“Happy to provide the knives”: Governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of Roosh V and Return of Kings

This paper uses the online threats of violence to Roosh V and Return of Kings — blogs relating to pick-up artist culture and “neo-masculinity” — as a case study to examine the ways in which people use social media as a technology of the self. In early 2016, groups mobilized online using the Facebook...

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Main Author: Bender, Stuart
Format: Journal Article
Published: University of Illinois 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50489
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author Bender, Stuart
author_facet Bender, Stuart
author_sort Bender, Stuart
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description This paper uses the online threats of violence to Roosh V and Return of Kings — blogs relating to pick-up artist culture and “neo-masculinity” — as a case study to examine the ways in which people use social media as a technology of the self. In early 2016, groups mobilized online using the Facebook platform to protest meet-ups that had been planned by Roosh V for his supporters. Some of the Facebook users responded with extreme suggestions to rape Roosh and the Return of Kings members themselves, violating them with sharp objects, as well as outright murder. In this paper I am interested in a specific question related to governmentality: what do these hateful, violent threats suggest about the way people use social media as a form of self-governance?
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-504892017-10-02T02:28:15Z “Happy to provide the knives”: Governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of Roosh V and Return of Kings Bender, Stuart This paper uses the online threats of violence to Roosh V and Return of Kings — blogs relating to pick-up artist culture and “neo-masculinity” — as a case study to examine the ways in which people use social media as a technology of the self. In early 2016, groups mobilized online using the Facebook platform to protest meet-ups that had been planned by Roosh V for his supporters. Some of the Facebook users responded with extreme suggestions to rape Roosh and the Return of Kings members themselves, violating them with sharp objects, as well as outright murder. In this paper I am interested in a specific question related to governmentality: what do these hateful, violent threats suggest about the way people use social media as a form of self-governance? 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50489 10.5210/fm.v22i3.6945 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ University of Illinois fulltext
spellingShingle Bender, Stuart
“Happy to provide the knives”: Governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of Roosh V and Return of Kings
title “Happy to provide the knives”: Governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of Roosh V and Return of Kings
title_full “Happy to provide the knives”: Governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of Roosh V and Return of Kings
title_fullStr “Happy to provide the knives”: Governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of Roosh V and Return of Kings
title_full_unstemmed “Happy to provide the knives”: Governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of Roosh V and Return of Kings
title_short “Happy to provide the knives”: Governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of Roosh V and Return of Kings
title_sort “happy to provide the knives”: governmentality and threats of violence via social media in the case of roosh v and return of kings
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50489