/sro.3744
PAPACHARISSI, Zizi. 2014. Affective Publics: Sentiment, Technology, and Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199999736.001.0001
PALMER, Catherine & Kirilly THOMPSON. 2010. Everyday risks and professional dilemmas: Fieldwork with alcohol-based (sporting) subcultures. Qualitative research 10(4): 421-440. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794110366800
PHILARETOU, Andreas G. & Katherine R. ALLEN. 2001. Reconstructing Masculinity and Sexuality. The Journal of Men's Studies 9(3): 301-321. https://doi.org/10.3149/jms.0903.301
PUGH, Allison J. 2013. What Good Are Interviews for Thinking about Culture? Demystifying Interpretive Analysis. American Journal of Cultural Sociology 1(1): 42-68. https://doi.org/10.1057/ajcs.2012.4
SCHMITZ, Rachel M. & Emily KAZYAK. 2016. Masculinities in Cyberspace: An Analysis of Portrayals of Manhood in Men's Rights Activist Websites. The Social Sciences 5: 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci5020018
SCHUURMANS, J.J. 2017. Hookups. Youth Sexuality and Social Change [PhD Thesis]. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam.
SCHUURMANS, Jitse & Lee F. MONAGHAN. 2015. The Casanova-Myth: Legend and Anxiety in the Seduction Community. Sociological Research Online 20(1): 1-14. https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3535
SEAL, David Wyatt & Anke A. EHRHARDT. 2003. Masculinity and urban men: Perceived scripts for courtship, romantic, and sexual interactions with women. Culture, Health & Sexuality 5(4): 295-319. https://doi.org/10.1080/136910501171698
SPRADLEY, J. P. 1979. The Ethnographic Interview. New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanich College Publisher.
SCHIEMAN, Scott. 2006. Anger. In Handbook of the Sociology of Emotion, eds. Jan E. Stets & Jonathan H. Turner, 493-515. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-0-387-30715-2_22
SHIELDS, Stephanie A., Dallas N. GARNER, Brooke DI LEONE & Alena M. HADLEY. 2006. Gender & Emotions. In Handbook of the Sociology of Emotion, eds. Jan E. Stets & Jonathan H. Turner, 63-83. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-0-387-30715-2_4
STETS, Jan E. & Jonathan H. TURNER. 2006. Handbook of the Sociology of Emotion. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1080/136910501171698
STURGES, Judith & Kathleen HANRAHAN. 2004. Comparing Telephone and face-to-face qualitative interviewing: a research note. Qualitative Research 4(I): 107-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794104041110
TANG, Ning. 2002. Interviewer and Interviewee Relationships Between Women. Sociology 36(3): 703-721. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038502036003011
TIMMERMANS, Stefan & Iddo TAVORY. 2012. Theory Construction in Qualitative Research: From Grounded Theory to Abductive Analysis. Sociological Theory 30(3): 167-186. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275112457914
TURNER, Jonathan H. 2009. The Sociology of Emotions: Basic Theoretical Arguments. Emotion Review 1(4): 340-354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073909338305
WETHERELL, Margaret & Nigel EDLEY.1999. Negotiating hegemonic masculinity: Imaginary positions and psycho-discursive practices. Feminism and Psychology (3): 335-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353599009003012
ZARKOV, Dubravka & Kathy DAVIS. 2018, Ambiguities and Dilemmas around #MeToo: #ForHow Long and #WhereTo?. European Journal of Women's Studies 25(I): 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506817749436
Descărcări
Publicat
Număr
Secțiune
Licență
Copyright (c) 2022 Analele Universității din București. Științe politice
TAceastă lucrare este licențiată în temeiul Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
