The Destructive Internet Cult Of Toxic Masculinity

"I used to say that I was so happy about finding out about the Red Pill and pick up artists that I would rather be with them than win the lottery" says João, a young man from Portugal, and an ex-Red Piller. He later adds that he doesn't know why he believed in it because it really made no sense. The Red Pill is an active online community of men which uses Reddit as one of its main platforms. Its main topic is masculinity: its members discuss relationships, sex, and their insecurities, but through the position of extreme misogyny. It takes its name from the "Matrix", the movie in which protagonist Neo is offered two pills – one red and one blue – and it is the red one that awakens him to the horrors of the post-apocalyptic world. The followers of the Red Pill thread believe that they too have awoken and that the world is falling apart because it no longer has space for traditional masculinity. They encourage each other to eat meat and use pick-up techniques to bed as many women as one can. Women, they believe, want to be subdued, or even raped. If one leaves the Red Pill, one will be cheated on and destroyed.

If this sounds like a cult, the resemblance is not random. This article identifies several traits characteristic to cults in the Red Pill: it preys on its followers' insecurity and loneliness, it suppresses any alternative points of view, and it threatens its followers with destruction if they decide to leave. Of course, it still lacks a clearly defined leadership and total control over the lives of the followers, but the effect it has on them is still destructive. And in the current political situation, it is a dangerous space – because the pick-up scene and groups like Red Pill are often used as recruiting grounds by the far right.