Just imagine Elon Musk... you really think he does that? Neoliberal subjecthood and the sexual marketplace in pornography abstinence/reboot communities.

Smith, David S.

Abstract

Through a deterministic evolutionary psychology framework, the manosphere conceptualises an inflexible sexual market that positions men as entrepreneurs competing for a limited resource: women's interest. In recent years, researchers have explored the crossover between this network and nofap/reboot communities - digital spaces where (mostly) men chart their progress abstaining from pornography and/or masturbation. In contrast to incels, who see themselves as unable to compete, these communities position members as prospective marketplace winners who will benefit sexually and economically from discipline and self-mastery. I detail how their discourses often promote red pill tenets, including valorising rebooters' internal struggles as defiance against an external feminist agent threatening authentic masculinity. This logic of reconnecting with "real" manhood through sexual labour positions rebooters as neoliberal subjects, instrumentalizing encounters with women to qualify their position in a natural hierarchy. I also discuss the potential for these communities to provide a pipeline into more extreme beliefs.

Citation

SMITH, D.S. 2024. Just imagine Elon Musk... you really think he does that? Neoliberal subjecthood and the sexual marketplace in pornography abstinence/reboot communities. Presented at the 3rd Joint international annual conference of the LEX Network, Violence Against Women and Girls Research Network, Feminist Legal Research and Action Network, and the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law (LEX-VAWGRN-FRAN-CSEL 2024): activism, change and feminist futures: remembering the past to reimagine the future, 7-8 November 2024, Liverpool, UK.

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: 3rd Joint international annual conference of the LEX Network, Violence Against Women and Girls Research Network, Feminist Legal Research and Action Network, and the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law (LEX-VAWGRN-FRAN-CSEL 2024): activism, change and
• Start Date: Nov 7, 2024
• End Date: Nov 8, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 5, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 13, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2571296