The Proud Boys is an exclusively male North American far-right, neo-fascistmilitant organization that promotes and engages in political violence.[1][14][15] The group's leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the United States government, including the constitutionally prescribed transfer of presidential power.[16] It has been called a street gang[17][18] and was designated as a terrorist group in Canada[19][20] and New Zealand.[13] The Proud Boys are known for their opposition to left-wing and progressive groups and for their support of former U.S. President Donald Trump.[1][15] While Proud Boys leadership has denied being a white supremacist organization, the group and some of its members have been connected to white supremacist events, ideologies, and other white power groups throughout its existence.
The group originated in the far-right Taki's Magazine in 2016 under the leadership of Vice Media co-founder and former commentator Gavin McInnes,[1] taking its name from the song "Proud of Your Boy" from the 2011 Disney musical Aladdin.[21] Although the Proud Boys initially emerged as part of the alt-right,[1] McInnes distanced himself from this movement in early 2017, saying the Proud Boys were alt-lite while the alt-right's focus was on race.[22] Donald Trump's comment, "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by", during the September 2020 presidential debate, was credited with increasing interest and recruitment.[23] After the remark caused an outcry for its seeming endorsement, Trump condemned the Proud Boys while saying he did not "know much about" them.[24][25]
According to the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, the group believes men and Western culture are under siege, using "Western chauvinism" as euphemism for the white genocide conspiracy theory.[5] Members have participated in overtly racist events and events centered around fascist, anti-left, and anti-socialist violence.[5] The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has called the group an "alt-right fight club" and a hate group that uses rhetorical devices to obscure its motives.[15][26][27][28] The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described the Proud Boys as "extremist conservative" and "alt lite", "overtly Islamophobic and misogynistic", "transphobic and anti-immigration", "all too willing to embrace racists, antisemites and bigots of all kinds", and notes the group's promotion and use of violence as a core tactic.[29]
HoSang, Daniel (2019). Producers, Parasites, Patriots: Race and the New Right-Wing Politics of Precarity. University of Minnesota Press. p. 2. ISBN9781452960340. [...] groups such as the protofascist Proud Boys [...].
Kutner, Samantha (2020). "Swiping Right: The Allure of Hyper Masculinity and Cryptofascism for Men Who Join the Proud Boys"(PDF). International Centre for Counter-Terrorism: 1. JSTORresrep25259. Archived(PDF) from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2020. Conclusion: Proud Boys represent a new face of far-right extremism. [...] This study explored the pull factors surrounding recruitment, the ways members describe precarity, and the communicative features that mark the group as a violent, cryptofascist extremist organization.
Men only:
Sernau, Scott (2019). Social Inequality in a Global Age. SAGE Publications. ISBN9781544309309. The Proud Boys, an all-male neo-fascist group [...].
Álvarez, Rebecca (2020). Vigilante Gender Violence: Social Class, the Gender Bargain, and Mob Attacks on Women Worldwide. Routledge. ISBN978-1000174137. The Proud Boys are a neo-fascist masculinist hate group.
Lowry, Rich (October 19, 2018). "The Poisonous Allure of Right-Wing Violence". National Review. Archived from the original on October 22, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2018. McInnes is open about his glorification of violence. In a speech, he described a clash with Antifa outside a talk he gave at NYU last year: 'My guys are left to fight. And here's the crucial part: We do. And we beat the crap out of them.' He related what a Proud Boy who got arrested told him afterward: 'It was really, really fun.' According to McInnes: 'Violence doesn't feel good. Justified violence feels great. And fighting solves everything.'