Once relegated to the darkest corners of the internet, the manosphere – a network of online communities centred around masculinity, relationships and gender politics – has gone mainstream in recent years.
The topic has gained renewed attention following Inside the Manosphere, a recent Netflix documentary by Louis Theroux exploring the rise of controversial online influencers and their impact on young men.
The rise of content targeted at young men and promoting extreme ideas around gender now has real-world consequences that stretch far beyond its online origins – shaping attitudes, relationships, and increasingly, the experiences of women and girls. As the manosphere seeps further into the day-to-day lives of young people, it’s not just men who are being affected.
To better understand the rise of the manosphere and its real-world impact, The Women’s Journal spoke to experts across academia, research, activism and psychotherapy. Their insights reveal not only what is driving this online movement, but how it is affecting both men and women in increasingly complex ways.
One organisation working directly with young people is Everyone’s Invited, a charity dedicated to exposing and eradicating rape culture. The organisation’s communications manager, Sophie Lennox, outlined how the manosphere is increasingly becoming a women’s issue.
“We are witnessing an increase in conversation about men and boys’ wellbeing,” she said. “It is really important that this issue is spotlighted. At the same time, at Everyone’s Invited, we encourage nuance within this conversation. Acknowledging that both men and women are affected by gender inequality is essential. We must acknowledge the lived experiences of both girls and boys.”
She went on to describe a particularly disturbing incident which exposes the extent to which young women and girls can be hurt by the manosphere.
“Four years ago, when we began delivering our education programme, we started to notice a shift. The language used in classrooms became more violent, and the gender divide felt increasingly stark.
“In response, our Head of Education developed an online misogyny session to better understand what young people were being exposed to online. Over time, this has become our most in-demand talk.
“One session in particular stands out. We were teaching boys in one room and girls in another. In the boys’ session, there was laughter after a student made a comment along the lines of, ‘if my sister was raped, I’d laugh in her face.’
“In contrast, in the girls’ session, students were sitting together, holding hands, and sharing their experiences of sexual harassment. The contrast was striking and underscored the normalisation and trivialisation of harmful attitudes, alongside the very real impact these behaviours are having on girls.
“Through both our education programme and our survivor safe space, we see how these online ideologies translate into offline harm. Girls frequently share experiences of harassment, coercion, and assault that are minimised or dismissed, reinforcing a rape culture where harmful behaviour is not taken seriously.”
What Does the Manosphere Mean?
The manosphere refers to a network of online communities, influencers and content focused on masculinity, relationships and gender roles – often promoting controversial or extreme views on women, feminism and society. While the term is widely used today, its meaning can vary depending on the context and communities involved.
While the first use of the term ‘Manosphere’ is unknown, the word is thought to have come from early 2000s blog culture, as a play on the word ‘blogosphere’.
Pornography marketer Ian Ironwood is believed to have popularised the word in his book The Manosphere: A New Hope For Masculinity, a collection of various blogs and forums about men, male issues, and masculine interests.
Mark Brooks OBE, Policy & Communications Director at the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys, suggested his own definition of the manosphere and what it means in 2026.
“The manosphere is online content that peddles extreme masculinity, misogyny, and anti-feminist ideologies,” he said. “It does not encompass all male online content, much of which is positive, practical and entertaining. The manosphere content is constantly evolving and becoming more extreme to maintain attention.
“However, it is important to be clear that this content is only attractive to some young men and not all. More and more see it, but many do not take it seriously. Recent research has shown that young men view Lewis Hamilton three times as favourably as Andrew Tate, for example.”
Will Adolphy, a psychotherapist specialising in healthy masculinity, mental health and online harm, explained how the manosphere builds on long-standing ideologies.
“It’s also important to recognise that the manosphere is not a clearly defined space,” he said. “The term is often used loosely to describe a wide range of overlapping ideologies and content. It has increasingly merged into the mainstream and is often used interchangeably with misogyny, but it goes beyond that.
“It can include male supremacy, grievance-based narratives, anti-feminism, anti ‘wokeness’, conspiracy thinking, distrust of institutions, body image pressures and more.”
Taken together, these definitions highlight how the manosphere is not a single movement but a broad and evolving online ecosystem. Its influence lies in how easily its ideas can spread – often blending into mainstream content around self-improvement, fitness, and success, making it harder for young audiences to distinguish between positive messaging and more harmful ideologies.
Where Did the Manosphere Come From?
The origins of the manosphere can be traced back to earlier conversations around masculinity, gender roles and men’s rights. While the term itself is relatively recent, many of the ideas associated with the manosphere have existed for decades – evolving alongside cultural and social shifts.
The men’s liberation movement of the 1970s and 80s, which was initially critical of the more limiting nature of traditional gender roles for men, eventually saw some activists begin to frame women and the rise of feminism as the source of men’s struggles.
In this way, the manosphere can be understood as a modern extension of these ideas – repackaged and amplified for the digital age.
“The term itself is relatively new, first appearing in the early 2010s,” Will Adolphy told us. “But many of the ideas and subcultures within it are not. Communities such as pick-up artists have existed for decades, and broader ideas around rigid masculinity, gender roles and male grievance long predate the internet.
“What has changed is the scale, speed and accessibility. In the wake of movements like #MeToo, some of these ideas were repackaged into more mainstream narratives around male grievance and identity, reaching far wider audiences.
“Since then, the content has both intensified and integrated into everyday online spaces. It now sits alongside fitness, self improvement, dating advice and wealth creation, making it far more accessible and harder to clearly define or separate from the mainstream.”
This shift highlights how the manosphere has moved from niche online forums into mainstream digital culture, where its ideas can spread rapidly through algorithms and social media platforms.
Key Communities in the Manosphere
The manosphere is not a single, unified movement but a collection of online communities with overlapping ideologies. These groups often focus on masculinity, dating, power dynamics and perceived inequalities, but can vary widely in tone and extremity.
Some of the most prominent communities within the manosphere include men’s rights activists, incels, and Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW).
Men’s rights activism often focuses on issues such as homelessness, suicide rates among men, and child custody. However, some strands of the movement are also seen as a backlash to feminism, promoting male supremacy and framing gender equality as a threat, while perpetuating harmful myths around women falsely accusing men of sexual assault.
Another significant and increasingly discussed community within the manosphere are incels – short for involuntary celibates. As the name suggests, incels are men who see themselves as unable to attract women, something they may interpret as an injustice.
In some cases, these beliefs can develop into extreme misogyny. The movement has been linked to acts of violence, including the 2014 Isla Vista killings, where Elliot Rodger – who identified with incel communities online – murdered six people and injured fourteen others near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara before fatally shooting himself.
Rodger had uploaded a YouTube video shortly before the attack titled ‘Elliot Rodger’s Retribution’, outlining his motives. He also circulated a written manifesto describing his frustration, his views on women, and his plans for what he described as ‘retribution’.
Another well-known group within the manosphere is Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), a movement centred around male separatism. MGTOW ideology promotes the rejection of relationships with women, including dating, marriage and family life, often framing society as being unfairly shaped by feminism.
Women are not permitted to join the movement, which positions itself as a space for men who wish to disengage from what they describe as a ‘gynocentric’ society.
Across these communities, common themes include misinformation, rigid gender roles and entitlement-based narratives around relationships. These ideas do not exist in isolation – they intersect with wider societal issues and, in some cases, contribute to real-world harm.
This is reflected in broader data, including the UK’s 2024 Violence Against Women and Girls National Policing Statement, which reported a 37% increase in recorded VAWG-related crimes between 2018/19 and 2022/23.
Manosphere Influencers
As well as these communities, certain individuals have become famous – and rich – for peddling manosphere content to millions online. Alongside these groups, manosphere influencers have played a major role in bringing these ideas into the mainstream, reaching vast audiences through viral social media content, podcasts and paid platforms. Often framed as self-improvement, this content frequently blends advice on success and masculinity with more controversial views on relationships, gender roles and power.
Will Adolphy emphasised how this content can affect young men and boys in different ways. “What is clear right now is that we’re dealing with mass exposure to harmful content, particularly misogyny and grievance-based narratives,” he said. “But exposure is not the same as radicalisation. Some boys may follow an influencer, try on some of the language, repeat a few ideas, and move on.
“Others can become more psychologically attached, where the content begins to shape their identity and regulate how they feel about themselves and the world. And in some cases, that can escalate into more harmful behaviours, including violence.”
One of the most prominent figures associated with the manosphere is Andrew Tate, who has become emblematic of the movement’s reach and controversy.
Tate, currently under investigation after Hertfordshire Police recently re-opened a rape case against him, rose rapidly to global prominence through social media. He was the third most Googled person in 2023, gaining attention for content that promotes rigid gender roles, alongside business and financial advice marketed through his paid platform, Hustler’s University.
That same year, Tate, his brother Tristan, and two women were charged with rape, human trafficking, and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women.
A number of influencers have since followed a similar model, including British creator Hamza Ahmed, who promotes self-improvement content while attributing the perceived struggles of men in the West to feminism.
There’s also Myron Gaines, a podcaster who shares advice on women, fitness and finance, while also promoting harmful rhetoric about women.
What Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere Gets Right – and What It Misses
The growing visibility of manosphere influencers has also been explored in Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere, which examines how these figures attract and influence young audiences.
Dr Sophie King-Hill, Associate Professor in the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham, said the documentary succeeds in exposing the scale and nature of the issue.
“Theroux’s documentary highlights the growing visibility of misogynistic influencers, highlights the exploitative and entrepreneurial intention behind their content and shows how young men can be drawn in by the promise of certainty, success and belonging.”
However, she noted that the documentary does not fully capture the complexity behind why young men are drawn to these spaces.
“It misses key nuances that matter deeply,” she said. “It gives limited attention to why boys are turning to these spaces and the cultural shifts, identity pressures and lack of guidance that leave them vulnerable. It also understates the wider harm, not only to women and girls, but also to boys whose anxieties, confusion and sense of marginalisation are being actively exploited.”
Theroux interviewed several manosphere influencers in the documentary, many of whom present aspirational lifestyles built around wealth, status and control.
Dr Sophie King-Hill added that this approach risks amplifying the very messages it seeks to interrogate.
“At times the tone risks being overly accommodating, inadvertently amplifying the influencers’ reach without fully challenging the misogynistic ideologies underpinning their messages. A more robust exploration of the broader context of online gender hostility and of the many boys who resist these narratives, would have offered a more balanced and actionable perspective.
“It also omits that many young men and boys do not align with these type of influencers and does not provide insight as to what can prevent them going down this route.”
How the Manosphere Is Influencing Young Men Online
The influence of the manosphere on young men is increasingly shaped by social media, where algorithms can amplify and promote content – often without users actively seeking it out. As a result, manosphere influencers and communities are reaching boys and young men at scale, shaping how they view masculinity, success and relationships.
These manosphere influencers and communities prey upon young men and boys who may not even have sought out the content, often stumbling across it when their social media algorithms push it to the top of their feeds.
Mark Brooks explained why this content resonates with some young men, particularly those experiencing isolation or uncertainty.
“It is resonating with some young men but far from all,” he said. “For those that it does, it tends to be because of a combination of feeling isolated, lonely, lacking confidence, being bullied, not doing so well at school, thinking they won’t get on in life and also having real-life problems that are not being fixed.
“Many also may not have a positive male role model in their lives so look online for that guidance they are not getting.”
He continued, outlining how engagement with manosphere content can affect young men emotionally and psychologically.
“The research shows that young men who engage in the manosphere tend to at one moment be very optimistic when they hear of the next quick fix or ‘hack’, as it is known and feel down and anxious when they cannot achieve it.
“The most worrying trends are how the manosphere evolves into new areas with a real and growing concerns in particular around gambling, body image and crypto currencies.”
Will Adolphy emphasised that it is “not something to solely condemn, but something to understand,”” adding that “the more we respond with fear, judgement or condemnation, the more we risk pushing boys further into the very spaces we’re concerned about.”
“The solution is connection,” he said. “Boys and men need non-judgemental spaces where they can express what they think and feel. Rigid world-views fester in isolation. When there is space for reflection, curiosity and challenge, those views can soften and expand.
“If we want to reduce the influence of these ideas, we have to offer something more compelling in their place. That means guidance, belonging and a broader, more human understanding of what it means to be a man.”
Taken together, these insights highlight how the manosphere’s influence is not uniform, but can have significant effects on identity, behaviour and wellbeing – particularly for young men navigating uncertainty, isolation and social pressure in the digital age.
Why the Manosphere Is Becoming a Women’s Issue
While the manosphere is often framed as a space focused on men, its impact extends far beyond male audiences. Experts warn that these online narratives are increasingly shaping how young men view women, relationships and power – with real-world consequences for women and girls.
Women and girls frequently end up being the most vulnerable victims of a worldview that promotes their submission and advocates for mistreating or even hurting them.
Dr Sophie King-Hill further explained how both women and men are affected by these ideas.
“Manosphere narratives can distort the way many boys and young men understand relationships, women and their own identities,” she said. “These spaces portray misogyny as mentorship, wrapping harmful gender messages in humour and the language of self-improvement and fake motivational guidance, framed around making money as success.
“This creates a shift in many cases from harmless advice into rigid, polarised world views that depict women as untrustworthy, immoral or inherently oppositional. They can normalise resentment and entitlement, shaping attitudes that devalue women and reduce relationships to hierarchy and control rather than reciprocity.
“Crucially, and something that is often missed, is that these narratives also harm boys themselves as they exploit vulnerability, feed grievance and reinforce the idea that masculinity must be performed through dominance and emotional detachment, making healthy relationships with anyone, including themselves, far more difficult.”
Sophie Lennox also highlighted the emotional impact these narratives are having on young women and girls.
“From the young people we work with, the dominant feelings are a mix of fear, frustration, and, at times, resignation,” she said. “Through Everyone’s Invited’s education programme, we regularly hear that girls feel less confident challenging harmful comments and are more aware of being judged or objectified.
“In many of the classrooms we enter, there is a disenfranchised feeling about feminism, highlighting the impact of girls’ algorithms too.”
Together, these experiences underline how the manosphere is not just an online subculture, but a growing social issue – one that is shaping behaviours, expectations and safety in the real world, particularly for women and girls.
