Seung-Hui Cho
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Beta male, or simply beta, is a term derived from the designation for beta animals in ethology. The term has been frequently used in the manosphere, as is its counterpart, "alpha male", designating males that are not beta. The term has been used to describe men who are associated with feminism or men who are not assertive, particularly with women. Tracy Clark-Flory wrote for Salon that she prefers the words "sensitivity, emotional intelligence, and peacemaking" to "beta".
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History
The term was used almost solely in animal ethology prior to the 1990s, particularly in regard to mating privileges with females, ability to hold territory and hierarchy in terms of food consumption within their herd or flock. Using the term "alpha" and "beta" in reference to humans originated in the mid to late 1990s after media outlets introduced the term. A 1996 article in USA Today wrote "take a powder, sensitive guy". In the animal kingdom beta refers to an animal who is subordinate to higher-ranking member in the social hierarchy thus having to wait to eat and having negligible or no opportunities for copulation.
Culture
An Esquire article mentioned the term saying "alpha males were putting the 'man' back in manhood". In 1999, Naomi Wolf, political advisor of Al Gore and Bill Clinton, according to Time "has argued internally that Gore is a 'Beta male' who needs to take on the 'Alpha male' in the Oval Office before the public will see him as the top dog".
Andrew Marantz wrote for the New Yorker that conspiracy theorist and blogger Mike Cernovich believes that his opponents were "beta males, losers, or 'cucks' — alt-right slang for 'cuckolds '".
Members of the alt-right portray beta-males as weak and emasculated.
The March 7, 2018, issue of the Hollywood Reporter has as its cover the cast of the TV show Silicon Valley, together with the title "The Triumph of the Beta Male". The term beta is sometimes used by other manospherians as a pejorative term levelled against incels.
Beta Uprising
Caricatures of beta males and incels sometimes includes suggestions of a "Beta Uprising" or "Incel Rebellion", wherein men who are unsuccessful at courtship rebel against mainstream or what they view as privileged members of society. Members of beta communities may sympathize with individuals such as Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech shooting) and George Sodini (2009 Collier Township shooting).
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