I wanted to explore Incel forums as a case study for where AI algorithms filter one’s world view; recommended ads, Youtube videos, Tiktok content ect. I wanted to express that the consequences are transferred to the real world. Not confined to our screens.
Further research led me to the general ‘Manosphere’, a “number of interconnected misogynistic communities”, which applies to both Incel culture and ‘Sigma male’ ideologies. The ideas revolving social-Darwinism and traditional gender roles bleed into our politics, media, and in some extreme cases have served as an influence for mass shooters. As sinister as these online communities are, many young adults encounter them through podcasts and Tiktoks that are seemingly satirical. “Women have no hobbies”, “Women no longer value traditional ALPHA males”, “3 red flags in dating modern women sigma males should NEVER ignore”. To outsiders, it can seem like a web-wide inside joke.
My final piece and previous experimentation aimed to explore these communities as a female spectator. I wanted to sarcastically align myself with their peculiar hierarchy systems. To insert myself into their fantasies as a character, and how a female presence can alter the appearance of Incel and Sigma male iconography. To rearrange and toy with their hierarchy systems. The humour of the mixed media installation has sinister undertones. The two hours of Youtube content played through headphones, the pink cast of a gun, a faceless character ranking an unknown subject, the metal structures that enclose the monitor. It touches on the darker realities of Incel culture. How their anger and insecurity towards women, and pack-mentality harvests violent attributes.
