The cult of the "alpha male" in the brotherhood of seduction: a study of the construction of masculinity in an online forum

• Grant number: 15/06935-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2016
• End date: December 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Richard Miskolci Escudeiro
• Grantee: Myatã Sanches Pedrini Campos
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This scientific initiation will study the construction of masculinities in an online community that I call the brotherhood of seduction. An ethnography of an online forum used by heterosexual men to exchange tips, tactics and techniques to "seduce women" will be held. Through previous field research, I could identify a phallocentric policy characterized by the simultaneous presence of the ostentation and veneration of a specific pattern of masculinity: the "alpha male". Men's studies, Digital Media Studies and Queer Theory will be the reference for this study so that, in particular, seek to understand how sexuality and gender policy is being updated with the emergence of a society marked by the use of the internet. Also will investigate how technologies of gender act in the construction of suitable men to sexual and gender norms in this community, which will be important to understand the work of my interlocutors to become "alphas males". Ethnography will be divided into two main phases. The first is a more detailed analysis of a selection of three parts of the object of study, these areas are called "Presentations", "Reports of practice" and "Testimonials". The second is the dialogue with the members of this community that I will do through interviews and messaging that the forum format allows.