“Marc Lépine must have updated his list from the otherworld.” That sentence, written 10 years ago by a man on Twitter (now X), troubles me to this day.There was nothing trivial about the statement. It came from someone whose ideological leanings are close to the incel movement — “involuntary celibates” — which is part of the wider masculinist movement. He felt justified uttering these words after novelist Marie-Hélène Poitras and I published Les Superbes: une enquête sur le succès et les femmes (The Fabulous Ones: An Investigation into Success and Women). His message was clear: the women we had interviewed for this book deserved to be eliminated.The hatred expressed by this man on Twitter led the Sûreté du Québec police to launch an investigation, which was later closed with no further action. The comment was a sign of how a hostile online environment was already taking shape.As a researcher at Concordia University, my team and I study gender-based cyberviolence and the manosphere — the constellation of forums, groups and influencers united by a masculinist ideology who orchestrate co-ordinated attacks against women on social media. À lire aussi : ‘Quiet, piggy’ and other slurs: Powerful men fuel online abuse against women in politics and media Masculinist narrativesA decade later, this comment would be drowned in the sea of masculinist discourse we are now seeing online. That’s how much there is of it. Masculinism is also a driver of cyberviolence against women, as the latest report from France’s High Council on Equality Between Men and Women shows. According to a major study published by The Economist Intelligence Unit, 85 per cent of women have experienced this type of violence.Since this style of rhetoric first appeared online, masculinism has gone mainstream. For example, Andrew Tate has been a leading figure in the movement since 2016. His videos on TikTok have now been viewed more than 11.4 billion times, and are especially popular among young members of Generation Z. Among his many inflammatory statements, Tate suggested that women should lose their right to vote because they overwhelmingly cast their ballots for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election in the United States.While this phenomenon is widespread, it remains poorly understood. Many consider masculinism as the equivalent of feminism. In fact, it constitutes a political counter-movement against any progress in women’s rights, as defined by UQAM researchers Mélissa Blais and Francis Dupuis-Déri, citing what they describe as a “crisis of masculinity.”Adherents of this movement articulate this “crisis” as a decline in traditional male roles in society. In their view, men have been relegated to subordinate positions and have been trampled on by women who now occupy a greater place in the spheres of power and the economy. This victim narrative is the ideological foundation of masculinism, which calls for reclaiming the privileges and power that men, according to its supporters, have lost to women.Many adherents of masculinism resort to sexist and racist cyberviolence to make their voices heard. This online violence has been extensively documented, notably in Je vous salue salope (2022), the film I co-wrote with Guylaine Maroist. À lire aussi : Men can get out of the manosphere. Here’s what former incels say about why they left Trump’s election: A turning pointWhat has happened over the past 10 years?Donald Trump’s election in 2016 was an initial turning point. For the first time in a long while, the world’s leading power was led by a political figure who trivialized insults, disinformation and openly racist and sexist remarks. The fact that such a figure of authority could use this kind of language helped to legitimize certain forms of hatred, particularly towards women.During his first term in office, the overturning of Roe v. Wade represented a major setback for reproductive rights by removing the constitutional protection for women’s right to abortion. More broadly, Trump crystallized a moment of fragility for women’s rights. Since his re-election in 2024, there’s been widespread concern about the deterioration of American democracy, particularly in light of repressive immigration policies and the rise of authoritarian rhetoric. À lire aussi : American authoritarianism has a long history. What can it tell us about Trump and the battle for America’s soul? In my view, the #MAGA movement is part of masculinism, a thesis put forward by historian Olivier Bourtin. MAGA features several typical traits of masculinism, such as a call for the restoration of a traditional gender order, the glorification of masculinity, strength and male domination, the legitimization of symbolic or actual violence and, finally, pro-natalist rhetoric that reinforces the idea of reducing women to producing children.Yet many still seek to portray masculinism as marginal and limited to certain individuals. But several researchers contradict this, including political scientist Tristan Boursier, a researcher at the Université du Québec en Outaouais.I believe that masculinism amounts to a genuine political counter-movement whose discourse is gaining traction in both the public and political spheres.The rise of digital platformsThe landscape has also shifted over the past decade due to regulatory changes that affect major digital platforms. Since 2022, reforms have been implemented on platforms like X, owned by Elon Musk, and Meta, owned by Mark Zuckerberg. In the name of freedom of expression — a concept often misinterpreted by Silicon Valley’s “broligarchy,” who no longer hide their libertarian leanings — human moderation on these platforms has been weakened, banned accounts have been reinstated and fact-checking has been undermined. À lire aussi : ‘ Adolescence ’ est une critique poignante de la masculinité toxique chez les jeunes This erosion of oversight has encouraged a flood of disinformation and the proliferation of unpunished hate speech. As a result, masculinist violence has been legitimized, permitted and popularized.It’s no coincidence that France’s High Council on Equality sounded the alarm in its latest report, where it stated that masculinism was the most significant threat that needed to be monitored in the country in terms of equality. Influencers like Tate now have millions of followers; his content is viewed positively by 23 per cent of 15–16-year-old boys and 56 per cent of young fathers (aged 25–34) in the United Kingdom. More than 60 per cent of recommended videos on YouTube Shorts and 35 per cent on TikTok contain toxic content following interactions with misogynistic content.Furthermore, a study conducted among pupils at several secondary schools in Montréal shows that 34 per cent of young people are masculinists.Regulating hateThe situation requires urgent attention from the Canadian government. In 2023, together with journalist and filmmaker Guylaine Maroist, our team tabled a petition in the House of Commons with 30,000 signatures calling for legislation against online hate speech. It was ignored.Since then, debates on the regulation of digital platforms have polarized Ottawa. Bill C-63 on online harm, tabled in February 2024, aims to force platforms to limit harmful content and to establish a Digital Safety Commission with enforcement powers. A special committee on anti-feminism, in which I participated, was also held last December in the House of Commons.In the end, masculinism must be seen for what it is: not just as one opinion among many, but as a political ideology that undermines our democracy, erodes women’s rights and normalizes cyberviolence.Léa Clermont-Dion ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.