Mobilization of Sexual Violence within the Manosphere: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review

The manosphere, a decentralized network of online communities united by anti-feminist and male supremacist ideologies, has increasingly been recognized as a site of radicalization, violence, and cultural influence. This mixed methods systematic review synthesizes 105 empirical studies on the manosphere (e.g., The Red Pill, incels, Men's Rights Activists, Men Going Their Own Way, Pickup Artists) to examine how sexual violence is mobilized in these communities. Sexual violence mobilization refers not only to abusive incidents, but also broader discourses, attitudes, and practices that work to reproduce gendered power. Using a convergent integrated approach to synthesis and reflexive thematic analysis, we identified that manosphere actors leverage sexually violent acts and rhetoric to consolidate group identity and further their ideological goal of male supremacy, though, paradoxically, they do so under the guise of personal victimhood. Drawing on these findings, we propose a framework for conceptualizing sexual violence mobilization within the manosphere, highlighting how this mobilization is being used as a tool for recruitment, indoctrination, application of core ideologies, and the maintenance of these communities. The scope of this issue requires multi-level interventions, centering liberatory, gender-transformative programming for men.