I have no empirical proof of this, but I have a hunch that the modal poster on several active subreddits has some common characteristics. Specifically, I am willing to bet that the usual poster on /r/TheRedPill, /r/KotakuInAction, or /r/MensRights is a young 20-something American man who feels threatened or at least recognizes some apparent social change around gender relations. I am not sure they are all misogynistic, but there is at least some conscious reflection on what role woman play in their usual hangouts.

I've always been confused by this. Being a white male in America is the sociological equivalent of being dealt two Aces in the pocket. Nobody is suggesting that you are guaranteed to win the pot or even a big one, but the odds are, on average, in your favor.

A good friend of mine recently pointed to Pierre Bourdieu's short little book on his hometown.

Bourdieu hailed from a small French department called Béarn which had for centuries had very consistent marriage patterns and social structures. The first born sons of wealthy farmers were the prime candidates for marriage. The second or third sons usually left town or weren't considered to be worthy of marriage.

Bourdieu returned to his hometown at one point and everyone was talking about a crisis of bachelorhood. The economic boom in France that followed WW2 had opened up many opportunities for women who subsequently could pursue careers that were not previously available. The consequence is that many young men who felt entitled to be prime targets for marriage were unable to find willing partners.

Bourdieu went and collected marriage statistics and lo and be hold, there actually had been no appreciable change on the aggregate level. It was almost purely a perception that women were no longer interested in traditional marriage arrangements.

He concluded, and the book has its weaknesses given that he didn't speak to any women, he simply attributed their motivations to them, that this structural change in the economy had led to a moral panic among young wealthy men.

My little hypothesis is that the same thing can be observed with respect to young angry men on reddit. They're a little socially awkward, maybe unsure of how to navigate a new world of gender relations, and while statistically there has not been a significant change in the number of average sexual partners among woman, these young men fear that they are being left out.

Hence, the disproportionate response on Reddit. A woman makes a video game? Women choose careers that they didn't expect? Well, time to get angry.