ABSTRACT
The Alternative Right broadly aims to establish identity and status for white men who feel aggrieved, is deeply antagonistic towards feminism, and holds that men and women – and the world more generally – should be ordered in strict hierarchies. This chapter examines the ways in which both the “alt-right” and the “alt-lite” seek to capitalise on male feelings of political, social, and sexual disempowerment and wounded pride, through establishing and protecting male-only enclaves, through notions of “alpha” and “beta” manhood, and re-masculinising through “self-improvement.” This chapter also examines attitudes towards women in the Alternative Right. Whilst there are a number of public-facing women in the loose movement, it broadly advocates their withdrawal from the public sphere, and the domination of women is often cloaked with notions of “natural order.” Simultaneously, the Alternative Right commonly degrades women as sexual objects, with the most misogynistic elements within the movement engaging in harassment campaigns to force them offline. The Alternative Right takes the contradictory male edict, to both protect and to exploit women, to extremes.
