Blonde In The Belly Of The Beast

{{significantly problematic}}{{Sources needed}}[[File:Blonde In The Belly Of The Beast.jpg|thumb|right|165px|What she looks like.]]{{update}}{{Youtubenav}}

'''Blonde In The Belly Of The Beast''' (real name '''Rebecca Hargraves'''<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220628125709/https://angrywhitemen.org/2017/11/24/in-her-latest-video-rebecca-hargraves-turns-to-overt-white-nationalism/ "In Her Latest Video, Rebecca Hargraves Turns To Overt White Nationalism"], angrywhitemen.org</ref>) {{lived|September 26, 1987}}<ref>https://x.com/Blondes_tweets/status/1839376301053935863</ref>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.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpbyOgUSjTSPpvVUAT2OyHw/about Blonde In The Belly Of The Beast about page] at [[YouTube]].</ref> Since May 2016, she has cohosted the political commentary YouTube/podcast show ''Beauty & the Beta'' with liberal-turned-[[Donald Trump|Trumpist]] Matt Christiansen.

==Video style and subject matter==
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.<!-- needs a citation and clarification -->

A brilliant example of this is her video detailing why she believes her hometown (Saint Louis, [[Missouri]]) is not worth improving.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20161006025320/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Uzs7R28Hg&gl=US&hl=en "St Louis: Why I didn’t Bother Trying to Improve my Hometown"], Blonde In The Belly Of The Beast</ref> 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<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUbxVfSqtt8 "The Great Replacement Isn't Real ft. Lauren Southern"], Shaun</ref>).

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"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y-c59e4_IY "The Influence Of Poor Gender Relations On Art"], Blonde in The Belly of The Beast</ref> is equivalent to Paglia's "Apollonian vs. Dionysian" theory. It sounds somewhat social [[sciencey]], but it's essentially saying "[[Kinder, Küche, Kirche|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.<!-- This and the prior paragraph would be more compelling if they engaged the content of the videos more thoroughly.  As it stands, this is largely just a series of bare assertions -->

==YouTube's premier internalized misogynist==
[[File:Spinal Tap - Up to Eleven.jpg|thumb|right|165px|''This Is Spinal Tap'''s "up to eleven"]]
By every metric imaginable, Hargraves is the undisputed queen of YouTube's female [[misogynist]]s. While [[Lauren Chen|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 {{wpl|up to eleven}} 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 [[African American|black]] women.<!-- Telling me to watch her videos and it'll be obvious this is true is not a substitute for substantial and specific critique.  This section doesn't effectively support the claim that "Hargraves is by every metric imaginable the undisputed queen of Youtube's female misogynists". -->

==The long march right==
Like many rightists on YouTube, Hargraves uses the [[Dave_Rubin|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==
Like many anti-feminists past, present, and future, Hargraves doesn't seem to get the message that she's basically making excuses for [[misogynistic]] [[asshole]]s 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 [[Manosphere glossary#Wall|wall]]-approaching spinster.<ref>[http://blog.aaronsleazy.com/index.php/2017/06/30/what-i-think-of-youtuber-blonde-in-the-belly-of-the-beast/ "What I think of YouTuber “Blonde In The Belly Of The Beast”"], Aaron Sleazy, blog.aaronsleazy.com</ref> (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 [[troll]]s unleashed on her. Remember when [[Christina Hoff Sommers]] defended Michelle Fields? The Trump train didn't take that too nicely.

==Stopped clock==
She refrains from using the typical racist dog whistles associated with law and order style policies.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjko5-V21zs</ref>

==See also==
*[[Apollonian and Dionysian]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Alt-lite]]
[[Category:Antifeminism]]
[[Category:Internalized discrimination]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Categories: Alt-lite, Antifeminism, Internalized discrimination, Living people