Why the alt-right movement is using the term ‘soy boy’ to insult its enemies online

A NEW internet movement has started flooding social media with claims that soy intake is to blame for feminine or physically weak men in society.

THE internet-grown alt-right movement doesn’t shy away from using specific terminology to attack those on the opposite end of the political spectrum.

While labelling opponents as “cucks” has long been the favourite insult of the alt-right, the group has now shifted its focus to the term “soy boy”.

The insult has recently been gaining momentum online, with the term being used to describe a “feminine” or “physically weak” man.

“[Soy boy is] slang used to describe males who completely and utterly lack all necessary masculine qualities. This pathetic state is usually achieved by an overindulgence of emasculating products and/or ideologies,” explained Urban Dictionary.

“The average soy boy is a feminist, nonathletic, has never been in a fight, will probably marry the first girl that has sex with him, and likely reduces all his arguments to labelling the opposition as ‘Nazis’.”

@jimmykimmel @Trevornoah @StephenAtHome @sethmeyers @iamjohnoliver @larrywilmore -- Look at these corporate elite SOY BOYS. So weak... pic.twitter.com/kKUSmWhHOl

— Cernovich Media (@CernovichNews) October 4, 2017

All these so-called “woke” kids are going to grow up to be the biggest soy boy cucks, if they in fact even exist.

— The CuckHunter (@The_CuckHunter) November 9, 2017

This so called republican is a just a soy boy

— Molonlabedavid (@molonlabedavid) November 19, 2017

The insult has quickly become popular on Twitter, Reddit and YouTube comments, with the concept stemming from the belief that soy consumption has been proven to have a negative effect on the male physique and libido.

While the scientific community has been divided over the belief, there have long been reports of soy products increasing oestrogen levels in men.

It is believed that when you consume soy protein, you’re ingesting two natural drugs — genistein and daidzein — which are known as phytoestrogens (plant-produced oestrogens).

In 2009, retired US Army intelligence officer James Price experienced breast development, hair loss and decreased sexual desire — something he said was attributed to soy intake.

“My penis — I won’t say it atrophied, but it was so flaccid that it looked very small in comparison with the way it used to be. Even my emotions changed,” he told Men’s Health.

“I’d break out and cry at a sad movie, that kind of thing. It just wasn’t like me.”

Price said after consulting with his doctor he was advised to stop using soy products and within several months his oestrogen levels — once higher than those of most women — had returned to the low-to-normal range for healthy men.

Regardless of the merit of the claims, the insult appears to be gaining real momentum online.

On a pro-Trump subreddit the term is used to mock male celebrity bodies, while a recent 4chan thread asked “How do we deal with the soy boy epidemic?”.

In a recent video, which has been viewed over half a million times, Infowars editor-at-large Paul Joseph Watson even went as far to suggest soy found in infant baby formula is making children liberal “from birth”.

“Rather than people with already pre-existing left-wing beliefs being attracted to vegan-style tofu soy diets, we’re actually creating an army of soy boys from birth,” he said. “What a terrifying thought.”

Watson said “soy is the silent killer” of masculine behaviour and the world needed to act before it lost an entire generation of young men to soy.

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