Written by Sol Zeev-Ben-Mordehai
In the digital age, trends spread like wildfire; once-hidden corners of the internet now shine brightly in the spotlight. 15-second videos targeting boys and young men on how feminism has robbed them of success are widely seen on TikTok and Instagram. While there were always ideological differences between men and women, previous generations have tended to move as one unit in their political ideology. Their shared living experiences meant that they formed similar general ideologies. However, Gen Z (born in mid-to-late 1990s to the early 2010s) have strayed from this trend. For instance, in Germany, there is a 30-point gap between conservative young men and their progressive female counterparts. Similarly, in 2023 almost half of Polish men aged 18-21 backed the ultra-right Konfederacja party while only one-sixth of Polish women the same age did the same.
More generally, a recent survey by the King’s College London’s Policy Institute and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership found that in the United Kingdom boys and men from Gen Z are more likely to think negatively of the feminist movement than male Baby Boomers (1946-1964). This may seem surprising, are the older generations not meant to be more conservative than us?
We should remember that political and ideological change does not happen in a vacuum. While the women’s feminist movements were gaining traction and evolving to accommodate new voices and perspectives, simultaneously, the men’s movement rose to prominence in the 1970s. This movement was driven by concerns such as increased participation of women in the labour market, shifting gender roles, and the impact of feminism on traditional family structures. Some men perceived this development as a direct threat to their job security and the favoured traditional gendered roles within the household. Thus, while the men’s movement may have originated in a genuine need to redefine masculinity in a changing societal landscape, one recent somewhat unwelcome outcome of the movement was the genesis of the Manosphere.
The Manosphere is a collection of online men’s support groups. While the severity of views in it differ, there is a general consensus that women and feminism are to blame for the current faults within society. A common motif within the Manosphere is male victimhood, with the idea that not only is feminism detrimental to society but the ideology is directly hurting men. Although the anger towards feminism may be misdirected, the Manosphere does shed light on real problems facing men today. Worrying statistics show that male educational and economic achievements have been decreasing along with an alarming rise in suicide rates among men. It is, thus, not strange that men are seeking solidarity to help deal with these realities.
The existence of this community is not inherently bad, conversely, there needs to be channels in which people can sympathise with others. Men’s experiences in the Manosphere rarely start with deep-rooted misogyny. Often, they begin with a search for self-improvement. Unfortunately, the Manosphere is also filled with predatory influencers who prey on the anxieties of men for their own fame and success. They dilute the complex dynamics resulting in these aforementioned issues to a zero-sum claim: either women succeed or men succeed. This is the biggest misconception as a singular phenomenon, such as feminism, can never feasibly be the sole cause of all these issues.
Holding misogynistic or anti-feminist sentiments is not a new phenomenon, however, due to the rise of social media there is a new ease in spreading these types of opinions. This type of negativity thrives online due to social media’s algorithmic structure along with users’ ability to stay anonymous. The Manosphere used to be obscure and niche, however, influencers and the popularity of short-form videography on platforms like TikTok and Instagram have moved its ideas to the mainstream. Andrew Tate, a textbook example of these influencers, is a self-proclaimed misogynist. Known for his controversial views on women and masculinity, Tate has amassed a cult-like following among young men. He boasts over 9 million followers on X and was the third most googled individual in 2023. The bearded, bald man is often filmed with expensive cars smoking a cigar while advising men on how to deal with the ‘modern’ woman. Advice ranges from encouraging hitting and choking women to trashing their belongings and stopping them from going out. This portrayal of the alpha male archetype perpetuates a dangerous narrative of masculinity. It normalises domestic violence against women as merely forms of ‘disciplinary’ action and show of power.
The Andrew Tate craze is not a new one and will not be the last one. Tate is just one example of the successes that internet personalities can achieve using faux self-help marketing branded with toxic masculinity. The term might be overused in popular culture but at its core it refers to the harmful behaviours and attitudes traditionally associated with masculinity. These personalities paint themselves as the messiah to all the lost men, alleviating men from the fears of economic stability and losing the current hegemonic patriarchy in which they profit. Examples are endless; from scientific arguments from Jordan Peterson to “pickup artists” like Daryush “Roosh” Valizadeh. The danger of these forerunners of the “Intellectual Dark Web” is that they have real power to influence the impressionable minds of boys and vulnerable young men.
The prevalence of a more explicit misogyny online has not gone unnoticed. As illustrated in the introduction, we see measurable differences in the political preferences between men and women. The current president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, managed to utilise the political shift of young men for political gain. The previous government of Moon Jae-In implemented more feminist policies which resulted in severe social backlash from young men. Yoon saw this and tailored his campaign to target this anger. He pushed an anti-feminist agenda, focussing on the sentiment that gender equality policies give preferential favour to women. In 2021, South Korea ranked 102 out of 149 in the World Economic Forum’s report on the global gender gap, despite having one of the highest tertiary education rates for women aged 25 to 34. So, it is difficult to say that South Korean women have preferential treatment… So why was Yoon Suk Yeol still so successful? The 2022 campaign appealed to “idaenam”, recently used to mean men who have negative ideas of feminism, focussing on the unfairness of the mandatory 18-month military service, alarmingly low fertility rates, and the uselessness of the Ministry of Gender Equality, and Family. Online platforms were used to exacerbate the anger and frustration, acting like an echo chamber in which members radicalise each other. It is also worth noting that such anti-feminism backlash is often used as a gateway drug to “harder views on issues from immigration to social justice”. Consequently, it is dangerous to overlook such trends. Politicians frequently try to exploit the backlash against women’s empowerment to propel their political career.
In sum, the chasm between young men and women continues to grow owing in part to the role of these predatory influencers. They bring the toxic peripherals of the internet into the mainstream bubble, influencing the priorities of their often young audience. Politicians subsequently see the anger and hate online as opportunities to gain voters in upcoming elections. The solution to this growing divide is not de-platforming these social media influencers, that would play into the hands of figures like Andrew Tate who would paint themselves as martyrs. Instead, we should work on building up critical digital literacy education so that people don’t fall into the traps that these influencers are laying while solving the fears and anxieties that make these dangerous figures so appealing.
Edited by Age Steenbreker, Illustrated by Lavinia Autischer