“The claws of feminism”: anti-feminist hate speech on Facebook and the sense of controlled urgency

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims to analyze how antifeminist content published on Facebook mobilizes hate and uses it as a powerful political tool. The methodological path was to collect content made available in the pages of the mentioned social media website and to examine them using the Discourse Analysis from the Foucaultian perspective. I consider, therefore, that these enunciations exist in a context and meet the urgent needs of antifeminism. In this work, the need to promote a sense of controlled urgency will be specifically discussed: narratives are created to encourage both explosive and continuous reactions, in order to ensure that aversion felt for these militants retains its intensity and lasts throughout time. This strategy solidifies the union between the antifeminist group under the idea of confronting a terrible villain.