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Outline�

1. Background

Keywords

Key-key-words

Identifying unique keywords

• The study

The ‘manosphere’

• Conclusions

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Content Warning

1. Background�Keywords

• Keywords being revisited
• Known issues:
• Researcher subjectivity
• Text dispersion not accounted for in ‘traditional’ keyword approaches
• Keywords may “overplay” differences rather than similarities between target and reference corpora

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1. Background�Keywords

Criteria for effective keyword analysis:

• Content-distinctiveness

The strength of the relationship between a keyword and the content of the discourse domain represented by the target corpus, in contrast to all other discourse domains (represented by the reference corpus)

• Content generalisibility

The degree to which a keyword represents the content of the discourse used across the full range of texts in the target corpus

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(Egbert & Biber 2019)

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1. Background�Keywords

Say we have:

• corpus y – reference corpus
• corpus x – target corpus

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To find keywords, we will typically:

• Compare word frequencies in x against word frequencies in y
• Derive a list of keywords
• Interpret that list

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y

x

keywords list

x

1. Background�Keywords

But say x contains 2 subcorpora:

• Subcorpus a
• Subcorpus b

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x

1. Background�Keywords

To find keywords, we might:

• Compare the total contents of x (a + b) against y
• Derive keywords for the whole of x (thus everything that exists in a and b)
• Interpret that list

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x

y

x

keywords list

1. Background�Keywords

…or we might compare a single subcorpus

• and interpret/compare the resultant lists, which will tell us about keywords in each corpus
• …but what about this bit?

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x

a

b

y

b

a

a

keywords list

b

keywords list

1. Background�Key-key-words

Key-key-words (Scott 1997)

• How often words were shared across multiple keyword lists – a frequency list of keyword lists
• Values shared between sets to find keywords shared across subcorpora
• Intersect

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b

a

1. Background�Key-key-words

Key-key-words (Scott 1997)

• Really interesting because it tells us about content-generalisability – how often keywords are key across subcorpora
• But what about content-distinctiveness…?

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b

a

1. Background�Identifying unique keywords

• Just as we can find values that intersect between lists, is it possible to find set differences?
• i.e. all keywords in one subcorpus that are not found in the other
• …is it possible to find keywords that are exclusive to a list/subcorpus?

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1. Background�Identifying unique keywords

• Or relative complements
• In other words, can we identify content-distinctive, unique keywords by focussing specifically on keywords that are not share

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1. Background�Key-key-words

This study explores the potential to extend Scott’s ideas around key-key-words to consider what values shared between keyword lists might tell us about saliency.

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Moreover, the method proposed further considers what the exclusive occurrence of a keyword (as opposed to sharedness) might tell us about saliency.

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2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

“The manosphere is an aggregate of diverse communities brought together by a common language that orients them in opposition to the discourse and rhetoric of feminism.” (Marwick & Caplan, 2018, p. 553)

Divided broadly into five sub-groups (Ging, 2017; Jane, 2018; Riberio, 2020):

• Men’s Rights Activists
• Men-Going-Their-Own-Way
• Pick-Up Artists
• Involuntary celibates (incels)
• “Sub-cultural trolls”

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2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

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2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Key-key-words

We identified the following main trends in the 528 key-keywords:

• Social actor terms and pronouns e.g. women, men (93 key-keywords)
• Sexuality and relationships e.g. attraction, porn (49 key-keywords)
• Physical e.g. tall (23 key-keywords, 5 negative) and non-physical descriptors e.g. creepy (24 key-keywords, 11 negative) of social actors
• Thoughts and feelings e.g. think, opinions (41 key-keywords)
• Intensifying language e.g. really, never (35 key-keywords)

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2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Key-key-words

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Gender identification

men, man, guys, guy

Relational

boyfriend, bf

Biological sex

male

Derogatory

cuck

Kinship

dude, dudes, bro, bruh

In-group functionalisation and identification

niceguys, pua, incel, neckbeard

2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Key-key-words

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Gender identification

women, woman, girls, girls, girl’s

Relational

girlfriend, girlfriends, gf, lesbian

Biological sex

female, females

Derogatory

bitch, bitches, chick, chicks, whore, whores, slut

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2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Complement keywords

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2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Complement keywords

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Diet & exercise

bjj, calories, eating, bmi, ketogenic, diet

Prominent community members

rollo, puerarchy, gaylubeoil, redpillschool

Withdrawal

quitting, unplugging

Relationships

plates, plate, ltr’s, ambition

Ethics & philosophy

discipline, amoral, machiavellian, truths

2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Complement keywords

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Law

rights, victims, crime, prison, discrimination, innocent, evidence, guilty, legal, punishment, punished, sentencing

Genitalia

circumcision, foreskin, circumcise, prostate, mutilation, genital, fgm

Violence

violence, domestic, abuse, duluth, shelters

Activism

issues, movement, issue

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2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Complement keywords

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Media

bond, razors, gillette, razor, elba, terminator, marvel, idris

Out-group social actors

boomers, honk, simping, tradcuck, tradcucks, npcs

Variants of the term MGTOW

gyow, gtow, gmow

Technology

sexbots, ai, cobol

Discrimination

feibleman, scouts, plantation

MGTOW lifestyle

Dolls, doll, minimalist, retire

2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Complement keywords

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Physical intimacy and body language

kiss, eye, contact, dance, dancing, kissing, smiling

Appearance

dress, outer

Strategy

text, hi, approached, tips, clubs, night, practice, coffee, routines, negs

Nervous and lack of success

introverts, nervous, afc, awkwardness, zoned

External links

askseddit, dailymanup, ikxhwq, nwhg

2. The study�The ‘manosphere’

Complement keywords

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Women

foids, foid, stacy, stacies

Mental health

cope, rope, ldar, therapy, lifefuel, bullies, blackpills

Laughter

jfl, teehee

Incel references

blackops, cel, fakecel, truecel, volcels, gymcel, mentalcel, currycels

References to beta males

brainlet, betabuxx, numales

3. Conclusions�

Key-keywords

Complement keywords

• Social actors and pronouns
• Sexuality and relationships
• Physical and non-physical social descriptors
• Thoughts and feelings
• Intensifying language

• /r/TheRedPill as a self-improvement community
• /r/MensRights as an activist/legal space
• /r/MGTOW question societal norms
• /r/seduction as a strategising and emotional space
• /r/braincels focuses on mental health

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3. Conclusions�

Further work

Complement keywords

We have employed key-key-words (premised on LL) but what about what about Egbert & Biber’s text-dispersion keyword analysis?

• Can we compare approaches?

• Highlight the opposite of key-key-words – content-distinctiveness NOT content-generalisability

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• They tell us what is peculiar/distinctive to corpora

Complement keywords?

Quirk-key-words?

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References�

Egbert, J., & Biber, D. (2019). Incorporating text dispersion into keyword analyses. Corpora, 14(1), 77-104.

Ging, D. (2017). Alphas, betas, and incels: theorizing the masculinities of the manosphere. Men and Masculnities, 22(4), 638-57.

Jane, E. 2018. Systemic misogyny exposed: Translating Rapeglish from the Manosphere with a Random Rape Threat Generator. International Journal of Culture Studies. 21(6), 661-680.

Marwick, A. E., & Caplan, R. (2018). Drinking male tears: language, the manosphere, and networked harassment. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4), 543-559.

Ribeiro, M., Blackburn, J., Bradlyn, B., De Cristofaro, E., Stringhini, G., Long, S., Greenberg, S., and Zannettou, S. 2020. From Pick-Up Artists to Incels: A Data-Driven Sketch of the Manosphere. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338737324_From_Pick-Up_Artists_to_Incels_A_Data-Driven_Sketch_of_the_Manosphere

Scott, M. (1997). PC analysis of key words - and key key words. System, 25(2), 233-45.

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