The Dangers of Women in Extremism. Author: Grace Geake

Today, we are witnessing an epidemic of women being manipulated so aggressively that they are handed a match and demanded to light it under their freedoms, mocking their rights that were once worth dying for. The match is struck subserviently, blind to anyone but the person who struck it, shutting ears for the helpless, their neighbours, who’s voices are muted by a cohort of fascists masked as liberators.

The far right, or should I say, the most divisive of our demographic. The previous male led right that built their careers on tearing apart anyone but a white male has accelerated globally in the last year, from Donald Trump regaining presidency to Nigel Farage gaining popularity. These figures build their persona around hatred, with 2025 witnessing the largest scaremongering of immigrants, as well as women’s reproductive rights, in decades (Williams 2025). The recent ‘Unite the Kingdom Rally’ was organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, a 42-year-old criminal who founded the EDL, an Islamophobic organisation, leading to Robbinson having multiple sexual assault allegations (Grierson 2025). This rally included far-right voters fighting to ‘protect women and children’ from immigration, using fear as a technique to recruit women. Katie Hopkins, a female far right columnist, has a longstanding alliance with Tommy Robinson, upholding male dominance as well as acting as a ‘role model’ for other far right women (hopenothate 2025). The views she holds are parallel, taking to ‘X’ to express her hatred, shown by her infamous ‘final call’ tweet after the Manchester bombing as well as her anti-abortion stance (hopenothate 2025).

White men commit 87% of child sexual abuse offences (Kewley and Karsna 2025). 90% of femicide Killers are known to the victim (GOOD LAW Project 2025). Who should we really fear here?

Currently female safety is being exploited by the far right to accelerate attacks on immigrants, as well as glorifying a traditional life away from the ‘dangers of feminism’.

In the UK alone, cheerleading Nigel Farage shows that your willing, as a woman, to have your rights stripped at the hands of a man. Farage has voted against employability rights protecting sexual harassment in the workplace, called Andrew Tate (a rapist) an “important voice to men” (GOOD LAW Project 2025), described current abortion laws as “utterly ludicrous” (Williams 2025), and cheerleaded the abolition of roe v wade in America that will cause so many women to lose their lives from unsafe abortions (GOOD LAW Project 2025). We must unite to end this now, Sisterhood is our strength, not our weakness.

After all this, why now are we seeing women retreat into these ideologies, and how does this happen ?

Sociologists have focused attention to our media saturated society, drawing on metapolitical theory to grasp such irony. Gramsci’s ‘war of position theory’ penetrates throughout literature surrounding female participation in the Far-Right, with Stern (2022) claiming that there’s a new culture of men who believe that existing hegemony in western society is feared to start advantaging the left, and consequentially Women or immigrants, wedging a ‘war of position’ that must be won by reshaping the values of the western world (Stern 2022). This is best understood in the context of metapolitics, a viewpoint created by Benoist but adopted by Stern (2022), arguing that extremism and radicalisation is too alienating, so instead the far right are impetrating slowly onto societies institutions such as education and the media, to slowly reshape the perception of women. Consequently, social media platforms, a sphere saturated with young women, appeal most to the far right, believing that this is the biggest scope for change in an ‘ideological playing field’ (Stern 2022).

But why is social media so powerful in brainwashing women to fight against their own rights? Ebner and Davey (2019) show that one reason is a fear of a hypermasculinity discourse, whereby the rise of feminism leaves men insecure of their identity, purpose, and strength (Ebner and Davey 2019). This is no surprise to myself that women are blamed yet again for disgusting hate crimes produced by men, however research shows that this view arguing that feminist discourse is radicalising men into the far right is widely shared (Leidig 2021). Women are ‘fed up’ of being the brunt, and they are therefore becoming the target of white supremacist recruitment (Ebner and Davey 2019).

Today, Stern (2022) argues that men are therefore using social media as a metapolitical platform directed towards women, selling them a ‘dream life’ whilst amplifying social issues to create fear, aiding recruitment (Stern 2022). As well as the fears of feminism, rhetoric around sexual crimes committed by immigrants, and the ‘dangers of feminism’, are amplified, redirecting fears onto minorities, penetrating racism (Leidig 2021). These minorities are used as a scapegoat, a manipulation technique to which women become so frightened of a future with feminism at the forefront, as well as a diverse society (Leidig 2021). The women they recruit through this process are placed at the front of political marches, campaigns, and even YouTube channels, with the aim that their movement will look diverse, recruiting even more women (Ebner and Davey 2019). Generation Identity is an example of this, a movement that’s penetrated several European countries since 2012, with Katie Hopkins being at the forefront of their support (Ebner and Davey 2019). This movement, in its attempt to hijack the #MeeToo movement, aimed to mobilize young white women by playing on fears, recruiting over 300,000 supporters (Ebner and Davey 2019). Consequently, through these movements, the radicalisation of women has become an epidemic, with many taking to YouTube and Instagram to express their support through red pill vlogs, creating a ‘networked intimacy’ by the sharing of personal details of lived experiences and techniques that make these ‘influencers’ seem responsive (Leidig 2021). Female ‘influencers’ such as Sarah Dye, a co-host of the YouTube channel ‘the after party’, promotes ‘trad life’ as the only way forward for society, promoting anything from anti-abortion rhetoric, to fears of diversity (Stern 2022). By outlining the ‘harsh life’ she lived before, characterised by addiction, women are inspired to share the same politics as herself in the hopes that their lives will become ameliorated (Stern 2022). This rhetoric will cause so many women from all background to lose their lives from unsafe abortions, depression, and so much more. This cannot continue.

Ging (2017) advances this by stating that this process was always an inevitable consequence of the ‘manosphere’ of society, with technology itself inherently built on the foundations of radicalisation and in the interest of men. According to this view, technological infrastructures accelerate radicalisation by the profit that companies make from political polarization, symbolising that anything controversial posted benefits the very men (in most cases) that built the platform in the first place (Ging 2017), with sexism dichotomising capitalism, reinforcing each other by keeping men in power. Elon musk, a far-right billionaire renounced for sharing trumps ideology and owning the platform ‘X’, is a prime example of this. Despite Musk having a sexual assault lawsuit that his former space x employees, as well as being anti-abortion by cheerleading for the abolition of Roe V Wade, he manages to recruit women still by using the platform he built, making billions of being divisive and manipulating women (Bartles 2021).

Ignoring oppression is choosing it. By sitting behind a screen and watching our rights evaporate from our devices and placed neatly into institutions, we are being mocked by the very hand that gave us these freedoms to begin with.

Drawing on Stern’s (2022) reworked metapolitical theory, exposing how elites manipulate institutional power, and Ging’s (2017) critique of patriarchy embedded within both society and digital culture, this is an urgent call for a renewed feminist awakening. I demand an education system freed from ideological control, one that unmasks social media’s coercive influence and empowers individuals through an unbiased engagement with politics and its consequences. The dangers of media manipulation via the far right is alarming, as figures such as Farage, Trump, and Andrew Tate exploit platforms to spread misinformation, amplifying dangerous ideologies about the vulnerable that consolidates right-wing power. This mechanism threatens the future of democracy, and ultimately, equality for all. As women, its vital we unite and refuse to be ideological puppets to the powerful. We must challenge the status quo through campaigning amongst all spheres of life so people become conscious of their exploitation, whether that’s through the media or on the streets. Rejecting traditional roles (Leidig 2021) characterised by limiting our freedoms means women can reach liberation, defining their own lives instead of internalising domination.

Feminism is for everyone. True freedom from institutionalised patriarchy leaves no one behind.

References

Bartles, M. SpaceX faces sexual harassment allegations from five former employees. SPACE.com. 16 Dec 2021. Available at: https://www.space.com/spacex-sexual-harassment-allegations-lawsuits [Accessed 2 Nov 2025]

Ebner, J. Davey, J. 2019. How women advance the internationalization of the far-right. Perspectives on the Future of Women, Gender, and Violent extremism. pp.32-39.

GOOD LAW Project. 2025. Why is Reform suddenly worried about women’s safety ? 26 Aug 2025. Available at: https://goodlawproject.org/why-is-reform-suddenly-worried-about-womens-safety/ [Accessed: 3 Nov 2025]

Grierson, J. 2025. Who were they key figures at the ‘unite the kingdom’ rally in London ? The Guardian. 15 Sep 2025. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/15/who-were-the-key-figures-at-the-unite-the-kingdom-rally-in-london [Accessed: 3 Nov 2025]

Ging, D. 2017. Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere. Men and Masculinities. Vol 22 (issue 4). pp. 638-657. doi: https://doi-org.cardiff.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/1097184X17706401

Hopenothate, 2025. CASE FILE: Katie Hopkins. Available at: https://hopenothate.org.uk/case-files-katie-hopkins/ [Accessed: 3 Nov 2025]

Kewley, S. Karsna, K. 2025. Child sexual abuse in 2023/24: Trends in official data. Center of expertise on child sexual abuse. June 2025. Available at: https://www.csacentre.org.uk/app/uploads/2025/03/Child-sexual-abuse-in-2023-24-Trends-in-official-data.pdf [Accessed: 3 Nov 2025]

Leidig, E. “We Are Worth Fighting for”: Women in Far-Right Extremis. ICCT. 26 Oct 2021. Available at: https://icct.nl/publication/we-are-worth-fighting-women-far-right-extremism [Accessed: 3 Nov 2025]

Minna Stern, A. 2022. Gender and the Far-right in the United States: Female Extremists and the Mainstreaming of Contemporary White Nationalism. Journal of Modern European History. Vol 20 (Issue 3). doi: https://doi-org.cardiff.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/16118944221110101

Williams, Z. 2025. Nigel Farage is cosying up to the US anti-abortion group that challenged Roe v Wade. Women in Britain should know that. The Guardian. 16 Oct. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2025/oct/16/nigel-farage-us-anti-abortion-group-women-britain [Accessed: 3 Nov 2025]