Neologising misogyny

Urban Dictionary’s folksonomies of sexual abuse

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12656261
AutoresDebbie Ging (0000-0002-6664-5560, Dublin City University, autor correspondente), Theo Lynn (0000-0001-9284-7580, Dublin City University), Theodore Lynn (Dublin City University), Pierangelo Rosati (0000-0002-6813-0632, Dublin City University)
Ano2019
Volume22
Fascículo5
Páginas838-856
Data de publicação2019-08-30
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1461444819870306
OpenAlexW2970179791
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas33
Referências citadas26

Web 2.0 has facilitated a particularly toxic brand of digital men’s rights activism, collectively known as the Manosphere. This amorphous network of online publics is noted for its virulent anti-feminism, extreme misogyny and synergies with the alt-right. Early manifestations of this phenomenon were confined largely to 4/Chan, Reddit and numerous alt-right forums. More recently, however, this rhetoric has become increasingly evident in Urban Dictionary. This article presents the findings of a machine-learning and manual analysis of Urban Dictionary’s entries relating to sex and gender, to assess the extent to which the Manosphere’s discourses of extreme misogyny and anti-feminism are working their way into everyday vernacular contexts. It also considers the sociolinguistic and gender-political implications of algorithmic and linguistic capitalism, concluding that Urban Dictionary is less a dictionary than it is a platform of folksonomies, which may exert a disproportionate and toxic influence on online discourses related to gender and sexuality

Extreme right · Feminism · Human sexuality · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · The Internet · Vernacular · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Social Media and Politics