The Revenge of the “Beta Male”

Sexual frustration and feelings of masculine inferiority—leading to a killing rampage?

According to their online histories, it seems that, recently, at least two young men have indeed resorted to violence based on such petty drives: Chris Harper-Mercer, who murdered nine of his college classmates in Oregon, and Elliot Roger, who killed six. Both of them could fit in the category "beta male".

The idea of the beta male has emerged on “men’s rights” message boards and comes with a cloud of attached lifestyle elements. As Angela Nagel writes in this extensive examination for The Baffler: “pop-culture obsessions typical of beta shut-ins” include “internet, killing zombies, movies, music, reading”, and living at home with parents. Traits: “introvert, loner, lover, geek, nerd”.

“Whereas alphas tend to be macho, sporty, and mainstream in their tastes, betas see themselves as less dominant males, withdrawn, obsessional, and curatorial in their cultural habits.”

But apparently being beta doesn’t come with a withdrawn attitude; it comes with a self-righteous desire for revenge on a society that leaves the sorry specimens sexually frustrated. The beta male is the classic “friend zoned” guy (Elliot Rogers lamented his virginity and blamed women for not flattering him in the same way they did to alphas, despite seeing himself as a “supreme gentleman”).

”Every dead body on 4chan is a joke, unless it isn’t.” 

Nagel’s particular take on the beta phenomenon and toxic masculinity online is that, contrary to popular opinion, it’s not the same-old patriarchy rearing its digital head. This is partially because it also reflects “class contempt”. And also it intertwines with a proliferation of discussion of gender and sexuality norms that don’t conform to the way geeky men identify.