Violence against women: What is masculinism? • FRANCE 24 English

[Music] It’s time now for our entreneur segment with Solange Muja. Solange, you’re focusing on a societal issue that touches every nation in the world, the violence against women. And you’re starting off with the increasingly disturbing ideologies that’s promoting such violence. Yeah. Before I get into sort of the mind-boggling and actually quite horrifying uh numbers in France and also worldwide uh of violence against women, I thought I would start with a positive or at least try to and that is education and the need for better a education in this regard or the need to better understand the forces at play here so that you me and everyone can spot uh such violence and thus fight against it. Uh and one of those forces that is promoting violence against women uh and men too as well. uh and and this is on a global scale because it is largely digital is masculinism. Now what is masculinism? It is a group of different movements that believe that men are the victims of a society do dominated by women. There are many different uh branches of this. But essentially their idea is that there is a crisis of masculinity and that men should no longer be the victims of feminism that men should take back their verility and strength. Masculinism promotes misogynist rhetoric and it is not the opposite of feminism where the basic idea is equality between the sexes. Masculinism is an ide ideology that tries to argue that men and women should have different roles because of their differences. Uh and it places heterosexual families as a model of that society that one that must be defended. They say it often politicizes women’s bodies as well. uh it is a binary binary sexist uh view of the world and of gender roles and it is not just fringe groups anymore. Uh we see it in politics largely among uh conservative and far-right groups. We also see it in tech online with the likes of influencers uh that have hundreds of thousands of followers and also some tech leaders as well pro promoting what they call the manosphere which is actually the umbrella term for uh online communities that promote masculinism and misogyny. Uh this is all over social media. Young men are increasingly getting sucked into it. And a French sociologist explained to France 24 how it comes down to shifting gender norms. Young men are attracted to it because they’re filled with contradictions and the paradoxes between an idea of verility which pushes them to be violent, superior and dominant and to use force and to treat others as inferiors if they aren’t strong. That versus the culture of equality. So they’re stuck with these contradictions. Some are taking a step away from that while others are leaning into it because it gives them strength and reinforces their identity. And Solange, masculineism is largely based on the idea of victimhood of men when in fact this is largely an illusion. Yeah, the numbers abound in regard to uh uh the fact that women are largely the victims of male violence. But before I get into those figures, uh uh uh it’s essential to note that uh men too are victims of these masculineist ideas as well. That it seeps in from an early age uh and can be particularly attractive to young men, for example, who are in search of themselves or in search of being liked and loved. Sexist education and stereotypes continue to exist. You’re raised with this history or this sort of contract in regard to verility. or the idea that if you step on everyone else, if you’re the perfect man that shows no emotion, then you will have everything. You’ll be rich and powerful, have lots of women, it will be marvelous. Now, the extent of such fallacies shows the extent to which education uh is essential to curb these sexist views that promote violence towards women and anyone who essentially doesn’t fit this veilless mode of masculinity. And one of the first steps uh of doing this is recognizing the degree to which gender violence and violence against women sexual violence is a real and global problem. In the UN’s uh uh sp in a UN sponsored report for 2025, it found that 25% of women or nearly one in three women are the victims of sexual violence. And this figure of some 840 million women who have been beaten, raped, sexually assaulted, harassed, it’s largely thought to be far less than the reality because of the stigmas and the fear that surround sexual violence. The UN’s report uh also shows uh where in the world sexual violence is most prevalent. Uh again uh this hits every nation uh every socioeconomic group but the report found that the Oiana and Africa uh uh regions uh have doubled the number of women who are victims of sexual violence compared to other regions uh worldwide. This is a societal and economic uh this has societal and economic costs that actually far surpass uh what it would cost to fight this. studies have proven uh that things like education, strengthening judicial systems, and creating support groups for victims, they they work. And finally, Solange, where does France stand when it comes to violence against women? Well, here too, the numbers are absolutely chilling. According to a 2025 report by France’s Observatory for Violence Against Women, it found in 2024 that 270,000 women uh uh were uh the victim of rape, attempted rape, or sexual violence. That’s one woman every two minutes in France. It also tallied at least 107 murders or femicides of women by their partners or exes and 200 attempted uh femicides. The report actually now takes into account as well uh indirect femicides or women who were pushed to suicide or attempted suicide after being harassed uh bringing that the total to 1,283 uh uh femicides or attempted femicides. Then there’s the effect on children. 94 children were left essentially orphans with more or less mom being killed and dad being sent to jail. And beyond these cases, there’s also everyday violence and a systemic presence of it. Uh the report showed that in France, one woman every 23 seconds is a victim of sexual harassment, exhibitionism or uh receiving sexual images uh online. All right, Salange, thank you very much for taking us through that very uh important uh point there on International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. That’s it for this edition of Entranu.

What exactly is masculinism? In this edition of Entre Nous we break down the term, explain how the phenomenon is preying on young men, and how being aware of the manosphere’s sexist rhetoric is a step in combatting violence against women. We also look at the number of cases of sexual violence in France and worldwide, or how one woman is killed every 10 minutes by someone close to her.   
#masculinism #femicide #manosphere

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18 comments

  4. LOL, there are still HUGE gaps in hiring, promotion, wages, wealth, retirement income, assault and MORE re: men vs women.

    We haven't even achieved parity yet, let alone tipped the scales in "favor" of women. Men still earn more, can pursue their careers uninterrupted by having children, do a fraction of the housework and childcare…make more $, retire with more, are hired more often for lucrative positions, are routinely promoted 1st, are aggressively mentored, given higher raises, more often and are rarely assaulted at work, on the street or in the home. Sexual assault at work is virtually nonexistent for men…women fend off a minefield of sexist behaviors all day….every day…from cradle to grave. Our medical care costs more. Our clothing costs more. Women's net worth drops considerably after a divorce or breakup…a man's wealth increases. Now this bullsh*t.

  5. Wikipedia says "masculinism[a] may variously refer to ideologies and socio-political movements that seek to eliminate discrimination against men,[6][7] or the promotion of masculine ideals".

    What was wrong with calling it Toxic Masculinity?

  6. let me say I will never allow a woman to define my masculinity anymore than any feminist is going to let a man define her

    What a bunch of psycho-babble and not a word of the Woke War on Men, a much noted phenom….

  12. Violance agains our sisters is violence agains us all. That said, systemic social violence agains men by our feminist system, is 100% real. I know that from experience. It is a sick system that sees men as dangerous, and is willing and to
    destroy the very women they claim to protect, in pursuit of that narrative. Men should therefore avoid women/marriage until we are all treated equally. Feminism is too dangerous for our children to engage in marriage.

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