Take your rose-coloured glasses off, that pink pill is red!
no babe, you don't need to "step into your divine feminine"
It seems as though everyone is generally aware of the insidiousness of the alt-right pipeline which targets young men on the internet, however the pipeline which targets young women is so covert it often slips under the radar. To the untrained eye, “pink-pilled” alt-right content appears to be harmless - closer to an aesthetic than an ideology - yet it reinforces something just as dangerous. Disguised as fashion, beauty, spiritual, and lifestyle content, it draws young women in with the false allure of reclaiming femininity; patriarchy, hidden beneath the empty promise of power.
(Reader note: whilst alt-right and red pill are often used interchangeably, I use alt-right to refer to the far-right white nationalist movement, and red pill to refer to the manosphere, acknowledging overlap between the two.)
The Pink Pill
Step into your divine feminine energy. Here’s a day in the life with me as a homesteading SAHM. Watch me make raw milk cheese for my eight children (all birthed naturally). Have you been looks-maxxing? This lymphatic drainage massage will bring out your feminine features. Modesty is the ultimate form of chic, take off that minidress and go to the club in gingham. And when you come home, make this marry-me chicken for your man! Sorry, I should have said husband. I’m waiting till marriage, it makes me cleaner, purer… better than you.
This kind of content has always existed, but the sheer volume at which it is being pumped out today is incredulous. Despite its initial innocuousness, the pink pill is a pipeline to the alt-right, just focussing on women. A lot of this has to do with Christian nationalism specifically, but even the content we see regarding beauty and lifestyle which is supposed to appeal to the “modern woman”, has undertones of fascist agenda.
Divine Femininity
No, they don’t mean female gods. Unfortunately. This has nothing to do with Ma Kali, or your power as a woman.
“Step into your divine feminine energy,” often translates to, “step into the gender roles we have designed for you.”
Creators will tell you that in order to enter your “divine feminine” you must relinquish your decision making power, financial responsibilities, and livelihood to a man. The feminine energy in question is your softness, your peacefulness, your calmness, and your silence.
Promoting the “idyllic SAHM” lifestyle
Mothers play an important role in society, but having your sole dream in life being a stay-at-home-mother is problematic for a number of reasons. The conflation of motherhood with personal identity creates complex mental and emotional issues for both women and their children.
Girls growing up with aspiration-free SAHMs see that all they can do is be a mother, and boys growing up with aspiration-free SAHMs see that all women can do is serve them. Furthermore, if you dedicate your entire life to being a SAHM and have no further goals, what happens if you can’t conceive? What happens when your children move out? If your only goal in life is to be a mother, who are you outside of motherhood?
Furthermore, escaping domestic violence with no secondary income of your own, and no financial freedom is incredibly difficult. If you have never been anything but a SAHM, how can you protect yourself and your children from your partner, who is the single person who is most likely to hurt you?
Lastly, being a SAHM is a status symbol of wealth. It is nearly impossible to survive off of one income with multiple children unless wealth has already been amassed or inherited. When this content is promoted to you, ask yourself if you even fall within the correct tax bracket to have this dream. And if you do, wouldn’t you much rather be holidaying three times a year and investing in a wine cellar?
Femininity is Synonymous with European
When you hear the term “feminine features” 9 out of 10 times the features referenced are on a white person. The alt-right pipeline wants us convinced that the only way to be beautiful or feminine is to have European features.
The problem this poses, aside from reinforcing Eurocentric beauty standards, is the villainisation and masculinisation of women of colour based on their natural features. Stronger jawlines, broader shoulders, deeper set eyes, and wider noses are all viewed as “masculine features” yet many women of colour have them.
It should go without saying but regardless of how classically Eurocentric your features are, your femininity (or lack thereof) is entirely decided by you.
Modesty to Purity Culture
Changing fashion trends which favour modern clothing might also be influenced by the incoming recession period, however alt-right politics definitely have a hand in it. Have you seen the new House of CB collection? I was horrified. I don’t shop fast fashion, but I’ve always associated House of CB as a brand which makes club appropriate clothes, with zippers so tight the fabric could be classed as a second skin. It’s all gingham and bows now.
The association of modesty with class is not a novel idea, however it has not always been. Throughout the history of fashion, hemlines have gone up and down, and beyond the 1920’s there has never been a really stable skirt length agreed upon. The association of modest fashion with class probably has something to do with Abrahamic religions and the implicit virtuosity of covering skin (although if you deconstruct this, it has nothing to do with a woman’s virtue and everything to do with “not tempting men”).
Modesty has always been used as an argument for rape culture, and a concern about the rise in promoting modesty for women is that this will come back, and non-conforming women will be made victims. Obviously the amount of skin you show does not determine whether or not you will be assaulted, but unfortunately we live in a context where society will search every corner of the earth to justify the crimes of a man before offering justice.
Ideas about purity culture also seem to be making a comeback, with coquette accounts making textposts about how “clean” and “pure” they feel being untouched. The myths about virginity that medical science has long disproven are back (yay…) and now your virginity makes you… better than everyone else? This rise in purity culture can be seen as somewhat of a counterreaction to hook-up culture (which whilst damning in its’ own way, at least engages a modicum of sexual liberty) and has been pervading the internet. Yet, even as more and more young men are becoming religious and conservative, it seems that it is still only held as a double standard for women.
In summary: if you want to wear miniskirts and have sex, cool. If you want to wear miniskirts and not have sex, cool. If you want to wear milkmaid dresses and have sex, cool. If you want to wear milkmaid dresses and not have sex, cool. Just don’t pretend doing any of these things makes you better, purer, cleaner, or more moral than anyone else.
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Identifying red pill content targeted towards women is difficult, but it is even more difficult to present the rationale as to why something so seemingly innocent could be harmful to the women who consume it.
First we must understand three things:
Alt-right men cannot practise their ideology without alt-right women.
The alt-right is inherently a harmful space for women;
Therefore, the alt-right must indoctrinate women.
Alt-right men do this, therefore women must be that
Alt-right men believe in “traditional” gender roles.
“Traditional” gender roles in alt-right spaces involve men as providers, leaders, and heads of the household. They must make big decisions, manage finances, and issue orders. Men must be dominant in all aspects of relationships.
Therefore, women must be submissive.
The alt-right wants its’ women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, subservient to the whims of their male partner. Women should be modest, meek, and soft-spoken. Oh, and beautiful, respectful, caring mothers, attentive wives etc.
Alt-right men believe in white supremacy/white nationalism
White supremacism involves the belief that white people, as a race, are under threat. The birth rates are simply too low, and multiculturalism is a risk to racial nationalism. Alt-right white men need to be repopulating.
Therefore, (white) women need to be having children en mass.
The alt-right needs its’ women in complete subservience to be having children. It needs them to be rejecting contraception, and unable to access abortion. They must be trapped financially, or otherwise, and imprisoned in their relationships so that they can focus on reproducing. And they must desire motherhood, and view it as the ultimate goal in life.
Alt-right men must be dominant in society
There is a reason so much gym content is hijacked by the alt-right. Men in the red pill sphere idolise the “masculinity” of physique, and tout physical strength as the ultimate symbol of dominance.
Therefore, comparatively, women must be weak.
The alt-right needs its women to be thin, frail, and always slightly malnourished (thank diet culture). They must be beautiful, and manicured to the point of dysfunction. They must remain childlike from the outside, but then reveal themselves to be sexually desirable when circumstance permits. They must be hairless, impeccably groomed, wide-eyed, and lean.
Who Does This Narrative Serve?
All of the values espoused by alt-right indoctrinated women are innocuous at first glance. Sure, an existence based around motherhood, serving men, and looking pretty seems a little dull, but in the grand scheme of things how is that really harmful? What if that’s a genuine aspiration for a woman? Shouldn’t it be her choice?
In answer to these questions I pose another; Why would a woman desire this?
(Hint: The answer is not that she is innately programmed to.)
Gendered Socialisation ≠ Bio-essentialism
Bio-essentialism (or biological essentialism) is an idea which proposes that innate to biological sex are traits which are expressed in a person’s phenotype.
Bio-essentialists offer the idea that similar to how alleles in your genotype can express themselves as blonde hair in your phenotype, sex chromosomes in your cells will express characteristics in your personality. Some argue that hormones more prevalent in either males or females have influence over these traits as well.
Obviously, a rudimentary understanding of biology renders this theory pseudoscience.
So why do men and women have different personality traits? They really don’t, until they are socialised to. Girls are socialised to act in a different way than boys are, which influences personality traits and characteristics, and aspirations.
Social conditioning is the largest reason behind the “innate” feminine traits such as caring, kindness, and submissiveness which are pushed by the alt-right. Of course, certain biological instincts such as those to reproduce play a role in the desire for children, but the narrative that women are only fulfilled through their roles as mothers is a large instigator.
Let this be clear: there is no innate biological reason a woman would want to live a life in servitude to a man.
The Illusion of Choice
So the answer to the question “who does this narrative serve?” is men. And the smartest thing they could possibly have done is convince women it is their own choice.
Choice feminism simply doesn’t work because the notion that women are making feminist choices simply by default of being women is ridiculous. So often, our choices are fraught with societal influence which can be difficult to come to terms with.
An example of this is the shaving debate. It goes:
Choice Feminist: “I shave for myself. I like the way it feels.”
Radical Feminist: “When did you start shaving?”
Choice Feminist: “I was twelve.”
Radical Feminist: “Before you first started shaving you were never bothered by the feeling of body hair. Why did you start? Who told you shaving was a thing.”
Choice Feminist: “All the women in my life shaved.”
Radical Feminist: “So was your decision to start shaving at all influenced by this?”
Choice Feminist: “I shave for myself. I like the way it feels….”
When we are aware of when hairlessness for women became fashionable (1950s) and why it became fashionable (Gillette marketing) we understand it is a choice influenced by years of corporate advertising, and resultant beauty standards enforced by the patriarchy. Your choices are not made in a vacuum.
Critical Consumption
When we begin to deconstruct the decisions we make, we can begin to understand why we are making them and whether or not they serve us, or the agenda of others.
When we begin to deconstruct the media we are consuming, we can begin to understand whether it is influencing us in a way which will benefit us, or the alt-right agenda. Being critical of what we are consuming is incredibly important, as red pill content is becoming more and more prevalent.
So keep asking yourself, “who does this content serve?” and if you keep finding that the answer isn’t you, maybe it’s time to stop watching.