Mike Wood, a lecturer at the University of Winchester and an expert on the psychology behind conspiracy theories, explains that people who believe in conspiracy stereotypes such as AWALT tend to have what is known as a “Manichean” worldview.
“It fed the confirmation biases that society was built around men catering to women in return for sex.” “I began to see male victimhood throughout society,” he tells me over Reddit’s messaging service. “The movement’s use of evolutionary psychology convinced my rational mind that everything I read was a scientific fact supressed by feminists,” explains Jack, a British 24-year-old former r/TheRedPill subscriber. Much of the subreddit’s misogyny is justified by one of their favourite acronyms, AWALT: “all women are like that”. The Red Pill in particular exploits evolutionary psychology to argue that women are wired to want men with a strong “frame”. Like traditional conspiracy theories, they often rely on cherry-picked evidence. So I really believed every little thing.”īeliefs such as “all women are evil” and “all women cheat” are what are known as conspiracy stereotypes.
You can’t criticise anything because people will quickly try to diminish you. And if you didn’t believe everything… if you go on Red Pill Reddit and you disagree with someone they either delete your comments or they try to make fun of you and shame you. “There’s this whole conspiracy thing where women are against you, they are this imagined enemy… as well as there’s a whole conspiracy that society is against men, that society is anti-male so to speak, that liberals are fucking up society, that feminism is fucking up society. “They have theories that are not easy to prove or disprove, they are based on beliefs like all women cheat, they like cheating, and all women are not loyal,” explains João. If they ignore the Red Pill, they will undoubtedly be rejected, cheated on, and dumped. “When a woman insults you, belittles you, mocks you, or says something provocative to get a reaction - these are all examples of active tests.” By following the subreddit’s advice, its subscribers are promised a life of successful sexual encounters. “Rejection is not rejection,” reads an extract from the subreddit’s most popular post. The most extreme Red Pillers even believe that women want to be raped. In reality (the argument goes) women don’t want soft-centred men/chocolates they want to be dominated, controlled, and manipulated. In r/TheRedPill’s instance, the “dark truths” that the subreddit’s subscribers have swallowed are these: feminism is toxic, sexism is fake, men have it harder than women, and everything the media teaches about relationships is a lie. The phrase comes from 1999’s hit film The Matrix, in which the protagonist Neo must choose between the Red Pill – which would allow him to escape the Matrix but see the real, darker world – and the Blue Pill – continued existence in his comfortable, but ultimately fake, life. In practice, to “swallow the Red Pill” is to accept the uncomfortable truth about reality. Events and Offers Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates. Ideas and Letters A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section and the NS archive, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. Weekly Highlights A weekly round-up of some of the best articles featured in the most recent issue of the New Statesman, sent each Saturday. The Culture Edit Our weekly culture newsletter – from books and art to pop culture and memes – sent every Friday. This Week in Business A handy, three-minute glance at the week ahead in companies, markets, regulation and investment, landing in your inbox every Monday morning. Green Times The New Statesman’s weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday.
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