LOUIS THEROUX’S NEW documentary Inside the Manosphere has brought renewed attention to a digital ecosystem that many parents, teachers and young people already sense is there, even if they do not always have the language for it. It shows how online spaces that present themselves as advice for men and boys can also become entry points to harmful ideas about gender, power and identity.
There are spaces that push the myth that progress for women somehow comes at men’s expense. They claim to help men. And many young men and boys are looking for advice – on dating, fitness, confidence, business and success, and how to make sense of the world around them. But the content they find often hides misogyny beneath the language of self-improvement.
They are not searching for misogyny, but it is finding them anyway
It takes on average 23 to 26 minutes of video watching content for some social media platforms to recommend toxic or misogynistic content to the accounts of young men.
In Australia, this is not an abstract concern. Researchers and educators are warning that the manosphere is gaining traction in schools, shaping attitudes in classrooms and playgrounds before many adults even realise what boys are consuming online. We are already seeing the consequences, with reporting pointing to girls feeling less safe at school and female teachers facing harassment and intimidation linked to these online influences.
This is part of what makes the current landscape so concerning. Harmful content does not always arrive as hate. It can come dressed up as motivation, discipline, confidence or “truth-telling”. It can look like belonging. And through algorithms and constant circulation, it can become harder and harder to avoid.
The more this content circulates, the more it becomes part of everyday culture. These ideas and misinformation do not stay online. They shape how young men and boys see themselves, how they understand women and girls, and how they move through relationships, schools, workplaces, and their wider communities.
When masculinity is narrowed to dominance, stoicism, the pressure to always provide and the myth of the alpha, everyone loses
Boys are handed a definition of manhood that leaves little room for tenderness, uncertainty or emotional truth. They feel pressure to perform strength instead of feeling it, to stay silent when they are struggling, and to measure their worth through control, status, or power. It cuts them off from connection, from compassion and from the full range of what it means to be human.
And when misogynistic ideas become normalised, women’s worlds become smaller. Their safety, choice and voice are threatened. It chips away at women’s freedom, and at their right to move, speak and lead without fear.
That is why this moment calls for more than outrage. It calls for a shared response. Parents, educators, sporting clubs, community organisations, policymakers, media and technology platforms all have a role to play. We need to create environments where boys are supported to ask questions, build confidence, explore different ways of being strong, caring and connected, and find belonging without being pulled toward narratives rooted in blame, resentment, or control.
When we challenge the manosphere and misogyny, we are not choosing sides between women and men – we are choosing a better future for everyone.
Advancing women’s rights does not mean taking something away from men.
Equality is not a binary proposition – it’s about building a world where all of us have space to live, speak, love and lead without fear.
The answer cannot be division. It must be unity. Coming together, with clarity and compassion, to say that equality is for everyone. We’re on the same side.
Simone Clarke is the CEO of UN WOMEN AUSTRALIA
Related:
Young men don’t need moral panic, they need our time and care
Why ‘Adolescence’ is about fathers
