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Series: Monthly topics

«Alpha Boys – Research from the Manosphere»
SRF Investigativ & SRF Data

Talk

A series of talks organized by Gessnerallee in cooperation with various editorial teams: once a month, an editorial team selects a key journalistic topic and discusses it live with the audience. This time, the focus is on the ideal of masculinity in the manosphere.

  • Wed 06/05 19:30 – 21:30

    Nordflügel

    Few remaining tickets at the box office

Gessnerallee presents a series of journalistic focus topics in collaboration with different editorial teams. Copyright: Bodara GmbH

Tough, disciplined, emotionally cold, rich: this is the ideal of masculinity in the manosphere – a subculture that celebrates male superiority and rejects equality. The manosphere has long since become part of everyday life for young people in Switzerland – with sometimes serious consequences. How do young men get caught up in this vortex? When does ideology turn into real hatred or even violence? 

SRF journalists Julian Schmidli, Sonja Mühlemann and Stefanie Hasler recount how they delved deep into the abyss of the manosphere for their research. They shed light on the mechanisms behind Andrew Tate's online empire and provide insight into the mindset of incels. They show how quickly young men come into contact with content from the manosphere on TikTok. Finally, they shed light on the tragic consequences of this ideology using the example of Switzerland's first incel attack. And how they presented their findings in a podcast, documentary film and online article entitled Alpha Boys. 


Speakers:

  • Research team: Julian Schmidli, Sonja Mühlemann, Stefanie Hasler

  • Guest: Dr Lea Stahel, sociologist at the University of Zurich

More on the journalistic research:


Information about the host

Julian Schmidli is a journalist at SRF Data. The data journalism team uses data analysis, visualisations and interactive research to present complex topics in an understandable way. Sonja Mühlemann and Stefanie Hasler are journalists at SRF Investigativ. The fourteen-member team investigates abuses and power structures with long-term, thorough investigative research for all areas and channels of SRF.

Information on accessibility and language

  • 120-minute event with intermission

  • In spoken German

  • Stepless access

  • Content notes: This event explicitly addresses manosphere/incel ideologies, misogyny, sexualized violence, racism, antisemitism, and ableism. Discriminatory, misanthropic and violent content is described and reproduced.

  • Once a month, an editorial team selects a journalistic focus topic and shares it live with visitors on site. Gessnerallee's new series of talks takes place in cooperation with various editorial teams. The ‘monthly topics’ were inspired by the highly acclaimed ‘Kosmopolitics’ series, which took place at the former Kosmos.

  • SRF Investigativ conducts independent, long-term research into power structures, abuses and socially relevant issues. The focus is on political, economic and institutional responsibility, as well as thorough source work. SRF Data analyses complex issues using data, statistics and programming. With interactive visualisations and comprehensible classifications, both teams contribute to transparency, critical public discourse and democratic opinion-forming.

    CORRECTIV.Schweiz is a non-profit research centre. Together with the population, they conduct research to strengthen democracy. They use innovative approaches and methods, such as the CrowdNewsroom they developed. They also network local journalists and uncover social injustices, either alone or together with partners.

    REFLEKT, Switzerland's first independent and non-profit research team, was founded in 2019. Since then, a small, powerful team has been carrying out major research with a big impact. In order to uncover abuses and promote transparency, they focus on investigative research projects lasting several months, which traditional editorial teams are increasingly unable to handle. By presenting their work in an attractive way and publishing it via various channels, they make their work accessible to the widest possible audience. In this way, they promote quality in journalism, increase public awareness and contribute to media diversity and a functioning democracy.

    The Republik is a digital magazine covering politics, economics, society and culture, which has been published since January 2018. It is financed by its readers and publishes one to three articles every day.

    Tsüri.ch was founded in 2015 by Simon Jacoby together with a group of young journalists with the aim of producing independent local journalism. A city magazine that is always critical, on the pulse of the city and transparent. Every year, they organise focus months on topics such as housing, addiction and mobility. The content of these focus months includes panel discussions, city walks and workshops.

    WAV is a twelve-member research collective from Zurich. They have been research partners for journalists and editorial offices, civil society and the non-profit sector since 2021. Their research critically scrutinises and opens the doors of boardrooms and boardrooms where decisions that affect everyone are quietly made. They create transparency - so that those responsible are not judged by their words, but by their actions.

    WOZ – Die Wochenzeitung is an independent, left-wing green weekly newspaper from Switzerland. Since 1981, it has been reporting critically on politics, economics, society and culture, placing particular emphasis on background information, power relations and social justice. WOZ is organised as a cooperative and is largely independent of advertising and corporate interests. With carefully researched analyses, reports and commentaries, it sees itself as a countervoice to the mainstream and as a contributor to an informed public and a vibrant democracy.

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