Journal for Transcultural Presences & Diachronic Identities from Antiquity to Date thersites 10/2019

Filippo Carlà-Uhink & Maja Gori (Eds.)

Modern Identities and Classical Antiquity

www.thersites-journal.de Imprint

Universität Potsdam 2020 Historisches Institut, Professur Geschichte des Altertums Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469 Potsdam (Germany) https://www.thersites-journal.de/

Editors PD Dr. Annemarie Ambühl (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) Prof. Dr. Filippo Carlà-Uhink (Universität Potsdam) Dr. Christian Rollinger (Universität Trier) Prof. Dr. Christine Walde (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

ISSN 2364-7612

Contact Principal Contact Prof. Dr. Filippo Carlà-Uhink Email: [email protected] Support Contact Dr. phil. Christian Rollinger Email: [email protected]

Layout and Typesetting text plus form, Dresden

Cover pictures: 1 – The Archaeological Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia in Skopje at the time of its construction. Photo by Maja Gori, 2008. 2 – Roman gladiator. Part of a statuary group in Rruga Taulantia, Durrës, Albania. Photo by Filippo Carlà-Uhink, September 2019.

Published online at: https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol10

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This does not apply to quoted content from other authors. To view a copy of this license visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal for Transcultural Presences & Diachronic Identities from Antiquity to Date thersites 10/2019 | pp. 221 – 226

Andelko Mihanovic (IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca)

Review of Donna Zuckerberg: Not All Dead White Men. Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age

Harvard University Press (Cambridge 2018). 270 pp. ISBN 9780674975552 $ 27.95/£ 20.0/€ 25.00

“I am absolutely a nationalist, and I’m In her Introduction (pp. 1 – 10)​ Zucker­ proud of it”, said president Trump to berg explains the importance of ana- journalists on 24 October 2018, adding lysing recent abuses of the Classics by that “he’s never heard of the term being white supremacist, nationalist and mi- associated with white nationalism”.1 sogynist movements in the US that are However, the issue he dismisses is what collectively known under the umbrella Donna Zuckerberg addresses in her term “the Red Pill”, and gather in very book Not All Dead White Men: Classics high numbers on the Reddit platform of and Misogyny in the Digital Age, pub- the same name. Zuckerberg notes how lished by Harvard University Press, in these movements may not only change relation to the widespread abuse of the the meanings surrounding ancient Classics by white nationalist groups. Greece and Rome in contemporary society, but may also lead to a wide- spread establishment of dangerous and oppressive behaviours with regards to 1 CNN. Trump: I am absolutely a nation- gender and race. alist, “CNN”, 23. 10. 2018.,​ https://edition. cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/10/23/donald- A large number of people follow dif- trump-nationalist-sot-oval-office-lead-vpx.cnn, ferent radical ideologies on the Internet accessed 11 December 2018. as a whole, and more particularly on

Book Reviews

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License URL https://thersites-journal.de Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). DOI https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol10.94 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 221 Review of Donna Zuckerberg:

Not All Dead White Men

social media: Zuckerberg reports that tiquity to promote reactionary ideolo- there are more than 230,000 followers gies” (p. 22). of the r/TheRedPill platform on Reddit, What is more, the author discusses as well as more than 240,000 members different examples from classical liter- of the subreddit r/seduction. At the mo- ature as used by the Red Pill to justify ment of writing this review, there are their misogyny: Hesiod’s Theogony, more than 292,000 subscribers to the the poem Types of Women by Semon- subreddit r/seduction, and the r/TheRed- ides’ from Amorgos, Xenophon’s Oeco- Pill has been quarantined by Reddit be- nomicus, Juvenal’s Satire VI, and Ovid’s cause of its content. Metamorphoses. These men present The author shows how aggressively themselves as guardians of classical these movements behave towards heritage against women who suppos- women and feminist writers, and thus edly want to destroy it. At the end of demonstrates why it is important to the chapter, the author argues that it study this phenomenon. Zuckerberg is not enough to point out that what states that her book is about “how men these groups do is philologically wrong; of the Red Pill use the literature and in addition, it is essential to strive for history of ancient Greece and Rome a deconstruction of this phenomenon to promote patriarchal and white su- in order to counteract its dangerous premacist ideology” and writes that operation. her goal is “to lay bare the mechanics The second chapter (pp. 45 – 88),​ en- of this appropriation: to show how titled The Angriest Stoics, analyses the classical antiquity informs the Red Pill Stoic writings and the Red Pill Stoicism. worldview and how these men weap- A short literature review is presented onize Greece and Rome in service of at the beginning of the chapter, aiming their agenda” (p. 5). at explaining the reasons why this par- In the first chapter (pp. 11 – 44),​ en- ticular philosophical school has gained titled Arms and the Manosphere, the popularity today. This is followed by a largest communities and their ideologies brief and general overview of Stoicism. are described: the Men’s Human Rights Zuckerberg writes that Stoic texts seem Movement, the seduction community, progressive in comparison to other Men Going Their Own Way, and the Alt- texts of their time (pp. 48; 70). However, Right. While analysing why and how underneath some of them carry misog- they use Classical heritage, the author ynist meanings, they are “filled with formulates her argument provocatively insinuations that women are generally and presents their misuse of the Clas- inferior to men: Cicero’s ideal fellow- sics as “only the latest development in ship is one of ‘good men’ (boni viri) […] the millennia-long use of classical an- Seneca believes that women have a low

Book Reviews

222 Review of Donna Zuckerberg:

Not All Dead White Men

capacity for self-control. He also praises to a predatory and oppressive attitude Marcia for not showing the customary towards women today. The author clar- ‘weakness of the feminine mind’” (p. 74). ifies how the use of Ovidian heritage is Stoic writings of this kind are simplified restricted by the PUA community: they by the Red Pill movement and used to consider Ovid to be “the father of se- validate their supremacist ideas. Zucker­ duction” (p. 91) and use him to legitimize berg draws a connection between elit- themselves as intellectual descendants of ism and sexism and answers why the a historically renowned literary figure. Stoics (and more particularly Marcus However, Zuckerberg very insightfully Aurelius) are popular in this oppressive deciphers both Ovidian’s and Red Pill’s community: “By studying Stoicism, all discourses by emphasizing similarities men today can assimilate themselves between the two. She examines “what it to the best ancient Romans … His ap- means to be ‘male’ and ‘female’” (p. 95) peal [sc. Marcus Aurelius’] undoubtedly in the Stoic and Red Pill frameworks and owes a great deal to his being not only she argues against the PUA’s myths. famously learned and wise […] but Zuckerberg presents Clarisse Thorn’s also perhaps the most powerful man in classification of pickup artists, and de- the world” (pp. 69; 58). What is more, scribes the logic behind their system. Zuckerberg gives a Stoic response to Also, she writes that the marketing the Red Pill Stoicism, and argues that strategies of the most prominent PUA the Stoic approach may help men in are similar to strategies “used by Ovid the United States to fight the “social to construct his narrator’s authority pressure to be stoic” (p. 87). She finishes in Ars Amatoria”, and she reveals the the chapter by suggesting that counter- importance of the financial aspect and acting the Red Pill agenda will require economic interests within the PUA com- more work to deconstruct the complex- munity (p. 97). As she puts it toward the ity of its relationship with Stoic heritage end of the chapter, “for these men, sex and to answer why it is so appealing to is warfare, and women are the enemy to the Red Pill community. put under siege” (p. 137). The third chapter (pp. 89 – 142),​ en- In the fourth chapter (pp. 143 – 184),​ titled The Ovid Method, focuses on the ironically entitled How to Save West- use of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria by pickup ern Civilization (she actually cites the artists (PUA), and compares PUA’s and title of one PUA’s blog post), Zucker- Ovidian views on gender roles and sex- berg connects the Red Pill and the PUA ual politics. By juxtaposing Ars Amato- communities in a clearer way, showing ria, Metamorphoses and Remedia Amoris their orientations towards sexual abuse along with stories of protagonists of and political control of women. Follow- the PUA community, the author points ing the PUA’s strategies, exemplified by

Book Reviews

223 Review of Donna Zuckerberg:

Not All Dead White Men

the use of the myth of Hippolytus and a more engaged feminist reading of the Phaedra, she focuses on the concept Classics, aiming at tackling the very of false rape allegations in order to ar- issues Red Pill men talk about. She re- gue against misogynist gender politics minds her readers of her own experience and to show how perverse the afore- of harassment that happened when her mentioned communities’ views are: by article “How to Be a Good Classicist un- reshaping the myth they facilitate the der a Bad Emperor” was published at the development of a rape culture. Thus, end of 2016 in the Eidolon journal,2 and Zuckerberg demonstrates how this leads prompts further analyses of connections to the reduction of female voices in con- between the Classical world and its con- temporary society and to the establish- temporary receptions, problematic or ment of binary gender roles. otherwise. Additionally, she interprets argu­ The book is accompanied by a glos- ments about sexual relationships by sary (pp. 191 – 194)​ of Red Pill terms and feminist scholars, such as Andrea an extensive Notes section (pp. 195 – 228)​ Dworkin and Catharine Mackinnon, that complements arguments from the and engages with the problems of rape main text. References (pp. 229 – 252)​ also and marriage in the Classical world. show the depth of research conducted Zuckerberg draws on linguistic differ- for the preparation of this book. ences between Latin, Greek and pres- The writing style makes the book ent-day English, and thus points to the highly accessible to non-experts when lack of precise terminology for sexual it comes to these particular aspects of assault and rape in Latin and Greek. Classics and Classical Reception. The She concentrates largely on the myth of author states modestly that the “book is Hippolytus and compares different ver- written for people who have an interest sions of it, moving to a critique of a Red in Classics but have not studied it exten- Pill concept of marriage and their abuse sively” (p. 6). However, I find it also use- of women toward the end of the chapter. ful for scholars, who may particularly TheConclusion (pp. 185 – 190)​ summa- benefit from its precise comparisons rizes the findings of the study. Zucker­ and analyses of different characteristics berg acknowledges that the Red Pill of the contemporary issues discussed, community successfully manipulates as well as their complex relationship Classical sources for their political agenda, promoting white male nation- alist supremacist behaviour and subju- 2 Donna Zuckerberg, How to Be a Good Classi- 21. 11. 2016.,​ gation of women, their civil rights and cist Under a Bad Emperor, “Eidolon”, https://eidolon.pub/how-to-be-a-good-classicist- their sexual life on an ideological basis. under-a-bad-emperor-6b848df6e54a, accessed 11 On the other hand, Zuckerberg calls for December 2018.

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224 Review of Donna Zuckerberg:

Not All Dead White Men

with the ancient world. This actualiza- Table of Contents tion of the ancient world by Zuckerberg may serve as a stimulus to rethink the Introduction connections between Classics and con- 1 – 10​ temporary society from an aspect that has so far not been extensively studied, 1. Arms and the Manosphere regarding these difficult questions and 11 – 44​ within particular contexts she high- lights. 2. The Angriest Stoics In addition, considering religious and 45 – 88​ racial issues even more closely, as well as the struggle of people of oppressed 3. The Ovid Method ethnicities, to see how these communi- 89 – 142​ ties are related to the issues discussed in this book, may be another step to- 4. How to Save Western Civilization wards future work. Although the focus 143 – 184​ is on white nationalist and misogynist communities in the United States, the Conclusion Classics are used by extremist right- 185 – 189​ wing movements and political parties for similar agendas in Europe as well. Glossary of Red Pill Terms On the same note, the complexity of 191 – 194​ reasons why these communities turn to Roman history should be further stud- Notes ied, as the author herself states. The 195 – 228​ author in several places mentions the concept of nostalgia, and that may in the References future be analysed in relation to the con- 229 – 252​ cept of escapism. In the end, Zuckerberg’s book is a Acknowledgments ground-breaking interdisciplinary study 253 – 254​ of a social phenomenon that needs to be further addressed. The book coura- Index geously looks at some of the most dis- 255 – 270​ turbing uses of the Classics in the here and now, while still advocating the im- http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog. portance of studying antiquity. php?isbn=9780674975552

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225 Review of Donna Zuckerberg:

Not All Dead White Men

Andelko Mihanovic Suggested citation: IMT School for advanced Studies Lucca Andelko Mihanovic: Review of Donna Zucker- berg: Not All Dead White Men. Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age. In: thersites 10 (2020): Modern Identities and Classical Antiquity, pp. 221 – 226. https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol10.94

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