Using platform signals for distinguishing discourses: The case of men's rights and men's liberation on Reddit

Reddit’s men’s rights community (/r/MensRights) has been criticized for the promotion of misogynistic language, toxic masculinity and discourses that reinforce alt-right ideologies. Conversely, the men’s liberation (/r/MensLib) community integrates inclusive politics, intersectionality and masculini...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Laviolette, J, Hogan, B
Format: Conference item
Published: Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence 2019
_version_ 1797061388325093376
author Laviolette, J
Hogan, B
author_facet Laviolette, J
Hogan, B
author_sort Laviolette, J
collection OXFORD
description Reddit’s men’s rights community (/r/MensRights) has been criticized for the promotion of misogynistic language, toxic masculinity and discourses that reinforce alt-right ideologies. Conversely, the men’s liberation (/r/MensLib) community integrates inclusive politics, intersectionality and masculinity within a broad umbrella of self-reflection that suggests toxic masculinity harms men as well as women. We use machine learning text classifiers, keyword frequencies, and qualitative approaches first to distinguish these two subreddits, and second to interpret the differences ideologically rather than topically. We further integrate platform metadata (referred to as ‘platform signals’) to distinguish the subreddits. These signals help us understand how similar terms can be used to arrive at different interpretations of gender and discrimination. Where /r/MensLib tends to see masculinity as an adjective and women as peers, /r/MensRights views being a man as an essential quality, men as the target of discrimination, and women as sources of personalized grievances.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T20:30:24Z
format Conference item
id oxford-uuid:30d8e20c-d36c-452c-b254-5b83ab500851
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-06T20:30:24Z
publishDate 2019
publisher Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:30d8e20c-d36c-452c-b254-5b83ab5008512022-03-26T13:04:07ZUsing platform signals for distinguishing discourses: The case of men's rights and men's liberation on RedditConference itemhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_5794uuid:30d8e20c-d36c-452c-b254-5b83ab500851Symplectic Elements at OxfordAssociation for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence2019Laviolette, JHogan, BReddit’s men’s rights community (/r/MensRights) has been criticized for the promotion of misogynistic language, toxic masculinity and discourses that reinforce alt-right ideologies. Conversely, the men’s liberation (/r/MensLib) community integrates inclusive politics, intersectionality and masculinity within a broad umbrella of self-reflection that suggests toxic masculinity harms men as well as women. We use machine learning text classifiers, keyword frequencies, and qualitative approaches first to distinguish these two subreddits, and second to interpret the differences ideologically rather than topically. We further integrate platform metadata (referred to as ‘platform signals’) to distinguish the subreddits. These signals help us understand how similar terms can be used to arrive at different interpretations of gender and discrimination. Where /r/MensLib tends to see masculinity as an adjective and women as peers, /r/MensRights views being a man as an essential quality, men as the target of discrimination, and women as sources of personalized grievances.
spellingShingle Laviolette, J
Hogan, B
Using platform signals for distinguishing discourses: The case of men's rights and men's liberation on Reddit
title Using platform signals for distinguishing discourses: The case of men's rights and men's liberation on Reddit
title_full Using platform signals for distinguishing discourses: The case of men's rights and men's liberation on Reddit
title_fullStr Using platform signals for distinguishing discourses: The case of men's rights and men's liberation on Reddit
title_full_unstemmed Using platform signals for distinguishing discourses: The case of men's rights and men's liberation on Reddit
title_short Using platform signals for distinguishing discourses: The case of men's rights and men's liberation on Reddit
title_sort using platform signals for distinguishing discourses the case of men s rights and men s liberation on reddit
work_keys_str_mv AT laviolettej usingplatformsignalsfordistinguishingdiscoursesthecaseofmensrightsandmensliberationonreddit
AT hoganb usingplatformsignalsfordistinguishingdiscoursesthecaseofmensrightsandmensliberationonreddit