Blonde In The Belly Of The Beast

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Blonde In The Belly Of The Beast (real name Rebecca Hargraves[1]) is a reactionary, anti-feminist YouTube talker best known for her videos justifying why women should submit to men with generous helpings of low-key racism. As of March 2022, her YouTube channel had 124,000 subscribers and over eight million views.[2] Since May 2016, she has cohosted the political commentary YouTube/podcast show Beauty & the Beta with liberal-turned-Trumpist Matt Christiansen.[3]

Video style and subject matter[edit]

Hargraves's videos largely consist of an innocuous title followed by reactionary verbiage justified using anecdotes and far-right conspiracy theories. Typical subjects include Separate Spheres ideology on steroids, far-right conspiracy theories about censorship, nutpicking, white nationalist talking points, red-baiting (to the point of labeling the American post-secondary education system communist and dubbing anyone left of Dubya a "leftist"), and straw man arguments on feminism.

She also frequently uses subtle racist dog whistles. One such example is her support for "Western civilization", which she calls the greatest civilization. This may seem innocuous at first, but it's evident that judging by the white nationalists she surrounds herself with, she means white people.

A brilliant example of this is her video detailing why she believes her hometown (Saint Louis, Missouri) is not worth improving.[4] The video consists of personal anecdotes, black brute racism, appeals to black cultural inferiority, friend arguments (such as stating that all her hard-working black friends are doing amazing things with their lives as proof discrimination isn't a thing), as well as arguments about forced busing straight out of the 1960s. She cites no statistics to back up her claims, as she expects her racist audience to engage in confirmation bias (a common tactic of the far-right[5]).

Taking a trick from Camille Paglia, she also phrases outrageously sexist opinions in the form of social criticism. Her video "The Effect Of Poor Gender Relations On Art"[6] is equivalent to Paglia's "Apollonian vs. Dionysian" theory. It sounds somewhat social sciencey, but it's essentially saying "women are to stay in kitchen" and "art is only good if it looks European and it suits my tastes" in a more sophisticated way.

YouTube's premier internalized misogynist[edit]

This Is Spinal Tap's "up to eleven"

By every metric imaginable, Hargraves is the undisputed queen of YouTube's female misogynists. While Roaming Millennial might casually repeat anti-feminist talking points, Christina Hoff Sommers might lie her ass off about feminist theory, Lana Lokteff might wield white femininity as a means of demonizing people of color, and Lauren Southern might engage in attention-whoring of the "There is no rape culture in the West" variety, Hargraves takes this all up to elevenWikipedia and typifies Madeline Albright's comments about women who don't help other women. (Someone needs a cookie, the pot calling the kettle black.)

She shamelessly refers to women who shave their heads as batshit crazy (echoing Roosh V's views on the matter), promotes neurosexism out the wazoo, and engages in racist misogyny that would make a member of the Women's KKK look tame by comparison.

For this in action, see any of her videos where she relates an experience with black women.

The long march right[edit]

Like many rightists on YouTube, Hargraves uses the Rubin strategy, i.e., start off moderate and progressively increase the heat until all but Roman saluting. Hargraves started out as a stereotypical conservative YouTuber with an anti-feminist bent, only to become a white nationalist. For evidence of how this plays out in real-time, take a few videos separated by a few months and look at the top comments. Her more recent videos have full-on neo-Nazis in the comments section.

The fate of the anti-feminist cool girl[edit]

Like many anti-feminists past, present, and future, Hargraves doesn't seem to get the message that she's basically making excuses for misogynistic assholes and that if she steps out of line, she'll be thrown to the wolves.

Aaron Sleazy (a moderate MRA with views on gender roles like hers) thinks she's a wall-approaching spinster.[7] (Rebecca is married with a daughter, no surprise Aaron got it wrong.)

This is becoming something of a pattern among anti-feminists. Whenever a female misogynist or FeMRA steps out of line, she has the trolls unleashed on her. Remember when Christina Hoff Sommers defended Michelle Fields? The Trump train didn't take that too nicely.

Stopped clock[edit]

She refrains from using the typical racist dog whistles associated with law and order style policies.[8]

See also[edit]

References[edit]