![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
This article considers how the social-news and community site Reddit.com has become a hub for anti-feminist activism. Examining two recent cases of what are defined as “toxic technocultures” (#Gamergate and The Fappening), this work describes how Reddit’s design, algorithm, and platform politics implicitly support these kinds of cultures. In particular, this piece focuses on the ways in which Reddit’s karma point system, aggregation of material across subreddits, ease of subreddit and user account creation, governance structure, and policies around offensive content serve to provide fertile ground for anti-feminist and misogynistic activism. The ways in which these events and communities reflect certain problematic aspects of geek masculinity are also considered. This research is informed by the results of a long-term participant-observation and ethnographic study into Reddit’s culture and community and is grounded in actor-network theory.
References
|
Alfonso, F (2014a) How Unidan went from being Reddit’s most beloved user to its most disgraced. Available at: http://www.dailydot.com/news/reddit-unidan-shadownban-vote-manipulation-ben-eisenkop/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Alfonso, F (2014b) Meet the Reddit power user who helped bring down r/technology. Available at: http://www.dailydot.com/politics/reddit-maxwellhill-moderator-technology-flaw/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
alienth (2014a) Experimental Reddit change: subreddits may now opt-out of /r/all. Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/2a32sq/experimental_reddit_change_subreddits_may_now/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
alienth (2014b) Time to talk. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_to_talk/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
A Man In Black (2014) How imageboard culture shaped Gamergate. Available at: http://boingboing.net/2014/12/31/how-imageboard-culture-shaped.html (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
atticus138 (2014) This shit is bananas. Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/Celebs/comments/2f4woz/this_shit_is_bananas/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Auerbach, D (2014) Does Reddit have a transparency problem? Available at: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/10/reddit_scandals_does_the_site_have_a_transparency_problem.html (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Bernstein, MS, Monroy-Hernández, A, Harry, D. (2011) 4chan and /b/: an analysis of anonymity and ephemerality in a large online community. In: Proceedings of the ICWSM 2011, Barcelona, Spain, 17–21 July 2011, pp. 50–57. Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Bourdieu, P (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
boyd, d (2011) Social network sites as networked publics: affordances, dynamics, and implications. In: Papacharissi, Z (ed.) Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites. New York: Routledge, pp. 39–58. Google Scholar | |
|
Bruns, A (2008) Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage. New York: Peter Lang. Google Scholar | |
|
Bucher, T (2012) Want to be on the top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook. New Media & Society 14: 1164–1180. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Citron, DK (2014) Hate Crimes in Cyberspace. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Coleman, EG (2013) Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Connell, RW, Messerschmidt, JW (2005) Hegemonic masculinity: rethinking the concept. Gender & Society 19: 829–859. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Crawford, K, Gillespie, T (2014) What is a flag for? Social media reporting tools and the vocabulary of a complaint. New Media & Society. Epub ahead of print 15 July. DOI: 10.1177/1461444814543163. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
cupcake1713 (2014) Latest Zoe Quinn drama explodes. Spiritual successors takes on the job of undertaker and ferryman across the Styx to /r/Shadowban (comment). Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/2ecvrb/latest_zoe_quinn_drama_explodes/cjypzmn (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Fan, CT (2014) Not all nerds. Available at: http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/not-all-nerds/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Gillespie, T (2010) The politics of “platforms.” New Media & Society 12: 347–364. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Greenberg, A (2014) Hacked celeb pics made Reddit enough cash to run its servers for a month. Available at: http://www.wired.com/2014/09/celeb-pics-reddit-gold/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Herring, SC, Stoerger, S (2014) Gender and (a)nonymity in computer-mediated communication. In: Ehrlich, S, Meyerhoff, M, Holmes, J (eds) The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 567–586. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
jeffzem (2014) How is a comment’s karma calculated? Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/2ikhvu/how_is_a_comments_karma_calculated/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Kendall, L (2011) “White and nerdy”: computers, race, and the nerd stereotype. Journal of Popular Culture 44: 505–524. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
kn0thing (2015) Promote ideas, protect people (comment). Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/35ym8t/promote_ideas_protect_people/cr917vo (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Latour, B (1992) Where are the missing masses? The sociology of a few mundane artifacts. In: Bijker, WE, Law, J (eds) Shaping Technology/Building Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 225–257. Google Scholar | |
|
Latour, B (2005) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
lleti (2015) 100,000 people have now signed the Change .org petition, requesting that Ellen “from my cold, dead hands” Pao step down as CEO of Reddit Inc. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/3c4tvh/100000_people_have_now_signed_the_changeorg/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Lynch, B, Swearingen, C (2015) Why we shut down Reddit’s “Ask Me Anything” forum. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/opinion/why-we-shut-down-reddits-ask-me-anything-forum.html (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Massanari, AL (2015) Participatory Culture, Community, and Play: Learning from Reddit. New York: Peter Lang. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Milner, RM (2013) FCJ-156 Hacking the social: Internet memes, identity antagonism, and the logic of lulz. The Fibreculture Journal, issue 22. Available at: http://twentytwo.fibreculturejournal.org/fcj-156-hacking-the-social-internet-memes-identity-antagonism-and-the-logic-of-lulz/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Muchnik, L, Aral, S, Taylor, SJ (2013) Social influence bias: a randomized experiment. Science 341: 647–651. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Pao, E (2015) Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao: the trolls are winning the battle for the Internet. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-cannot-let-the-internet-trolls-win/2015/07/16/91b1a2d2-2b17-11e5-bd33-395c05608059_story.html (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Papacharissi, Z (2015) Affective Publics: Sentiment, Technology, and Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Penny, L (2014) On nerd entitlement. Available at: http://www.newstatesman.com/laurie-penny/on-nerd-entitlement-rebel-alliance-empire (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Peterson, AH (2014) Jennifer Lawrence and the history of cool girls. Available at: http://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/jennifer-lawrence-and-the-history-of-cool-girls (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Pfaffenberger, B (1996) “If I want it, it’s ok”: usenet and the (outer) limits of free speech. The Information Society 12: 365–386. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Reagle, J (2012) “Free as in sexist?” Free culture and the gender gap. First Monday 18(1). Available at: http://firstmonday.org/article/view/4291/3381 Google Scholar | |
|
reddit.com (2014) Rules of Reddit. Available at: http://www.reddit.com/rules/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
RobKhonsu (2015) Promote ideas, protect people (comment). Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/35ym8t/promote_ideas_protect_people/cr967zt?context=1 (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Salihefendic, A (2010) How Reddit ranking algorithms work. Available at: http://amix.dk/blog/post/19588 (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
sodypop (2014) What’s that, Lassie? The old defaults fell down a well? (comment). Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/24yqep/whats_that_lassie_the_old_defaults_fell_down_a/chbyaqq (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
spez (2015) Let’s talk content. AMA. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3djjxw/lets_talk_content_ama/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Stuart, K (2014) Zoe Quinn: “All Gamergate has done is ruin people’s lives.” Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/03/zoe-quinn-gamergate-interview (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Terranova, T (2003) Free labor: producing culture for the digital economy. Available at: http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/technocapitalism/voluntary (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Turner, F (2006) From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
UnholyDemigod (2014) The Fappening. Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/MuseumOfReddit/comments/2pclqw/the_fappening/ (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Van Dijck, J (2013) The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Vanity Fair (2014) Cover exclusive: Jennifer Lawrence calls photo hacking a “Sex Crime.” Available at: http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/2014/10/jennifer-lawrence-cover (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Varma, R (2007) Women in computing: the role of geek culture. Science as Culture 16: 359–376. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
yishan (2014) Every man is responsible for his own soul. Available at: http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/every-man-is-responsible-for-his-own.html (accessed 6 August 2015). Google Scholar |
