Mattanja Ewida - “You look great Hon”: An insight into the world of emotional subcultures and masochistic selfie-threads.

The following text by Mattanja Ewida is published as part of the 30th year anniversary that Simulacrum celebrated last year, during which we published several articles and reflections by former editors and contributors.

Mattanja Ewida is a 26-year-old student, writer, model, and workshop coordinator. While currently finalising her master's thesis within the Gender Studies department of the UvA, Mattanja also explores her fascination with subcultural movements within the Media Studies department. Her appetite for academia exists right on the cusp of these two realms, often with a special focus on the SWANA region as evident in her latest research project on the use and distribution of sexual enhancers in Egypt. Constantly moving between Amsterdam and Berlin, Mattanja spends much of her work and free time in nightlife. Within her current job as project coordinator of a Safer Clubbing initiative she facilitates training and advice regarding diversity, inclusion, and social safety to a broad variety of venues and collectives in the Netherlands.

“You look great Hon”: An insight into the world of emotional subcultures and masochistic selfie-threads, by Mattanja Ewida

(This article is an edited version of a longer piece written in 2020.)

‘There would be this thrill in reading what other people are saying what my deepest anxieties told me was really true. And that was always painful, but there was a kind of pleasure too. There was a rush. It is exciting to burst out of the politically correct bubble and say what you are really thinking.’(ContraPoints- 27:53-28:07, 2018)

In August 2018 political commentator and Youtube-icon ContraPoints released a video in which she presented us with a cutting-edge analysis of inceldom in juxtaposition to fringe queer realms on 4chan.org [1]. 4chan is many things to many people, although its origin can be best described as a Japanese Futuba channel on which people discuss a variety of topics from anime and hentai to politics. Not long after its birth, 4chan’s online demographic started to change and it ‘became a destination unto itself, complete with its own lexicon and behavioural norms’[2]. Although rarely affiliated with the lgbtqia+ community, this online jungle of anti-feminist, alt-right, racist, and troll-driven discourse, remains to be a discussion arena for queer individuals [3]. These realms, like the /lgbt/ board, are nevertheless often influenced by the manosphere they exist in, therefore resulting in a significant number of 4-chan zealous ‘men who entertain the notion of becoming women’ [4].

The manosphere, the masculine online realm of transgression, is best known for facilitating the phenomenon of inceldo​​m. Incels can be best described as involuntary celibate men who feel alienated and victimised by mainstream liberal society, the latter fueling their anti-feminist, racist, and queerphobic ideologies [5]. In relation to both the world of inceldom and queer 4chan, Contrapoints introduced the phenomenon of selfie-threading: the act in which members of online communities share pictures of their faces or bodies in order to receive an evaluation of their appearance. Whereas most people have indulged in selfie-posting, the act of posting oneself while simultaneously expecting and desiring brutal and unconstructive feedback remains a new and implausible anomaly for many.

Inceldom has been studied extensively, but the often justifiable critical analyses leave little space for an empathetic understanding of member’s experienced emotions and motivations. By analysing the selfie-threads of trans women on the /lgbt/ board I attempt to move away from the negative connotations and stigma concerning digital self-harm and selfie-threads on 4chan.org. In an attempt to understand why, amongst other online subcultures, the trans women of 4chan’s /lgbt/ board indulge in these practices, this essay aims to map the motives, circumstances, and consequences of the, for the outsider’s eye, harmful act of selfie-threading. In classifying trans women on /lgbt/ as an emotional subculture, this piece will demonstrate the variety of social norms, affirmations, and moderations typical for their platform. Building upon the specificity of 4chan vernaculars, I aim to situate this practice of digital self-harm not solely as a consequence of participation within the /lgbt/ board, but as a condition; a parameter for subcultural identification and belonging that opposes other more mainstream online spheres.

Digital Münchhausen

No matter if they are punks or club kids [6], in their creation of a collective identity subcultures often display a fight against the mainstream [7]. This “subversion to normalcy” is perpetuated through style and thus through the many ways in which their conscious choices in language, fashion, and music function as a catalyst in the process of ‘communicating group experience’[8]. Although classified as subordinate by their more mainstream opponents, both online and offline subcultures consist of complex structures concerning social control, social support, identity politics, and subcultural representations and they, therefore, should be studied according to their subcultural specificity [9].

One of these specific forms of subcultural identities is the emotional subculture. Here the shared sets of norms regarding how members should feel, act, and talk in a particular moment of time function as a parameter of subcultural acceptance [10]. Emotional subcultures exist in countless forms, nevertheless there seems to be a recurrent sentiment of injustice often fueled by harmful ‘external’ realities such as institutional racism, classism or sexism. Although emotional subcultures are generally driven by the understanding that their online activity might subvert society’s flaws, one could critique that through the micro management of accepted emotional displays one actually leaves more space to legitimise or reify systems of inequality [11]. Efficiency aside, what happens if the injustice, and accordingly the subcultural sentiments of fear, anger, and victimisation, are fueled and perpetuated by the members themselves? To navigate how this emotional synchronisation manifests into subcultural identity in the case of 4chan’s /lgbt/ board, I will look through four subcultural dimensions: defining, coding, affirming, and policing [12]. These tools help to define what it means to be a member, and how this identity is being signified, validated, and maintained.

The phenomenon of online self-victimisation has been studied outside of the realm of 4chan. Prior to Contrapoint’s analyses, the concept of digital self-harm was used to fathom the anomaly in which adolescents use sockpuppet accounts [13] to anonymously share harmful content about themselves in order to publicly respond to their self-exposed threats or insults [14]. Their motivations would vary from ‘a cry for help,’ or ‘wanting to appear cool’ to a desire to ‘trigger compliments’ [15]. Although the motivations could still be relevant in adulthood, sockpuppet accounts are not, and the definition is translated to adulthood as ‘intentionally seeking out abusive and disparaging comments about yourself made by other people’ [16].The concept of digital self-harm is occasionally referred to as digital Münchhausen by which the digital concept is juxtaposed to the mental disorder in which people inflict harm upon themselves in order to obtain attention, validation, and sympathy.

Additionally, ContraPoints introduces the concept of masochistic epistemology: the belief that ‘whatever hurts is true’ [17]. Referring to a generation that got most of their philosophy lessons on the internet, it is no surprise according to Walker and Gutierrez that members of online subcultures search for a truth that is ‘crude, unnuanced, and often conspiratorial.’ The belief that ‘an increase in discomfort constitutes an increase of truthfulness,’ consequently debouching into the rejection of everything that does not hurt, can also be referred to as a masochistic fallacy. Rooted in the growing states of insecurities that current generations grow up in, the adaptation of this belief system is merely functioning as a nihilistic immunity to further ‘let-downs’ [18].

In the 4-chan realms, these self-fulfilling echo-chambers of self harm are ignited by the dominant “Redpill” ideology [19]. The pill analogy that finds its roots in the 1999 movie ‘The Matrix’ consists of two coloured pills that symbolise different states in which one could move through life [20]. Whereas ‘Taking the blue pill’ is the equivalent of living a “delusional” life in which you close your eyes for the truth, the red pill symbolises a state of living in which one, often through a nihilistic and sceptical attitude, is willing and capable to see and accept life’s ugly truths [21]. These ugly truths are inextricably linked to racist, sexist, or queerphobic discourses. Furthermore, due to the ‘blue pill’ referring to mainstream society, a member of a ‘redpilled’ online domain will almost unquestionably obtain a superior subcultural position [22]. This superior position of the ugly results in a world in which disparaging content becomes the most or solely accepted subcultural language, hereby granting eternal possibilities of reification of one's deepest insecurities and fears due to the internet’s unlimited audience [23].

“4-trannies”

The act of intentionally searching for disparaging content about oneself can be analysed through participation in selfie-threading. Selfie-threads are sequences of selfies or full-body pictures that are (mostly voluntarily) shared in a specific online environment. Not solely the desire to be seen but more so the craving to be judged, rated or roasted on the base of one's physicality is crucial to the practice [24]. Selfie-threading gained humble notoriety through the world of inceldom. In these online realms involuntarily celibate men, who often adhere to far-right, misogynistic and racist discourse, congregate over a collective feeling of failure within ‘the sexual market place’ [25]. Their discussion arena’s depict elaborate theories concerning sexual success, hypergamy, masculinity and physical beauty. Here, selfie-threads function as a platform to get criticised upon one’s level of attractiveness (figure  1) [26]. Perhaps because many trans women on /lgbt/ seem to have originated from other corners of 4chan.org, the practice of selfie-threading consequently followed.

Prior to the renewal of it’s moderation policies, /TTTT/ was the designated board for selfie-threading trans women. This change subsequently led to more visibility of their selfie-threads on the main /lgbt/-board. Similar to selfie-threads in the realm of inceldom, the selfies on /lgbt/ consist of pictures of faces, as well as full body displays (figure 2,3,4). Instead of the level of attractiveness, here the level of clockability (the extent to which a trans person is incapable to pass as a cis-gender person) functions as the parameter for the identity of the group. Whereas some posts are supported by the explicit question “do I pass?” (figure 4), most of the commentary will be related to the level of clockability of the selfie-provider anyhow. Despite an occasional ‘sympathetic’ comment like “stop being hard on yourself, you pass” (figure 2), or the semi-constructive feedback alluding to the benefits of make-up or shaving (figure 2,3), most commentary emphasising one’s masculinity is drenched in racist and transphobic jargon. Secondly, commentary indicating self-harm or suicide like “pass the bullet through your comrade head” are prevalent throughout most of the selfie threads (figure 4). Posts can vary from personal pictures to occasional public attacks on other trans women who are considered ‘damaging’ to the reputation of the trans-community by ‘not passing’, or not even “trying to pass” (figure 3).

Fig. 1. Incel Selfie thread. Looksmaxx.me. https://looksmax.me/forums/ratings.7/. Accessed 21 Dec 2020.

Fig. 2. /lgbt Selfie Thread from: Melanie. 4chan.org. https://boards.4channel.org/lgbt/. Accessed 27 Feb 2021.

Fig. 3. /lgbt/ Selfie Thread from: Anonymous. 4chan.org. https://boards.4channel.org/lgbt/. Accessed 27 Feb 2021.

Fig. 4. /lgbt/ Selfie Thread from: Anonymous. 4chan.org. https://boards.4channel.org/lgbt/. Accessed 27 Feb 2021.

“You look great HON”

The selfie-threads on /lgbt/ depict a subcultural norm defined by a collective sense of despair, self-loathing and disbelief, as demonstrated in figure 2 where ‘hongen’ states: “could see the insane disgust in her eyes upon seeing me” and “insists she doesn’t think I’m ugly” [27]. The first element in the process of subcultural emotional synchronisation (defining) is signified by the term “hon”[28]. This concept is a slur used by trans women for other trans women, with which they insinuate that one is obviously clockable as a man. Whereas the general connotation of the term ‘hon’ is rather positive, in these cases the pejorative is supported by a cynical emphasis that appoints Reddit's hugboxing practices (figure 6). A hugbox is a derogatory description of online realms in which people discuss topics under, often classified as militant, moderation policies facilitating comforting and non-confrontational safe spaces [29]. Since most online trans communities adhere to these positive and supportive guidelines, the expression “you look great Hon'' marks an aspect of ‘a priori and dogmatic flattery’ or in other words ‘politically correct cuckoldry’ [30]. Hons want to distance themselves from these, what they classify as hypocrite and false, sets of information and compliments and surrender themselves to the idea that they ‘indeed’ do not pass as cis-women.  

The latter can be classified as the code of conduct within /lgbt/ [31]. The idea that it is impossible for every trans woman to pass manifests itself in the belief that one should acknowledge their masculine characteristics and depict this in their selfie-threads. These ideas often go hand in hand with vivid expressions of mental health issues and pessimistic world views (figure 2). The Litmus test [32] for membership accordingly incorporates everything that is the opposite of the hugboxed trans domains in which support in relation to transition is prominent.

Whereas the affirmative aspect of emotional subcultures usually tends to hold empathetic and supportive characteristics [33],the stage that has been given to the trans women on /lgbt/ to express their belonging and identity demonstrates rather hateful trends. Nonetheless, this should not be mistaken for a failure in affirmation. Taking into account that the term ‘hon’, and therefore the state of being clockable, is the desired identity within this group, negative feedback on their physicality establishes active participation in the hon-discourse. The selfie-threads therefore can be seen as explicit stages that facilitate opportunities to demonstrate subcultural belonging.  

Lastly, the subcultural component of policing is reified mostly and explicitly through the commentary in the threads [34]. The hon-identity in combination with the desired collective feeling of despair and hopelessness is policed by the army of commenters whose main purpose is to remind the participator of their clickability. Within this collective state of despondency, the idea that one could ever “successfully transition” is not only unimaginable but also forbidden. Therefore there prevails a necessity for members of /lgbt/ to continually remind each other of the fact that society will never not see their masculinity (figure 5, 6). When one does not abide by these behavioural norms, they will be reminded of the ‘fake’ and ‘blue pilled’ hugboxing practices in mainstream online trans realms and deemed unworthy of /lgbt/ (figure 6). 

Fig. 5. /LGBT/ Selfie Thread comment from: Anonymous. 4chan.org. https://boards.4channel.org/lgbt/. Accessed 28 Feb 2021.

Fig. 6. /LGBT/ Selfie Thread comment from: Anonymous. 4chan.org. https://boards.4channel.org/lgbt/. Accessed 28 Feb 2021.

Selfie threads: a subcultural gateway?

Although the board is named /lgbt/, it remains questionable if the members identify as such. This uncertainty, nevertheless, is in itself a critique on the neoliberal assumption that the ‘lgbt community’ is a monolithic concept rooted in unified experiences and opinions. By focussing on the selfie-threading trans domains, one can see how a mandatory state of hopelessness and scepticism towards transitioning creates a fringe subcultural movement within this ‘identity’ [35].

Whereas most trans dominated realms are symbolized by systems of support, /lgbt/ seems to adhere the opposite. Through the explicit stage of selfie-threads in which participants post personal photos in order to be critiqued on their level of clockability, the trans women of 4chan.org continually remind each other of the fact that they do not, and will never, pass as women. In this process, their alternative language (Hon), indicates both an aversion to politically correct mainstream trans communities and their hugboxing practices, as well as an appetite and capability towards information that is considered ‘the ugly and harsh truth.’ The acceptance of one's masculine physicality for the sake of being merely realistic, and thus a fetishization of truth, is an inextricable byproduct of the omni-present pill theory [36]. Not only will the state of being redpilled proclaim a sense of immediate superiority over the mainstream hugboxed trans domains, it also functions as the predominant parameter for subcultural acceptance [37]. Consequently, someone who aspires to belong to this emotional subculture will succumb to masochistic epistemology in which the ‘ugly truth’ mostly entails hearing that ‘they are clockable to a thousand pieces’ [38].

When arguing that in order to be accepted into the online subculture, one must be seen as a hopeless non-passing trans woman, the extensive participation in selfie threads becomes evident. By inflicting digital harm upon themselves through exposing their physicality to the members of /lgbt/, the women can prove their appetite towards the masochistic fallacy. The selfie-threads, including their brutal feedback, will therefore function as a gateway into subcultural belonging. In reminding the selfie-threads’ facilitator and fellow-commentator of someone's masculinity, the gatekeepers of /lgbt/ uphold an important but rather wieldy job. What if one of the women would pass, if one of them would be considered beautiful or be praised for her femininity? In this case the core ideology concerning the impossibility to ever pass as a woman will be affected. There seems to be a fear of encountering a, in their eyes, ‘successful transition’ because this would mean their deepest insecurities and anxieties do not necessarily have to be true, let alone eternal. Nevertheless, this possibility of reflection on a skewed perception on the correlation of truth and pain is unlikely due to the in-build mechanisms classifying painless, positive content as fake and mainstream. The latter resulting in excommunication from the board. As Contrapoints mentions before: bursting out of the politically correct bubble is extremely tempting. And although I personally believe pleasure and refreshment can be found in reading someone's unfiltered opinion, the unrealistic truth claims in hugboxed spaces are easily replaced by more damaging and improbable systems of veracity.

Notes

[1]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

[2]Whitney Phillips, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship Between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2016), 64.

[3]Whitney Phillips, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship Between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2016), 70.

Angela Nagle, Kill All Normies Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right (Charlotte: John Hunt Publishing, 2018), 32.

[4]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

[5]Winnie Chang, “The Monstrous-Feminine in the Incel Imagination: Investigating the Representation of Women as ‘Femoids’ on /r/Braincels”, Feminist Media Studies 22, no. 2 (May 2020): pp. 254-270, https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1804976.

Rob May and Matthew Feldman, “Understanding the Alt-Right. Ideologues, ‘Lulz’ and Hiding in Plain Sight”, Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right, 2019, pp. 25-36, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839446706-002.

[6]Sarah Thornton, Club Cultures Music, Media and Subcultural Capital (Wesleyan University Press, 1996).

[7]Dick Hebdige, “Subculture: The Meaning of Style”, Critic Quarterly 37, no. 2 (1995), 53.

[8]Hebdige, “Subculture”, 79.

[9]Hebdige, “Subculture”, 79.

[10]Kenneth H. Kolb, “Emotional Subcultures”, Sociology Compass 8, no. 11 (2014): pp. 1229-1241, https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12207, 1213-1229.

[11]Kolb, “Emotional Subcultures”, 1236.

[12]Michael L. Schwalbe and Douglas Mason-Schrock, “Identity Work as Group Process”, Advances In Group Processes 13, no. 113 (1996), 1230.

[13]sockpuppet accounts are online profiles created by a user to argue, bully or review products as another person. The term stems from the literal puppet that is created by wearing a sock over one's own hand.

[14]D. Boyd, “Digital Self-Harm and Other Acts of Self-Harassment”, Online Suicide Games: A Form of Digital Self-Harm or A Myth, 2010.

Elizabeth Englander, “Digital Self-Harm: Frequency, Type, Motivations, and Outcomes”, 2012, 2.

Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja, “Digital Self-Harm among Adolescents,” Journal of Adolescent Health 61, no. 6 (2017): pp. 761-766, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.06.012.

[15]Englander, “Digital Self-Harm”, 3.

[16]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

[17]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

[18]Tennessee Walker and Christian Gutierrez, “Masochistic Epistemology”, Medium (Statecraft Magazine, April 22, 2021), https://medium.com/statecraft/masochistic-epistemology-f1442fc9397f.

[19]Nate Gallagher, “The Blackpill and the Suffering Apparatus: Science, Masculinity, and Race as Represented on Involuntary Celibate (Incel) Virtual Forums”, Department of Anthropology Dartmouth College, 2020, pp. 1-115, 33.

Rachel Schmitz and Emily Kazyak, “Masculinities in Cyberspace: An Analysis of Portrayals of Manhood in Men’s Rights Activist Websites”, Social Sciences 5, no. 2 (December 2016), https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci5020018, 2.

[20]D. Ging, “Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere”, Men and Masculinities 22, no. 4 (2019): pp. 638-657, 640.

[21]Katrine Rummelhoff (2020), 18.

[22]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

[23]Walker and Gutierrez, “Masochistic Epistemology”. Englander, “Digital Self-Harm,” 4.

[24]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

[25]Chang, “The Monstrous-Feminine”, 267.

[26]Alyssa M. Glace, Tessa L. Dover, and Judith G. Zatkin, “Taking the Black Pill: An Empirical Analysis of the ‘Incel’.”, Psychology of Men & Masculinities 22, no. 2 (2021): pp. 288-297, https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000328, 88.

[27]Kolb, “Emotional Subcultures”, 1229.

[28]Kolb, “Emotional Subcultures”, 1230.

[29]“Hugbox”, Urban Dictionary, accessed March 1, 2021, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hugbox.

[30]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

[31]Schwalbe and Mason-Schrock, “Identity Work”, 123.

[32]Kolb, “Emotional Subcultures”, 1233.

[33]Kolb, “Emotional Subcultures”, 1234.

[34]Schwalbe and Mason-Schrock, ‘’Identity Work,’’ 123.

[35]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018),

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

Kolb, “Emotional Subcultures”.

[36]Schmitz and Kazyak, “Masculinities in Cyberspace”, 2.

[37]Gallagher, “The Blackpill”, 33. Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

[38]Incels, YouTube (YouTube, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0&t=1450s&ab_channel=ContraPoints.

10 januari 2022