Virtual Machismos: Origin and Characterization of Masculinist Discourses on Brazilian Red Pill YouTube Channels

Abstract

This article sets out to explore the origins and contexts that marked the emergence of masculinism and, in particular, Red Pill theory. Created in the Anglo-Saxon world between the 1970s/80s and 1990s, it found fertile ground for its importation and adaptation by Brazilian influencers in the technological and communication transformations of the last twenty years and in the Brazilian cultural, social and political context after 2013. By analysing a YouTube channel, the Redcast, the article examines the gender narratives and socio-economic dynamics that characterise the production of masculinist content, reflecting a neoliberal social and political subjectivisation of both the influencers and their audiences, and a constant dialogue with the radical right.