Even after the #MeToo movement, we're still in a world where the dominant narrative is that feminists are overreacting to online misogyny and the so-called "manosphere," a loose collection of "pick-up artists," "incels," "men's rights activists" and various troglodytes who spend hours online spitting venom at women and celebrating the most toxic of masculinities. When feminists point out the proliferation of online forums dedicated to misogynist talk or organized social media harassment campaigns like Gamergate, they are generally dismissed as hysterical or told that they can simply log off and it will all go away.
"Our society has sublimated the threat posted by online misogynistic extremism ito the perception of a small group of immature, annoying, sometimes funny teeangers, joking around and playing technological tricks," Laura Bates writes in her book "Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All." Bates explains that "The most important element of this caricature is that it is perceived, above all, as harmless, or at least not genuinely harmful." Online misogynists are generally spoken of as "trolls," she writes, a non-threatening term that implies they are "too stupid to do much real damage beyond giving people the occasional scare."
