The Online Discourse’s Characteristics of Arab Anti-Women Red Pill Groups - An Analytical Study Applied to Facebook

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Journalism department, faculty of mass communication, Cairo university

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the characteristics of the Online discourse of the Arab anti-women Red Pill groups by monitoring, analyzing, and interpreting the content of their accounts on Facebook. The study was applied to both the Egyptian Egy Red Pill page and the Moroccan Red Pill Islamic (Elite) group, from the beginning of August until the end of October 2024. The study relied in its theoretical framework on the theory of symbolic violence, used the methodology of critical discourse analysis according to the vision of (Van Dijk), and used discourse analysis tools represented in the analysis of theses, analysis of the path of proof, analysis of active forces, analysis of reference frames, and analysis of context. One of the most important findings of the study is that the Arab Red Pill groups on Facebook practiced symbolic violence by adopting in their discourse theses that reinforce male dominance, reproduce stereotypes about women, promote disengagement from prevailing social norms, and call for rebuilding the worldview based on "biological facts" or "natural power" among men. Women rely on methods of generalization, misleading and gender bias, and on the other hand, the red pill discourse presented itself as a means of liberation from symbolic violence represented in society’s portrayal of traditional masculinity as harmful or toxic, calling on men to swallow the red pill to understand the truth. The danger of the digital discourse of the red pill groups lies in its legitimization of policies of exclusion or discrimination based on the nature of the sexes, thus reinforcing the division between the sexes, and portraying the relations between them as a game of power and a struggle for dominance.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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