This op-ed by Nadège Lharaig, Director at the Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe, was published in Alliance Magazine.
The manosphere has broken out of its niche corner of the internet. More political figures, tech CEOs, celebrities, podcasters, fitness icons, and lifestyle gurus are now promising young men money and manhood, while also spreading harmful ideas about women.
With two-thirds of young men drawn into this content online, philanthropy must grasp its sway over public discourse and policy, so that it can more meaningfully support progress towards gender equality that benefits everyone.
The manosphere playbook
The messages shared by manosphere figureheads are simple. They include ideas like men are the ‘natural providers’ in families, that gay men are not ‘real men,’ and that violence against women is sometimes justified.
These messages work because, as Equimundo explains, they offer three things to their primary audience. First, they give emotional validation, making boys and men feel heard. Second, they provide role models, drawing them closer to influencers and further from mainstream society. Third, they offer a sense of community and belonging to men and boys who are struggling.
Like other forms of disinformation, the manosphere gets the facts wrong but the feelings right. It is this emotional vacuum that the manosphere exploits, repackaging unmet needs into courses on wellness, dating, and getting rich.
The loneliness crisis
Take the loneliness crisis. Manosphere influencers often say it only affects men and blame it on women’s supposed unrealistic standards for dating.
What the data actually tells us is that men and women experience similar levels of loneliness. In the EU, 5 per-cent of men have felt lonely most or all the time in the past four weeks compared with 7 per-cent of women. In the US, roughly equal shares of men and women say they are often lonely.
This tells us we need to look at the bigger picture.
A Harvard study in the US found that major causes of loneliness include technology, overwork, not enough time with family, poor mental health, and living in a hyper-individualistic society. The study also found that income level, rather than gender, is associated with loneliness.
I would also add the loss of ‘third spaces’—those places outside school, work, and home where people can meet strangers, acquaintances, and friends, such as libraries, parks, or affordable cafes.
All these factors have pushed young men toward the manosphere, which offers false promises about how to move forward in life and achieve financial success. Such narratives resonate with many because old gender stereotypes still pressure men to achieve financial success – an increasingly unattainable ideal.
Towards economic alternatives
Too often, people who support gender equality respond to rising misogyny by fact-checking, condemning, or ignoring sexist claims. While the reflex to fall back on these strategies is understandable—I have done them myself—I think they are no longer sufficient. On their own, they do not address the root issue: many people feel left behind, and they are not wrong.
The question now is what can be done. First, we need to admit that men do face real challenges. The idea that a man alone should be able to pay for a house, a car, a wedding, and children has lasted for generations, but today it is even harder to achieve.
But addressing these challenges should not lead to blaming women for ‘feminising workplaces’ or treating women’s specific needs as less important. Women face their own set of economic barriers. The gender pay gap in the EU is around 12 per-cent, and migrant women or women of colour are still more likely than men to be in part-time work and in lower-paid industries.
Good solutions that advance gender equality would benefit everyone. For example, by extending paternity leave, men and non-birthing parents would have more time to bond with their kids, children’s well-being would improve, and the gender pay gap would narrow.
Men need many of the same things as women: fair wages, affordable housing, good healthcare, a safe place to live, time for family and hobbies, flexible work for parenting and caregiving, and healthy food.
Of course, none of these are quick or easy fixes. These are complex problems that require us to think about oppression and inequality more broadly.
Yet, positive alternatives are also already here. They are pushing back on harmful ideas about how to be a man, opening new avenues to a life of fulfilment and purpose for boys and young men, and not allowing the manosphere to take ownership of issues like education, love, and families.
The EMPATH project in Slovenia supported teachers in pursuing gender equality in the classroom; A.L.E.G. in Romania is engaging men in healthy relationships free from violence; the Dad Shift in the UK is promoting equal parenthood.
Getting the feelings right: Mental health and the manosphere
The good news is that the manosphere has not only failed to deliver on its promises, but it has left boys feeling worse. Young men who watch manosphere influencers are more likely to report worse mental health outcomes.
This means there is an opportunity to offer something truer and more human. For example, MÄN in Sweden helps boys and men feel heard by running a support chat where they can anonymously share their questions and concerns about bodies, sexuality, gender identity, violence, and relationships.
Experts, policy-makers, and philanthropy should focus more on supporting and uplifting positive role models. The Global Fund for Children’s #BoysBeyondBias campaign worked with boys to create positive stories about their roles in their communities. These stories show that, with the right support, boys can be powerful agents of change.
This narrative is much more appealing than the manosphere’s ‘women vs men’ mindset and the individualistic culture that keeps people from working together for the common good.
Homophobia harms all men and boys
Another opportunity to defuse the influence of the manosphere is to confront how homophobia harms men and boys. Traditional norms of masculinity tell them that they should be strong, aggressive, unemotional, risk-taking, heterosexual, and homophobic. This, in turn, makes it more difficult for them to be healthier, happier, and more respectful partners.
If men and boys are still afraid of being seen as gay, our work is far from finished.
For this reason, the Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe proudly supports organisations like ShoutOut and MozaiQ that promote LGBTQI+ inclusion and work to end discrimination, including by portraying the community positively through storytelling and empowering more people to become allies.
But men are not a homogeneous group. Supporting organisations that work with trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people is just as relevant. Still, it remains among the most underfunded work in Europe, despite its positive returns for democracy.
A call to philanthropy
After a tumultuous year of strongman bullying, my call to philanthropy is to fund a future free from harmful gender stereotypes, where everyone can show vulnerability and empathy, and can give and receive love within their families and communities.
At the Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe, we have started deepening our own understanding of how to support efforts fostering healthy masculinities. This work is early stages, and we invite those interested to join us.
What is increasingly clear is that philanthropy can and should super-charge a wide and powerful range of efforts to engage men and boys. Because when we welcome them into conversations about equality, opportunity, safety, care, and community, we build more equal and more democratic societies.