Paper short abstract:

Antifeminism and men's issues find new spaces of legitimation in the manosphere. The paper analyses the languages and symbols of male activism in digital environments, showing the dynamics of a male mobilization between political instances and the claim of a narrative space.

Paper long abstract:

The manosphere is a complex of websites, social network pages, blogs and YouTube channels in which a form of deterritorialized male activism takes form. Contemporary male activism links radical anti-feminist instances to a claim for a narrative space for male issues. Male activism in digital environments represents a new form of gender associationism, in which dynamics of virtual sociality allow men to find a common space of discussion on the various dimensions of masculinity - sexual, social, relational. The dynamics of this mobilization are based on a radical anti-feminist political claim, which aims to criticize contemporary politics and women's privileges in society to the disadvantage of men, and the search for new spaces for negotiation of a masculinity lived daily as an emotional and bodily experience. The aim of this paper is to show the languages and symbols of this form of activism, looking at how men take part in it as gender subjectivities and the ways in which digital environments contribute to shaping contemporary gender activism.