Fighting for Masculine Hegemony: Contestation between Alt-Right and White Nationalist Masculinities on Stormfront

Abstract

The alt-right community serves as a gateway into the white nationalist movement. However, more research is needed on how the alt-right’s virulent misogyny interfaces with white nationalist masculinity premised on patriarchal protection of white femininity. This study addresses this question through a qualitative analysis of a white nationalist forum, Stormfront.org, and finds two masculine strategies vying for site dominance. These two gender strategies draw on different movement ideologies, white nationalist or alt-right. Users battle over the prime adversary used to construct movement identity and mobilize against. I argue forum conflict reveals that defining a central adversary is necessary for a masculine social movement to achieve a collective “movement masculinity” through a unification of goals and strategies. These findings contribute to research on masculinity and social movements by showcasing that not only is there diversity in extreme-right masculinity but that there is significant contestation over different masculine strategies.