In my previous post I talked about toxicity in online gaming communities. I'd like to expand on that by talking about how the traits that define hegemonic masculinity have shifted in these communities. What do men do when they are marginalized by the dominant aspect of hegemonic masculinity? They form smaller communities with others in the same position and they collectively marginalize others who enter that space. This is essentially what has happened with online gaming communities. Men who do not fit into the box of hegemonic masculinity (i.e., physically strong, popular with women, etc) create their own box to fit into and exclude others from. The same forms of sexism, homophobia, and racism that can be traced back to hegemonic masculinity can also be found in these communities as a result.
The link that I've included talks about constructs of masculinity within massively multiplayer online role playing games.
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