# Why are almost all white nationalists men? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 14, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616 "2017-08-14T06:33:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/1 "2017-08-14T06:33:15Z")
I saw an image of the Charlottesville “alt-right” protest and didn’t see a single woman in the crowd - just a sea of white men. Why does it seem like women are less racist than men? Is it possible they’re more likely to sympathize with minorities because they’re the minority gender? Is it the higher empathy quotient? Does the ideology of white supremacism appeal more to the male mind? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/2 "2017-08-14T06:40:16Z")
They’re home, shoeless and pregnant.\* Baking stuff. Keeping the home fires burning like a good woman should. \*Not that there’s anything wrong with this. Actually there were some women there. They were blonde. One of them in particular was yelling racist epithets. But yeah, lots of guys. Really, I would like to think that women have better sense, but I’m kind of afraid their men just won’t let them, and they agree to that. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/3 "2017-08-14T06:46:01Z")
I don’t think women are less racist, or in general less extremist, than men; either by numbers or by level. But we are less likely to go about it in a way that involves physical violence. -isms involve a high level of irrationality. Lots of people belong to an ideology that goes against their own benefit, or even existence: nazi simpathizers who would have been considered “of impure blood” or whose religion would have made them suspect, nativists who are married to immigrants or the children of immigrants, and so forth. You’re looking for a rational response where there is none. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/4 "2017-08-14T07:05:53Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I saw an image of the Charlottesville “alt-right” protest and didn’t see a single woman in the crowd - just a sea of white men. [There are some](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/entry/it-wasnt-just-white-men-who-participated-in-the-unite-the-right-rally_us_598f55b4e4b09071f69a0381). Not a lot, because that particular brand of idiocy goes hand-in-hand with more … conservative attitudes to the roles of women. But some. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/5 "2017-08-14T07:11:50Z")
Women are a minority? ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/6 "2017-08-14T07:21:28Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Women are a minority? Not really in a numerical sense, but in the sense of being a marginalized group, yes. Just like black people in apartheid South Africa were a minority despite being the numerical majority. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/7 "2017-08-14T08:12:54Z")
Racism and sexism go hand in hand. If you’re dumb enough to believe you’re better than other people because you have white skin, you’re probably also dumb enough to believe you’re better than other people because you have a penis. So a lot of those white supremacists are also male supremacists. Which means a lot of them are failures at relationships. Think about how long it’s been since some of these guys got laid and you can see where the hostility is coming from. There are going to be some of them who beat the odds and find a woman. But if the woman doesn’t agree with the man’s ideology the relationship isn’t going to last. And if the woman does believe in the man’s ideology, she’s doing what that ideology tells her she should be doing: staying home. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/8 "2017-08-14T08:58:35Z")
This month’s Harpers Magazine cover story is: Women of the Alt-Right. [https://harpers.org/archive/2017/09/](https://harpers.org/archive/2017/09/) It attempts to answer the OP’s question. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/9 "2017-08-14T09:56:27Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Not really in a numerical sense, but in the sense of being a marginalized group, yes. Just like black people in apartheid South Africa were a minority despite being the numerical majority. I’ve _never_ heard Black South Africans referred to as a minority before. Oppressed, sure, but _never_ minority. This usage may be idiosyncratic to you. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/10 "2017-08-14T10:52:06Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’ve _never_ heard Black South Africans referred to as a minority before. Oppressed, sure, but _never_ minority. This usage may be idiosyncratic to you. In fact, during the apartheid regime in South Africa (and even more so during the Ian Smith regime in neighbouring Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe), the term “majority rule” was used as the _antonym_ for apartheid: “Majority rule” was understood as a political system in which all ethnic groups within the country would have equal political rights, which, given the demographics, was understood to result in a government led by black politicians. The apartheid regime, in contrast, was dubbed “white minority rule”. It was not common to regard the black population as a minority. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/11 "2017-08-14T13:16:02Z")
A lot of irrational male behavior is driven by high testosterone levels. Or by bitterness that their testosterone level _isn’t_ high. Women are more likely to be comfortable with their testosterone levels. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/12 "2017-08-14T13:17:29Z")
My WAG is that if you want to start a violent extremist movement you target disaffected young men who feel they’re not getting the jobs, success, and women they deserve. They’ve got lots of free time, they’re easily led, and they’re more likely to hit somebody than, say, men in their 40’s or young women or any other large demographic segment. Too many historical examples to count. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/13 "2017-08-14T13:26:48Z")
There are plenty of white nationalist women, but I do think there is a gender disparity. The white nationalist movement is motivated in large part by a perceived or threatened loss of social status. They fear going from being the top dog to being one part of an equal and multicultural nation. That ideology is more motivating to white men because white men are at the top of the social status pyramid. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/14 "2017-08-14T13:59:44Z")
Why are there women in religions that don’t think women are good enough to lead them? White supremacist women “know their place” as second class citizens. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/15 "2017-08-14T14:02:15Z")
Men are over represented at the extremes of almost everything. There are more men who are terrorists, murderers, Neo-Nazis, violent schizophrenics, and other bad things but also more men who are CEOs, inventors, and nobel prize winners. This is called the male variability hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/16 "2017-08-14T15:59:51Z")
Moved to Great Debates. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/17 "2017-08-14T16:09:45Z")
Women are less likely to gravitate to the political extremes in general and are more temperamentally ‘conservative’ than men. They’re less likely to be ethnic nationalist and also less likely to be communists. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/18 "2017-08-14T17:16:16Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’ve _never_ heard Black South Africans referred to as a minority before. Oppressed, sure, but _never_ minority. This usage may be idiosyncratic to you. I’ve heard of it, too. I first encountered it exactly as used in this thread, in calling women a minority. I believe it is used because there is exactly one group in the U.S. that seems to actually fit that isn’t a literal minority, and it makes it easier to just talk about minorities instead of always saying “women and minorities.” You can just Google women as a minority to see it used all the time. I admit I’ve never heard it applied to South Africa, but I never really hear much about that anymore, anyways. Americans seem to focus on how it affects America, and Americans seem to to be the ones on the forefront of minority studies. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/19 "2017-08-14T17:24:22Z")
“Why is it the greatest champions of the white race always turn out to be the worst examples of it?” (Garth Ennis) ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616/20 "2017-08-14T17:31:37Z")
The contemporary white supremacy movement is very much rooted in a sense of being an embattled group, under siege from all sides. They claim a desire to “take back the country” from the interlopers they perceive as having illegitimately assumed control. In their minds, most of these people belong to minority ethnic or religious groups. But there is also a deep sense of male rage against women, especially (but not limited to) women in positions of power and authority. The anxiety around feminism and fear of (metaphorical) emasculation constitute a significant part of their rhetoric. So it is not surprising that the movement is heavily weighed toward male participation. Of course, some women follow this ideology as well. It’s hardly the first or only time that some people have chosen to identify with a philosophy that is directly opposed to their own interests. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-almost-all-white-nationalists-men/793616.md?page=2)