The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization

by Eviane Leidig

On mainstream social media platforms, far-right women make extremism relatable. They share Instagram stories about organic foods that help pregnant women propagate the “pure” white race and post behind-the-scenes selfies at antivaccination rallies. These social media personalities model a feminine lifestyle, at once promoting their personal brands and radicalizing their followers. Amid discussions of issues like dating, marriage, and family life, they call on women to become housewives to counteract the corrosive effects of feminism and champion the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which motivated massacres in Christchurch, El Paso, and Buffalo.

Eviane Leidig offers an in-depth look into the world of far-right women influencers, exploring the digital lives they cultivate as they seek new recruits for white nationalism. Going beyond stereotypes of the typical male white supremacist, she uncovers how young, attractive women are playing key roles as propagandists, organizers, fundraisers, and entrepreneurs. Leidig argues that far-right women are marketing themselves as authentic and accessible in order to reach new followers and spread a hateful ideology. This insidious―and highly gendered―strategy takes advantage of the structure of social media platforms, where far-right women influencers’ content is shared with and promoted to mainstream audiences. Providing much-needed expertise on gender and the far right, this timely and accessible book also details online and offline approaches to countering extremism.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Feminism, Social Media, Sociology, Research, Academic

288 pages, Paperback

Published September 19, 2023

Reviews

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been sitting with this one for a few days. I enjoyed my time with this book well enough, I thought that Leidig's writing style was pretty engaging and honest but ultimately, I was left wondering who is this book trying to speak to? The main reason I felt this way is that there really isn't a deep cut about any of the women presented or their methods. It's really a primer on the topic of the tradcon women influencers and their impact in mainstreaming extremist views but a lot of it was just confirmation of things people who have the vocabulary to look for such a book would have most likely already observed with just a quick scroll through a few of these women's IG feeds. Long story short it was good but I wish it went deeper.

While we get to "meet" a small selection of the women of the far right, it was shocking how interchangeable they came across as compared to the men who occupy similar spaces of the "manoshpere".

Some of the criticism was a little far-fetched too, like at one point there's a tangent about how most of them felt the need to use screen names when creating their accounts as if it isn't the norm to use a screen name when creating a social media account that isn't a Facebook account no matter where on the political spectrum you fall.

There is also an undercurrent of presumption that platforms/authorities have a desire to curtail these people's influence at all that I found rather questionable. I enjoyed that Leidig really pointed out that social isolation seems to be one of the biggest factor leading a lot of women down that particular rabbit hole but that this premade community will spit them out just as easily as it took them in. I feel like there was something to lean in there in how we can counter that particular brand of extremism, but that Leidig didn't do much with it.

More of a 3.25/3.5 than an actual 3.

I received an eARC of this book from Columbia University Press through Netgalley for review consideration.

[Dessi Bocheva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy to finally be able to add some of my academic reading to my good reads. I did genuinely enjoy this book and I'm so glad Leidig went through the effort of conducting and pulling together research in this area as its quite underresearched due to the overwhelming focus/dominance of men in the far right movement.

The only thing I think was missing/could have been elaborated on (and this was briefly discussed in the conclusion) was why women seem to be joining a movement which aims to limit their rights. I think there needs to be a greater discussion of how women fall complicit to patriarchy and the ways in which this provides legitimacy to the far right movement.

Nevertheless, this was a great read which paints an detailed and accurate picture of women's role in the far right movement and I can't wait to see the future research in this area.

[Maddie Case]

Girlies be crazy

[andrea wu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting — pure respect and awe for Leidig's deep-dive into alternative right content and critical analysis of the argument and rhetoric that these alt-right women leverage.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the information in this book, but did feel like it was written quite messily. It jumps around a bit too much for my liking.

[Lukáš Zorád · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled reading this. Somehow I could not get into this book. Maybe, because the characters were described from afar, bit mechanically, through their available online content therefore it was difficult to truly understand them? I can't remember a single one after reading the book.

And then, to me, the book was chaotically organized, I wasn't sure what was the author trying to say in each chapter? Perhaps a different structure would help me. I couldn't distinguish the conclusion chapter from the rest.

I think if you want to get into this topic, it's a good reference book, but for a better reading experience and more comprehensive insights into this topic, I'd recommend Julia Ebners Going to Mainstream.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

good if you know nothing about far right activities/social media/far right activities on social media.
a bit uninspiring, repetitive, and doesn't really illuminate the issue if you're a digitally literate fella.

a lot of the observations are basically observations about social media, except this time it's far right women flavoured. again, thoughts and observations you might have already had/made to some degree if you're digitally literate.

i remember my impression of julia ebner's 'going dark' to be a lot more illuminating than this book. i might feel diff about going dark if i read it again now, but i think i'd recommend that instead to have a glimpse of how the far right operates.

[Gina Dalfonzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the writing is dry and a bit clunky, there's some helpful information and analysis.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here’s my honest review:
I didn’t learn too much about the far right that I didn’t already know. I was hoping for a more in-depth exploration of what radicalizes far right women. Instead, this is more of a primer for those who may be uneducated on the basics of the far right’s social media presence, and how they utilize women in their movement to further the spread of their propaganda. It’s an easy read, around 224 pages (not including notes and the index), and Leidig does an excellent job explaining the basics of the far right’s propaganda playbook. My only wish is that the book was longer and more in-depth.

[Alex Nagler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eviane Leidig's "The Women of the Far Right" is an analysis of the the many stripes of TradCon women, women who believe that their place is in the home, subservient to their husband, raising the children, and also supporting the white christian ethnostate. They do it through Instagram, through YouTube, most certainly through Twitter (as the book was written at the start of Musk's takeover but read during the parts where things have gotten bad). I was hoping for a slightly deeper dive into the recruitment tools used by these influencers or the dichotomy between their school of thought and the Men's Rights sphere of the far right, but Leidig's work was still a good primer for the space, the women involved, and the threat at hand.

My thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

[Madison ✨ (mad.lyreading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Women of the Far Right was an academic exploration into social media influencers who post about their far right beliefs, particularly those regarding the need for white women to be traditional wives, homemakers, and mothers. This book felt like it was meant for those who were fairly new to the academic area of far right radicalization, and I felt like I didn't get much new information out of it. Eviane Leidig got her information from publicly available social media posts, and wrote generally about these influencers (who all felt interchangeable by the end). I didn't feel there was much of a thesis behind Leidig's writing, and the final chapter regarding how to combat online radicalization did not feel very useful to the individual. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Will I remember much of this book a year from now? Not likely.

Thank you to Columbia University Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been chipping away at reading this because I honestly couldn’t handle reading it in one sitting. This is an eye-opening glance behind the curtain into the minds of women who think their purpose in life is to essentially be a stepford wife. I’m flabbergasted that this viewpoint exists and I hate knowing that young, impressionable people are coming across this type of subservience regularly enough that they think it’s okay. Sending vibes to Eviane Leidig because this could not have been easy to research.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the cute cover picture of a smartphone showing a woman in an American flag apron with emojis coming out of the phone, I was not really expecting this book to read like a thesis, but it unfortunately does. I did find my eyes glazing over while reading at many points due to the high levels of turgidity (found myself mentally editing the writing at points, e.g., “But strategically focusing employing counter-influencers offers potential to focus on aspects of digital culture that are key in engagement” (193) can be shortened to “But strategically focusing counter-influencers can affect engagement in digital culture”). Overall though, this isn’t a bad book. The Women of the Far Right is a guide to a handful of female far right influencers who are some combination of trad wife, red pilled, and racist. Basically these are women who make YouTube videos and post on Instagram (or, if they’ve been banned, on alternative far-right social media platforms) about how they’re hashtag blessed living in domestic bliss as housewives, doing their part to make more WASP babies to prevent the undesirable races from taking over America. I had actually never heard of any of the women mentioned in this book before (some names: Lauren Southern, Brittany Sellner, Lana Lokteff), which is probably a good thing.

Besides learning about the differences between alt-right and far right (apparently alt-right only refers to the North American far right movement between 2016-2019 and/or far right movements involving Richard Spencer) and how both left-wing and right-wing populism exists (“left-wing populists… view corporations and big-business-friendly politicians as the corrupt elite and the pure people as the working class and marginalized communities” 24), I also learned more about what kinds of ideas far right female influencers are advancing, most of which can be categorized under Racism, humanity’s most ancient trope. Lana Lokteff has apparently both denied the Holocaust and promoted “conspiratorial claims that the West was undergoing a white genocide orchestrated by feminists and a Jewish elite to lower white birth rates and encourage mass immigration — a process known among the far right as the ‘Great Replacement’.” (64) I guess in recent years the far right has become a bit more permissive in the racial groups that they’ll let in, since two of the women profiled in this book are biracial (both are part Asian). Leidig comments on the oddness of them supporting a “…political ideology that for most of its existence simultaneously excluded them from the picture and included them in the category of ‘inferior peoples’.” (32-33)

Male supremacy is another common theme among the far right female influencers. Basically that men should be the heads of household because this is the natural role of men, and modern society is anti-masculine thanks to the feminazis, etc. Intriguingly, the demographics for followers of these far-right women heavily skew male. Lauren Chen mentions that 85 percent of her viewers are male, and another far-right influencer also mentions in a video that her viewers are mostly men. That these women are mainly attracting male viewers surprised me but it really shouldn’t have, considering these women are basically play-acting the incel waifu fantasy for the camera. I am not necessarily _as_ on-board the Judith Butler train as Leidig seems to be when it comes to gender essentialism, but Leidig makes a great point about how these influencers take for granted rights and opportunities we as women have now that we would’t have had one or two generations ago. “When these women revert to traditional gender norms as a reactionary movement against feminism, they reflect a generational amnesia. The term generational amnesia… refers to the idea that ‘knowledge extinction occurs because younger generations are not aware of past biological conditions.’ For example, consider a species of fish that becomes extinct over a period of one hundred years. The first generation notices the baseline level of abundance of the fish, and then when they retire, they notice that the level is lower. The next generation, though, considers the new low level of fish to be normal, unaware of the baseline level used by the previous generation. The cycle continues…” (201) Ironically, several of the far right female influencers mentioned in this book end up returning to making videos and promoting their political brands online after giving birth (despite criticism from some of their viewers that they should solely focus on their children), so it seems even they are not fully relinquishing the benefits feminism has won them.

[Philip Bunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very favorably disposed to the topic, as someone who has had many friends fall down the sorts of "rabbit holes" Leidig describes. However, I found the treatment of the topic in this book to be quite poor. The author’s style utilizes frequent editorial interjections interspersed with more academic summary of the opinions of those the author studies. When beliefs are described, they are frequently labeled: "X falsely claims, Y erroneously argues, Z hypocritically supposes..." It is quite clear from the beginning where the author's sympathies lie, and quite unclear why every belief attributed to a villain in the story needs these caveats. I imagine someone reading this book for clues on whether or not they should take these influencers and their claims seriously would be quite dissuaded based on the obvious slant.

That is not to say that academic authors ought to avoid normative claims. It is to say that an author needs to carefully and fairly reconstruct the positions of those they oppose, and then present argument sufficient to support the condemnation that follows. But here the author tends to lean heavily on too little argument and too little evidence and make broad conclusions from both. In one of the most egregious examples of this, the author claims that there is proof that the husband of one influencer under consideration *approves* of far-right, fascist ideology. The evidence for his approbation? His familiarity with the works and thought of Evola. I would hope, as an author of a book on far-right figures, that Leidig would concede that familiarity or even interest in the works of a fascist thinker does not constitute evidence that one approves of fascism. To be clear, I have no doubt that the man Leidig pegs as a far-right sympathizer at best and an actual fascist at worse is sympathetic to those ideas, or perhaps embraces them wholeheartedly. The problem is that the evidence provided does not lead me to that conclusion. In fact, the reader can reliably expect that every time the author uses the word "thus," what follows will not, in fact, follow from the argument and evidence provided.

The part of this book I was most disappointed in was the criticism of far-right influencers using studies. This is the part of the book I had the most hope for, and thus the letdown was the greater for it. I agree with the author that, to the extent that these far-right influencers use studies, they are almost always using them badly. Showing this would require both a fairer treatment of the positions of the influencers themselves and a more systematic review of the studies they employ, to show how the latter do not support the former. This is not what I found here. If one is to say that one tactic used by the far-right to advance a pernicious agenda is "using studies," one must also be prepared to explain what precisely about their use of studies is pernicious. This section of the book attempts this, but falls short.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Women of the Far Right by Eviane Leidig is an eye-opening look at the way media influencers, in this case women, provide far right rhetoric in the guise of, largely genuine, homemaking lifestyle advice. By largely genuine, I mean that these aren't single women pretending to be married with families, though that doesn't mean the actual purpose of their channels is cooking, childrearing, or other broad lifestyle choices, but the planting of seeds that imply their way of life is threatened because other people, who look and believe differently, are trying to also live happy lives.

The idea of normalizing extreme viewpoints isn't new and certainly, throughout history, isn't limited to any particular group. What makes it particularly powerful now is the extent to which social media has infiltrated everyday life. In fact, you need look no further than a review for this very book to see a similar tactic. Pretending to be favorably inclined to the arguments of the book then acting disappointed because it didn't live up to expectations. This is done by misstating the arguments in the book (through a generic statement in quotes that is not from the book) and misrepresenting one of the points. Leidig didn't offer as evidence of an influencer's husband holding right wing thoughts simply his knowledge of an extremist, but rather the fact the influencer made a point of mentioning his interest in this theorist. In the same way one might mention a spouse having been a follower of Falwell as a way to signal their particular brand of faux-Christianity without stating so. And this is further supported by this same influencer selling merchandise with a quote from this extremist. In other words, these types of people have no moral or ethical compass when it comes to deceiving and misleading people, whether these women or this "reviewer."

In diving deeper, we also find out many of these women, and their family members, have ties to acknowledged right wing extremist/terrorist groups. By the way, this is never mentioned in the "review" that pretends to be disappointed, wonder why?

There is attention paid to how these women fit into a largely misogynistic movement, but that wasn't really the subject of this book. For some it is simply how they interpret their religion, for some it is a small price to pay to "preserve their way of life," which is generally a white supremacist one.

A takeaway here is one that holds well beyond this topic, don't take in anything passively. When someone makes a comment that is just a little off, race while talking about homemaking for instance, think about the implications. Listen actively, watch actively, read actively. Make sure when you agree with someone about something, you've considered the implications. Who is the "we" they're talking about, or the "they" that is being targeted?

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Ella · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea how someone this apparently offline even found herself writing about online extremism, but this is ludicrously, absurdly bad. There’s some batshit takes on the pseudonymity and handle use of influencers (it’s a branding thing, not whatever shame thing is being applied), and per usual for this kind of sociological look at right wing online radicalism, there’s not enough engagement with radtrad online religious cultures and the framing of reactionary sentiment as counterculture rebellion within them. To be honest, there’s not enough engagement with subcultural Internet behaviour AT ALL. The performative shock that a lot of these female alt-right political influencers have majority male audiences is extremely confusing to me as well, because I’ve always thought it pretty obvious that there’s a real angling there for people like Lauren Southern to present an appealing but not threatening view of a politicised white woman to a subculture whose seething hatred of women has always been a calling card.

The investigation of tradwife influencers is also bafflingly bad. Newsflash: tradwives love them a TikTok, crunch and paganism have always had large reactionary components, you can’t talk about this stuff with regards to white women without the woo-to-Q pipeline, and there are actually quite a lot of Mormon tradwife influencers.

Also the writing and editing for this thing sucks. Names are frequently misspelled (including Ann Coulter’s), typos abound, and there’s a really dodgy bit where the author absolutely refuses to use pronouns for a trans YouTuber in a way that can’t help but feel pointed.

I wanted to love this— the online far right women’s ecosystem, particularly as it interacts with reactionary religion and femcel posting, is fascinating to me, and I spend far too much time rubbernecking it. But this is not the book to read about it. If you’re looking for far-right internet subculture coverage, keep looking. And maybe read some Talia Lavin.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the ARC of this title.

This came on my radar when Tressie McMillan Cottom mentioned she'd be reading it as part of a book group this fall, and I trust her suggestions. This was good, though I'll caution that it's definitely on the drier, more academic-y style of writing that may not be for you (especially if you come directly from the other book her book group's reading, Kristen Kobes Du Mez's Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, which definitely pairs well with this, though it's much more "digested" and readable than this is - this is the sort of thing the more digested book cites in its footnotes).

This is doing good, important work explaining how the Far Right movements are utilizing the tools provided by social media and influencer culture to attract more members to their cause through online radicalization. It can get a little repetitive - we go through the same three or four influencers and what they're doing multiple times - but that's definitely part of the writing style where this feels like someone citing their sources as part of a thesis or other scholarly work. You can generally get the vibe of what each chapter is pointing out and go into skim mode when it comes to the examples if you're more of a layperson like me.

[Janet Bufton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engagingly written book about an aspect of the alt-right that can help us understand the far-right today. Leidig's exploration of the social media accounts of women is useful for improving understanding the coded nature of far right content and what the role of women in far right activism looks like today.

I think this book would stand alone well, but I found it a useful companion in particular to Seyward Darby's Sisters in Hate and Kathleen Belew's Bring the War Home for how it updates and expands the content.

In particular, I think this book can help someone recognize the coded content of far right, which is often not in your face and explicit. I think Leidig and I have a different idea of the best way to respond to this content, but her chapter on countering it provides what felt like a good overview of the options and evidence (or lack thereof) about their efficacy.

While I understand what Leidig was going for, I sometimes found the use of first names a little confusing...but maybe only because there are two Laurens.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm gonna be honest. Technically this is a DNF. But a portion of that isn't because of the writing.

She's spot on when she documents how these women use social media, and a quasi-influencer lifestyle, to seduce other women into a world of the alt-right and being a trad wife. I was especially intrigued with how they built a fake community with superficial conversations with their fans to sucker these women in. At times it felt like a cult.

But I think the book could've been condensed. The majority of it is just the author summarizing videos, interviews, documentaries, and social media posts. And after a while it bored me. I also wish she'd mentioned more of her own biography. She casually mentions her experience as a white passing biracial person, and how that goes against the racism of what she had to view. I wish she had expanded on it more.

Still, it's a fine read if you want to do a deep dive on these people.

[__frozenrobot__ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The women of the far right” was a great introduction to female online radicalization in the age of social media.
The book was neatly structured but sometimes I felt like the author lost herself in terms of sticky to the topic of the chapter.
Picking out some key women figures in the digital far right world was really compelling and interesting. But I wished that the author also explored more the impact of those women’s voice on day to day women who feel seen by their arguments, what it does with them, how they radicalize them through those influencers.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Jeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Women of the Far Right coves a very important topic - the place of female influencers in the white supremacist movement and the impact that has. However, I felt the depth of the topic wasn't there. I was hoping for a bit of a deeper dive into each of the personalities Leidig was tracking and maybe more useful tips on how to support those we love and care about from falling down these far right rabbit holes. I do credit Leidig for doing a fairly deep dive on the methods these women use in social media - that was much more the focus of this book. While a bit dry in writing style, I still learned quite a bit and found this to be an interesting and worthwhile read.

[Shelby Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately this was a DNF for me. This book was very dry, and I could not concentrate on it because the writing felt like a textbook. The author tended to do a lot of telling about the points she was going to make, rather than just making the point and getting on with it, so I felt we were going in circles. I have seen other readers enjoy this one, but I did not.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think i am too chronically online and chronically engaged to have gained any new knowledge from this. It’s very much a beginners course on the subject and I think that’s so important to have for people who touch grass way more often than I do. I am fascinated by this subject and the ways in which white supremacy infiltrates and appropriates every subculture, trend, space to use that as a recruitment tool. The writing is propulsive and engaging and I read this in massive chunks without realizing how much progress I had made.

[Miriah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a look at the ways in which discourse on the internet is manipulated to further an agenda. I found this work timely and relevant to a modern society, although I would have appreciated if the author applied their methods to platforms such as TikTok, which are seeing a rise in far right and tradwife propaganda.

I found the book to be an engaging read but for someone who does not enjoy reading a more academic based text would probably find this work dry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the eARC.

[Buse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it however there are still some questions left unanswered. Why do these women choose to partake in an idolology that clearly limits their ability to take roles in society? Why do they continuesly and systematicly demonize feminism when they don't even know what it stands for? Author claims that their views on feminism and other races are false but she never focuses on rationalizing her own arguments.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting examination of female social media influences of the Far Right movement. I wish I had known a bit more about these women before starting this book, as I struggled with remembering who was who and didn't want to look them up and give them the views. The way the women use social media to make their views more palatable and recruit to the movement was interesting.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a different story all together. Definitely eye opening in the way that surprises you with how politics and social media work together in a manner as to fully convince you that their way is the right way.

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so interesting! I found the author did a better job explaining the political aspects better than my university professors did. I feel like I finished this book learning a lot and better understanding how these influencers become successful.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I didn’t really learn anything (cause hello I am obsessed with anything related to radicalism so I know all these women), I think this is a pretty good overview of that terrifying corner of the internet.

[EppicNinjaBunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the fact this is a well-thorough researched book, I can't skip over the fact that she rather often gives her (left-wing) opinion. In doing this, she sadly plays a part in the ever growing gap between left and right.