A new villain\/victim narrative has risen: In an age where women are constantly under threat from the harmful and violent acts of men; where women’s lives are being taken at the hands of men who were supposed to love them, or at the hands of men whose occupation it is to protect them; or as women face silent challenges between them and their male counterparts, inherent in the ritual of womanhood- the real victims are men.<\/p>\n
And this is true, men are<\/em> victims in this battle of gender and oppression, they are the victims of insecurity. Insecurity that has been benefited not only by online personalities such as Andrew Tate but also by an entity much bigger. Social media.The massively interconnected nature of social media leads to the diffusion of the \u2018manosphere\u2019 (Haslop et al 2024, p2) to more accessible and impressionable groups (young men), influencing the growth of a sinister subculture, the incels (involuntarily celibate), who have arguably been deemed the most dangerous or violent group to stem from the manosphere (Han and Yin 2022, p1933).<\/p>\n My manifesto is calling attention to the use of internet platforms as places in which misogynistic and hateful beliefs surrounding women fester and grow to points at which they, in the most extreme of examples, result in violent acts being committed against women in society. I aim to show how it is these popular media sites that are enabling this gender based violence with the subpar monitoring, regulating and restricting of their platforms (Solea and Sugiura 2023).<\/p>\n Broadly, the manosphere is a community of men who use digital spaces to circulate their misogynistic beliefs surrounding the oppression of men at the hands of women and feminist movements. It can be seen as a modern manifestation of the Men’s Liberation Movement, albeit with largely traditional and conservative agendas (Trott 2020, p1422 ). An important concept for understanding the manosphere is \u2018hegemonic masculinity\u2019(Connell and Messerschmidt 2005, p829), which can be understood as the social practices used to make the patriarchy appear justified and maintain \u2018the dominant position of men and the subordination of women\u2019 (Connell 1995, cited in Trott 2020, p1419 ). Here we can see how hegemonic masculinity centres on power as a position <\/em>rather than an action; however, the manosphere\u2019s relationship with digital technology has expanded this hegemony, transforming it into active expressions of power over women. This we can now observe in the kinds of solutions these men put forward for their own liberation.<\/p>\n Diving deeper into the manosphere we are met with numerous subcultures of male beliefs such as: Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), Pick up artists (PUA) and Incels, all of which demonstrate hegemonic masculine behaviours but with vastly different approaches to men’s liberation and ways to deliver their message; MGTOW wish not to be seen as a movement and so do not wish to spread their views on a large scale, instead viewing the exclusion from society all together as the best method of releasing themselves from female exploitation (Han and Yin 2022, p1931). However, PUA\u2019s are concerned with methods of seduction through aggressive approaches and hypermasculine characteristics with PUA guru\u2019s educating the community through books, courses and coaching sessions (Han and Yin 2022, pp 1932-1933).Critically, these beliefs take away a woman’s autonomy and individuality, reducing us to simple creatures seemingly with a biological code attracting us to these methods of seduction, completely ignoring our own preferences, \u2018types\u2019, and attractions.<\/p>\n Where I want to draw the most attention is to the last subculture, the incels. These men suffer with the frustration of being unable to find a romantic partner, coining their name through being involuntarily celibate. In comparison to the previous groups mentioned, these men are found to use media spaces, such as TikTok and Youtube, as support groups to elevate and grow their community. This is also known as an \u2018echo chamber\u2019 (Han and Yin 2022, p1933), as the large- scale platforms surround these men with those also suffering the same frustrations, inviting them in, validating their feelings, and motivating them to influence others. The threat posed by this subculture grows significantly on platforms like TikTok, where the vast majority of incels now congregate. Although the app has some level of moderation, allowing users to report harmful accounts, it still hosts high-volumes of content posted and shared by this community (Solea and Sugiura 2023, p312). Given the incredible power TikTok holds in its number of users, particularly with young, impressionable boys, it is critical that the platform does a more efficient job of eradicating this harmful community and banning its elicited behaviour.<\/p>\n I feel it’s important to exemplify the danger in giving these manosphere members a platform, particularly the incels.The incel community is united in its loneliness and deep rooted hatred for women they deem at fault for their own misfortune and wish to \u2018<\/em>take revenge\u2019 upon (Han and Yin 2022, p1933). In extreme cases, and in the case of Elliot Rodger, this is sometimes exactly what happens. At 22 years old, Rodger became aggressively frustrated with being a virgin, a feeling that resonates with the incel community (BBC 2018, para 7). This encouragement from those like-minded led to his planned attack on a sorority house where his female targets were those he was most attracted to but would never be able to attain. <\/em>Where my issue is rooted, if that was not enough, is in what follows his crimes and subsequent death. Elliot Rodgers, an incel and chauvinistic killer goes on to accumulate a mass following of fans and praise. Years following his death, fan videos continued to circulate on Youtube. In response to this, the team at Youtube issued a statement asking for anyone coming across these videos idolising Rodgers to flag them to the site (BBC 2018, para 18). The fundamental issue lies here in placing responsibility into the public’s hands instead of enforcing more robust protection and moderation themselves to prevent the public from seeing this content in the first place. Not everyone who encounters this content is going to report it; in fact, some will actively search for it and risk becoming influenced.<\/p>\n What I hope this manifesto highlights is the importance of restriction and moderation. The sad truth is that the case of Elliot Rodgers is just one of many examples I could have drawn upon and this will only be exacerbated if large platforms continue being passive in their protection. I am not naive to the size and reach of the manosphere and so solutions for full eradication could never be comprehensive enough. But I can<\/em> stress that the platforms where we are seeing large amounts of dangerous, hegemonic masculine behaviour take place are not doing enough to protect the safety of us women. How many more women have to lose their lives for social media platforms to take responsibility for the violent, misogynistic behaviour festering on their sites ?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n References <\/u><\/p>\n BBC. 2018. Elliot Rodger: How misogynist killer became \u201cincel hero.\u201d BBC News. 25 April. Available at: https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-43892189#<\/a> [Accessed: 3rd November 2025]<\/p>\n Connell, R.W. and Messerschmidt, J.W. 2005. Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept. Gender and Society<\/em> 19(6), pp. 829\u2013859.<\/p>\n Han, X. and Yin, C. 2022. Mapping the manosphere. Categorization of reactionary masculinity discourses in the digital environment. Feminist Media Studies<\/em> 23(5), pp. 1\u201318. doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/14680777.2021.1998185<\/a><\/p>\n Haslop, C., Ringrose, J., Cambazoglu, I. and Milne, B. 2024. Mainstreaming the Manosphere\u2019s Misogyny Through Affective Homosocial Currencies: Exploring How Teen Boys Navigate the Andrew Tate Effect. Social Media + Society<\/em> 10(1), pp. 1\u201311.<\/p>\n Solea, A.I. and Sugiura, L. 2023. Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research<\/em> 29(3), pp. 311\u2013336. doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10610-023-09559-5<\/a><\/p>\n