Engendering Hate on the World Wide Web

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Feminist Identities, Tactics, and Outcomes in Social Movements

Abstract

Although social movement scholars have examined the ways in which an oppositional consciousness can take hold in the context of free spaces, few scholars have investigated the role of discourse in terms of providing individuals with the necessary tools to articulate their oppositional consciousness. In this study, I examine the presence of a feminist consciousness among female white supremacists. Using data garnered from the largest and longest running virtual hate community, Stormfront.org, I investigate why some female members are able to exhibit a feminist consciousness within this traditionally antifeminist environment. My findings show that the presence of a feminist consciousness among female white supremacists is ultimately dependent on the discursive tools these women derive from their organizational affiliation and individual identities within the larger white supremacy movement. Expanding upon scholarly understandings of free spaces and oppositional consciousness, I demonstrate that the presence of an oppositional consciousness can be contingent on the availability of the necessary discursive tools tied to one’s organizational affiliation, as well as their competing individual and collective identities.

Author

• Allison Reilly McGrath, Vanderbilt University