“Forever Alone, Together!” Exploring narratives of gender-based hate within online forum discussions of singleness and dating strategies.

To understand the rise of the manosphere and misogynistic incels movement, this thesis studied twelve separate online forums that discuss involuntary celibacy, singleness, or dating strategies. Alongside forums associated with the manosphere, this research also explored forums that reject misogynistic ideologies, and those that cater to women and LGBT individuals. Broadly, this research observed that viewpoints expressed within misogynistic manosphere forums differ less than those not associated with extremist ideologies more than is generally recognised. This thesis also observed two promising forums, “IncelExit” and “ExRedPill”, that support people to leave the manosphere.