The Manosphere should be treated as a public health problem with regulations similar to smoking and fast food, a new report warns. Researchers say the online movement, which spreads misogynist ideas and exposes many men and boys to negative images of girls and women, is harmful to health and needs tougher regulations.
Report highlights health harms and profit motives
The authors argue the Manosphere has contributed to health harms including violence against women and girls and mental health issues, as well as "delegitimising" the idea of boys and men seeking help. They describe it as a money-making "loose collection" of online communities "united by shared beliefs about masculinity, misogyny and male victimisation".
People are making money online from causing outrage, as it is seen as "good for business", the report claimed. Online platforms and companies were profiting from young men's anger and insecurities, the authors warned. On some forums, they said women are portrayed as weak, belonging in the kitchen and only capable of motherhood.
Call for coordinated response and regulation
The authors argue tackling the Manosphere should involve a coordinated response by governments, schools, health services and community organisations. They believe we should be "harnessing the power of algorithms" to combat the Manosphere's damage and promote positive messaging instead.
Professor Sarah Hawkes, report co-author and co-founder of Global 50/50 social justice think tank, said: "The Manosphere offers boys and young men belonging, identity and an explanation for why life feels hard. Those needs are real. A response that only removes the Manosphere, without offering something credible in its place, will fail. We need to offer boys something better, not just tell them what to avoid."
Fellow co-author, Professor Kent Buse, affiliated with the Department of Global Population Health at Monash University Malaysia, argued boys and men are not the problem, but rather the business model set up to target them. He said: "This is a business model, not a fringe. Outrage and grievance are good for business, so the system rewards the most extreme content. Expect the playbook that served tobacco so well: blame the individual, and call regulation an attack on freedom. Public health has a tested toolkit for commercial harms and we should use it. Boys and men are not the problem. The problem is the conditions that leave them isolated and without a secure future, and the companies that profit from their anger and insecurity."
Context and previous findings
The report, published in The Lancet, states the Manosphere, the content creators and hosting platforms, use similar strategies as the "tobacco and ultra-processed food industries", putting the blame on the individual. It says regulation should focus on online platforms rather than users, similar to bans on tobacco advertisements directed at children, rather than criminalising smokers.
Previous research found about 63 per cent of young men are thought to watch masculinity influencers, with one in six boys aged six to 15 said to have a positive opinion of Andrew Tate. The Children's Society also warned it could "escalate into physical and sexual violence against women and girls when their views become extremely distorted".
The report concluded: "The harms to boys and men, to women and girls, and to wider society, provide a clear basis for action. Reducing these harms requires addressing the societal and economic conditions, commercial structures, and social norms that sustain the appeal of the Manosphere. This is a political, legal, economic, and social challenge demanding co-ordinated, sustained action on multiple fronts - a public health framing can unlock such an approach."
