Society may have overestimated risk of the ‘manosphere’, UK researchers say
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/13/study-manosphere-ofcom
by winkwinknudge_nudge
Society may have overestimated risk of the ‘manosphere’, UK researchers say
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/13/study-manosphere-ofcom
by winkwinknudge_nudge
27 comments
It’s definitely a thing but I think they’re also pushing some teens over the edge into it by being so on the nose about the evils of men
Self fulfilling prophecy
They blew it up and made it bigger than it was.
It’s like feeding the troll.
Instead people should listen to why men feel this way
>The Ofcom study involved 38 men
Literally, we will never get a more detailed study than that.
>The Ofcom study involved 38 men, and more misogynistic men may have declined to take part. Some potential recruits refused to take part, considering the government-appointed regulator to be part of the “mainstream”. Perhaps the most impressionable group, boys under 16, were also not included.
The sampling here is not great… imagine trying to do a crime survey with only 38 people and without criminals.
I dislike the manosphere for my own personal reasons, however most people I see online that dislike it literally do not articulate why they hate it and just resort to calling people who watch it “incels” which actually pushes them further away and strengthens their views.
Yeah, no shit.
People can consume content and take what they value from it, and apply it to their lives, they don’t immediately become everything they consume.
Like everything else these days, it’s MASSIVELY exaggerated and overblown, especially by the media/social media to make it seem like a bigger issue than it actually is, or even if there is an issue at all.
A study of *38* people. Why the fuck is the Guardian even reporting on this?
Only 38 men involved with the study. I’m sure the usual Tate apologist freaks will extrapolate everything they need from the headline, though.
Under 16s were excluded. What is the point of this study if it excludes the societal group that is most susceptible to propaganda?
Because it’s been pushed as a narrative for a reason.
Would anybody be surprised to hear that the money behind a recent “hit” TV show that focused on the “manosphere” was supported by Israeli money.
I think one of the biggest reasons Andrew Tate has become so popular, especially among young men, is because mainstream media has completely gutted all the strong traditional male archetypes. powerful, stoic, flawed but commanding characters that young men used to look to, either consciously or subconsciously, as examples of masculine identity.
These days, that kind of male character has all but vanished. The archetypal power fantasy male figure, whether hero or villain, is now considered too problematic for the screen. But people forget, these were not endorsements. They were stories, often with built-in moral arcs and consequences.
Take Clarence Boddicker from Robocop for instance. The infamous line, Bitches leave, is a perfect example. It is raw, aggressive, and yes, absolutely a male power fantasy. He has authority, he commands attention, he is surrounded by danger, sex, violence, it is a distilled version of that narcissistic male energy. But here is the crucial point, he gets what is coming to him. The film does not glorify him, it warns us through him. It is satire. It is storytelling. It shows where that kind of ego and unchecked power leads. There is a lesson in it. But it is still allowed to portray the fantasy.
That sort of storytelling has been stripped away. We no longer get a full picture, flawed masculine characters who rise, fall, grow, or fail. Instead, we get neutered male leads, comic reliefs, or emotionless action figures who feel written by committee. Either that, or we get stoic archetypes like Keanu Reeves as John Wick, but even he is more of a symbol of grief and endurance than an aspirational male figure.
Oddly enough, actresses like Charlize Theron in Mad Max or Lena Headey in Game of Thrones have carried more classically male archetypes in recent years than most of their male co-stars.
So what happens, young men, desperate for structure, identity, and examples, end up gravitating toward someone like Andrew Tate. Because like it or not, he presents the kind of unfiltered masculine identity that used to exist in fiction. He is not apologising. He speaks with certainty. He gives young men rules, direction, a sense of worth, even if the message is deeply flawed or delivered in a toxic wrapper.
That does not mean he is the answer. But it does mean he is filling a void. You cannot remove all the male archetypes from stories, from culture, from conversations, and then act surprised when people latch onto the only one still shouting.
If society wants young men to look elsewhere, it needs to give them somewhere else to look. Bring back strong, complex, flawed male characters. Give them arcs, give them consequences, but most of all, give them presence. Boys need stories to grow from, just like everyone else. Right now, they are getting silence. Or Tate.
From what I’ve seen the ‘manosphere’ is a very vague term that includes so many groups and sub-cultures that it’s hard to say anything definitive about it.
Some of the groups are genuinely dangerous, but most of them seem to be more self destructive than harmful to others. I think these groups quite often attract men who have fallen through the cracks in society this is the only social support they’ve ever found in life.
Because of their own self-reporting?! Seems pretty flimsy. People always think they are the reasonable ones…
The manosphere is like anything, it’s exists on a spectrum.
Some of the stuff is right. Some of it is wrong.
The extremes are very wrong.
I’ll happily admit it. I’m 34 and found the manosphere stuff when I was like 22. It made me way more successful with woman and way better at having relationships. But I was smart enough to find the right stuff and know what stuff was most extremism I needed to ignore. The red pill massively improve my life.
Was it, though?
I’ve no interest in Andrew Tate or any of the other dickheads with mummy issues. But I kept getting videos pushed into my feeds all the same, because I’m a man in the demographic.
So the cabinet watched all those Adolescence episodes for nothing?
And by “society” they mean the chattering classes and the cabinet, right?
That report is from … 39 interviews. It was commissioned by a well placed right wing stooge to push a message. It’s totally unreliable
Are there any positive role models for young men, or young women these days? I’m not sure there are.
It’s the same as racism or classism if you grow up being told you’re the problem and everyone hates you you’re gonna grow up Hating everyone else and will side with anyone who tells you you’re not the problem
Of course they have. When discussing real issues that the UK is facing from a certain community has been all but banned from polite society, people look for some other boogeyman they can blame everything on.
No we have a turbo misogynist political movement in control of the USA and the UK is also seeing similar backlash with overt hatred for women’s rights and direct violent policing of feminine expression now begin seen with US style bathroom policing for women whom appear even slightly butch.
“There is no Misogyny in the Bah-UK”
This is just Ofcom showing once again they have no purpose in a decent free society as they are only outrage police designed to push easily controlled narratives.
Hm… I’m a lesbian. So I have never once attempted to date / hook up with a man. Despite this, I have been in multiple dangerous situations regarding men who can’t take no for an answer, and only view me as a potential thing to fuck. Without even trying to engage with men romantically / sexually AT ALL, I’ve been put in this position multiple times.
Lots of men harbour those manosphere views without knowing it. One of these men kept telling me how much of a ‘feminist’ he was. He was clueless of his misogyny and probably still thinks he’s a caring gentleman who loves and respects woman who definitely ‘isn’t like other guys’…. So y’know ….
The fact they are killing any women in the name of their Taint god, shows it is a legitimate concern.
It was always a moral panic to just keep shitting on men and blame them for everything
I always thought the Andrew Tate stuff was a moral panic driven by the media.
The issue isn’t the manosphere…
It is the social media algorithms injecting it into young men’s eyeballs in short form addictive content loops.
It is the media giving these extreme people a mainstream platform.
In the same vain, it is the vacuum in these platforms of decent male role models!
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