“The Manosphere”: a collection of websites, social media accounts and forums dedicated to men’s issues, from health and fitness to dating and men’s rights. (Source: The Conversation)
The highly acclaimed four-episode fictional Netflix series Adolescence features concerns about young boys’ exposure, particularly online and in private, to “the manosphere,” where much of what is conveyed to its audience is misinformation and misogyny.
As The Conversation‘s review headline indicates, “Adolescence is a technical masterpiece that exposes the darkest corners of incel culture and male rage.” (Incel: involuntary celibate.) “He [Jamie, the 13-year-old boy accused of murder] subscribes to the ‘red pills’ of incel culture, so-called truth groups and the 80/20 rule (the theory that 80% of women are attracted to 20% of men, and that women only seek out men who are physically and socially desirable).”
Andrew Tate, a real figure and “self-proclaimed misogynist with millions of social media followers,” is named as a possible influence on Jamie. “Tate is among the most high-profile personalities in the ‘manosphere,’ thanks in part to the criminal allegations he and his brother” were facing in Romania for rape and human trafficking (NBC).
Currently they have evaded the charges after high-ranking members of the Trump administration apparently pushed for them to be released from Romania and brought back to the United States.
“There are so many allegations of sexual abuse and violence by the misogynist mega-influencer Andrew Tate that it can be difficult to keep track of them all,” reports Moira Donegan, The Guardian. Yet he’s now a free man in our country.
Is it any surprise that Andrew Tate is a supporter of Donald Trump? Is it any surprise that so many in Donald Trump’s administration are supporters of Andrew Tate? In some ways, Tate is the ultimate Maga man. Like Trump, he seems to have pushed American men dramatically to the right, especially on questions of gender equality. And like Trump, Tate appears to have inspired much more abuse than he has personally committed…
The Trump regime is now stuffed with alleged rapists and sexual abusers. Besides Trump himself, there is his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; and health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr; Trump’s first pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, was accused in a House ethics report of “regularly” paying for sex, including with minors. These are not deficits or embarrassments in Trump world; they are assets. Sexual violence may have been the first form of authoritarianism: for the Trump regime, it also seems to be the paradigmatic one.
Tamara Sobel, JD, CSE, Psychology Today, asserts that in the manosphere feminism is blamed for males’ inability to have female partners. “In ‘allowing’ women sexual autonomy and economic power, the ideology claims, men are not getting ‘what they’re entitled to’ and have become the victims in society.”
Developing girls are also affected by the manosphere’s misguided info. “After all,” states psychologist Yalda T. Uhls, PhD (Psychology Today), “gender stereotypes have serious implications for both men’s and women’s self-concepts, especially during the formative years of adolescence. In a survey of more than 1,000 boys 10 to 19 years old, 44 percent said they believe society expects them to be aggressive or violent when they get angry, and only 2 percent said society values honesty and morality in boys. Undoubtedly, we’re seeing the consequences of this deeply troubling finding playing out in real time.”
