Call for extended abstracts: Special issue of Critical Discourse Studies
The language of the manosphere: Global perspectives
Guest editors: Veronika Koller, Alexandra Krendel, Jessica Aiston, Mark McGlashan
We are calling for extended abstracts of 1,500 words (including references) for a special issue of the journal Critical Discourse Studies on the language of the manosphere. In particular, though not exclusively, we seek contributions that examine the language of the manosphere and its influence and spread in non-Anglo-American contexts and in languages other than English. This work is currently underrepresented/underreported in the academic literature. The due date for abstracts is 1 December 2024.
The manosphere is a loose online network of different groups – including involuntary celibates (incels), self-styled pick-up artists or seduction experts, male separatists and men’s rights activists – that share anti-feminist and misogynist beliefs. To date, the language and discourse of the manosphere has been mostly researched for Western, especially North American, contexts (e.g., Krendel et al. 2022, Dayter and Rüdiger 2022, Heritage 2023, Koller et al. 2023, Krendel 2023). With this special issue, we intend to give an up-to-date overview of the state of the art of linguistic research into the manosphere but with two distinct aims designed to address problems with previous research. These aims are:
- Broadening the focus of linguistic research on the manosphere to non-Anglo-American and non-Anglophone contexts
- Positing positive interventions that address problems raised through research into manosphere communities and language. (How) can critical research help members of these communities as well those negatively impacted by these communities?
In doing so, we acknowledge that what is known as the “manosphere” in Anglo-American contexts may manifest differently elsewhere. However, networked online misogyny is likely to be a global phenomenon, and groups using absolute statements, dehumanising metaphors, in-group vocabulary and pseudo-science to refer to women and men may be found in many various cultures.
We therefore especially, but not exclusively, encourage contributions from outside Anglo-American contexts. We are further interested in quantitative and/or qualitative studies and in research on multimodal features of the manosphere. However, all papers should include detailed linguistic analysis of authentic data.
The 1,500-word abstract should mention the study’s focus and research question(s), contain a brief literature review as well as detail on data and methods, provide indicative findings and discuss what implications the study has for effecting positive change. Please send your extended abstract to v.koller@lancaster.ac.uk.
Due date for extended abstracts: 1 December 2024
Notification of acceptance: 13 January 2025
First drafts: June 2025
References
Dayter, D., & Rüdiger, S. (2022). The Language of Pick-up Artists: Online discourses of the seduction industry. Routledge.
Heritage, F. (2023). Incels and Ideologies: Exploring how incels use language to construct gender and race. Palgrave.
Koller, V., Krendel, A., & Aiston, J. (2023). The Language of Gender-based Separatism. Cambridge University Press [Element].
Krendel, A. (2023). Self-help and masculinity: Speech acts in an online men’s group. Pragmatics and Society, 14(6), 844-868.
Krendel, A., McGlashan, M., & Koller, V. (2022). The representation of gendered social actors across five manosphere communities on Reddit. Corpora, 17(2), 291-321. DOI: 10.3366/cor.2022.0257