Rearticulating the idea of manosphere. Whatsapp groups as digital idioculture

Abstract

This paper rearticulates the definition of the manosphere by considering everyday male digital media practices as part of a series of peripheral manospheres, connected, often without a clear reference, with the more articulated galaxy that makes up what we now call the manosphere (Ging 2019). The work focuses on homosocial practices between adolescents (Flood 2008) and how they perform and create masculinity (Mac an Ghaill 1994; Frosh, Phoenix & Pattman 2002) inside private WhatsApp groups composed of (heterosexual) guys.