A growing network of online communities known collectively as the “manosphere” is emerging as a serious threat to gender equality, as toxic digital spaces increasingly influence real-world attitudes, behaviours, and policies, the UN agency dedicated to ending gender discrimination has warned.

  • Snowclone@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 days ago

    I haven’t heard men say shit this stupid my whole life. This isn’t ‘tradition’ it’s a growing hate movement.

  • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    7 days ago

    To paraphrase Jon Lovett, they have “back of the classroom energy” while the left has “front of the classroom energy”.

    “Teacher teacher, he said something some people might find offensive! Send him to the principal’s office”

    “Thanks for narcing me out, r****d”

    “Teacher teacher, he just said the r-word!”

    The left just isn’t equipped to deal with the manosphere. Everything the left does just makes the manosphere seem even more cool to the kids.

    “The UN is worried about these guys, they must be really badass!”

    • Malek061@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      7 days ago

      Wat?

      The manosphere is literally a bunch of losers that can’t get laid and are making excuses for it.

      Work out. Have a career. Don’t be a asshole. Do that and you can get laid but that’s too hard for some folks.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        7 days ago

        They’re groomed from a young age by the manosphere to be losers that can’t get laid, so they’ll continuously buy self-help books from the manosphere.

        They still vote though. And this all happens because to a teenager, the manosphere are the cool guys making fun of the whiny nerds.

              • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                5 days ago

                Obviously… but kids aren’t going to stop watching because of some tut tuts and wags of the finger. That just makes them like it more.

          • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 days ago

            Kids in my daughters class did a project about ‘an issue that is important to you’. They could pick anything.

            Most of the kids talked about interesting and positive fields like environmental protection/space exploitation or some sport they love to participate in. Three of the boys chose to talk about ‘men’s rights’, and according to the teacher who I spoke to about it afterwards they were echoing Andrew Tate shit.

            They were 10 years old at the time.

            None of their parents are divorced either, so theres no ‘woe story’ from dad in the background to put any framing around this.

            However, their parents are all conservative and all let their kids access Youtube with no oversight. So social media and lax/indifferent parenting are very much grooming the next generation into hateful misogynists like Tate.

      • Snowclone@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        6 days ago

        Yes. Correct. But talk to a boy in Jr. High. They aren’t as smart about this as you might hope.

  • burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    7 days ago

    the manosphere continuing to build power is all from capitalism, which has removed upward growth and community spaces for young white men. I say white because men from minority groups already have those problems but they don’t have the inherent privileges that allow angry white men to make their problems into everyone’s problems. also parents and schools dont have any resources to deal with children who are already sucked into the manosphere, short of cutting off access to the Internet

    • gcheliotis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      7 days ago

      FYI, the manosphere is replete with non-white males, and that is not even including the inherent male chauvinism in other cultures. I’m sorry but the critique on whiteness is a little lazy intellectually.

    • rabber@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      7 days ago

      Are you saying non white people don’t know how to use the internet, I’m confused

  • catty@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    7 days ago

    Why aren’t people asking why are there so many television series where male characters are written as idiotic fops (like really low level 2yo stupidity) who, in every episode, need a woman to come along and save the day,year,universe? Or perhaps where a woman helps convert a male character to what they want the man to be?

    It’s all just selling to the idea of feminism and those idiots lap it up whilst men have to keep quiet about their lampooning. And now, these women are Pikachu face over a small backlash against it all?

    • Lady Butterfly she/her@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 days ago

      Men are often failed, that’s totally true. They’re also harmed by patriarchy eg being told to “man up” leading to them not seeing a doctor, work on themselves etc.

      Ive read up on this and I’m a DA outreach worker so I have experience. A common theme with the Manosphere is blame shifting, and refusing to take action on their issues. Their mindset is wrong, and they don’t help themselves.

      • catty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        7 days ago

        leading to them not seeing a doctor,

        Interesting you should mention this because other than more suicides, this is the #1 reason why the average lifespan of men is less - procrastination of serious symptoms which are initial warning signs that become fatal illnesses.

      • starelfsc2@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        6 days ago

        Not false at all but a big part imo is also learned, it’s like if I have 10 problems, 5 of which are totally my fault, and the only one talking about the other 5 says “ALL your problems are not your fault.”

        It’s like one person actually fully reflected their experiences back to them, but then peddled a ton of lies along with it.

    • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      7 days ago

      Problems is also that you can’t help people that don’t want to be helped. Since accepting help means for these young men that they have to accept that they themselves are partially to blame for their situation. Yes society has failed them but they have failed themselves as well. They have to own up to their own failures and not just put all the blame on the rest of the world.

      I know some young men that haven’t gone full mgtow manosphere yet. And even at that point it’s hard to help them. When you reach out they basically reject it. You can basically see in their eyes that they rather want to stay in the bubble and gaslight themselves than to accept the truth and get help. It’s much easier to blame everyone else than to take responsibility.

    • TORFdot0@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      7 days ago

      I can see that parents failed young men and the education system failed young men. But these men aren’t entitled to a woman or a high paying job. And quite frankly they probably aren’t capable of those things or they would be solving their own problems instead of blaming women for them

    • blarghly@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      6 days ago

      You are making an excellent point right up until your last paragraph. What 15 year old boy wants to be Mr Fucking Rogers? Sure, maybe they want to be him in like 40 years (but only the version of him who was secretly a marine sniper covered in tattoos everywhere his sweaters hid). What does a 15 year old boy who is vulnerable to the manosphere want? He wants to get paid and get laid.

      Trying to shove a 15 year old’s raging hormones and desire for rebellion and independence into a Mr Rogers box will only lead to… more rebellion. Give the kids role models who are good people, who also succeed at things they care about.

    • sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      7 days ago

      You don’t fix this by lecturing young men. You fix it by giving them a sense of purpose and identity that doesn’t rely on putting someone else down.

      Sounds like they need the shit slapped out of them.

      Maybe they should just take the advice that we’ve been giving to women and minorities for the last 100 years and tell them that if they want to succeed they should just fucking work harder at it.

      • Chinaroos@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        7 days ago

        If a dam is leaking, smacking it and tell it to be more ‘dam-like’ will only break the dam eventually. For the people drowning, “the dam should have held, because that’s what dams do”

        For people who want to improve our world, the goal needs to be defined as reducing gender conflict by increasing mutual gender respect. These words you’ve shared do not invite respect, but conflict. It is a phrase of someone who does not offer support, but demands submission.

        Now it’s easy to reply “yes, I am demanding that men to stop killing women, and if that’s “submission”, so be it”. It’s of course a correct position.

        But it would not be what you said. And there are a thousand ways to twist that phrase to deepen the conflict, out of context, or even subverting that context. And the conflict then only depends.

        Resentment is a knife. It’s a tool of division, not unity. We should not use it to divide people by gender.

    • catty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      7 days ago

      That’s what a lot of this comes down to. Loneliness. Disconnection. No sense of value or direction. And then someone online tells you it’s not your fault, it’s women’s fault, or society’s fault, or anyone but you. That stuff spreads fast because it gives people something to belong to.

      Yep, and this is how marginalised communities are formed. Same with the text below.

      That’s what a lot of this comes down to. Loneliness. Disconnection. No sense of value or direction. And then someone online tells you it’s not your fault, it’s women’s men’s fault, or society’s fault, or anyone but you. That stuff spreads fast because it gives people something to belong to.

      And is why both POV are bad and should be removed from Lemmy. The owners of such communities get off on having their own army, not that they think they’re helping the cause.

  • Breezy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    8 days ago

    Bill maher touched on this last night on his show, and i cant believe im seeing more of it.

    He argued men are shat on far to often in todays media with female leads taking more lead roles.

    He also brought up countless movies starting in the 80s that pushed the dumb dad/male narrative that persists today.

    Does he have a point? Yeah idk really.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      27
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      8 days ago

      I think it’s far more fundamental than that.

      You’ve got a generation of young men who did what they were supposed to culturally: went to school, got good grades, went to college, never broke any laws, and their choices in life are permanent debt and struggling to afford a roach-infested studio apartment, living with their parents, or joining the military to survive. Here in the United States minimum wage won’t even buy you a cup of coffee in large swaths of the country. (And 2/3 of the states still use that as their standard.)

      The social contract has been broken, and for the first time, you’ve got a generation who are not going to live more fulfilled and enriched lives than their parents largely by no fault of their own.

      Of course they’re pissed. Governments should be addressing this, but it’s more fashionable to blame young men instead, and the right-wingers are the only ones willing to admit there are fundamental economic crises for men.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        26
        ·
        8 days ago

        You’ve got a generation of young men who did what they were supposed to culturally: went to school, got good grades, went to college, never broke any laws, and their choices in life are permanent debt and struggling to afford a roach-infested studio apartment, living with their parents, or joining the military to survive. Here in the United States minimum wage won’t even buy you a cup of coffee in large swaths of the country.

        And? Why should they be special? You’re arguing that because young men were given special status before we should bend over backwards by sacrificing others to their success? Women should continue to be underpaid, undervalued, treated as secondary to men’s success? Nevermind the barriers to any sort of professional and societal success as a woman to begin with.

        What social contract? Again, the one that puts male wants and needs ahead of others?

        That is what you’re arguing, no?

        • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          25
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          8 days ago

          No, this is a misrepresentation of my argument.

          From the 70’s to a few months ago, governments have made it a fundamental priority to elevate women and minorities, and it’s worked. (Go look at the demographics of college enrollment, at least here in the US, if you don’t believe me.)

          I’m arguing that to fix misogyny you have to fix the fundamental economic crises affecting young people.

          But I appreciate that you were very quick to demonstrate the point I made about the fashionability of blaming young men and pretending these problems simply don’t exist.

          • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            13
            ·
            8 days ago

            Way to misrepresent my argument. Thanks for the downvotes without trying to have a discussion.

            My opinion is that society in general has elevated men above others. That is still mostly true, from entertainment to employment. Yes, there is no argument that there has been effort, more or less to offer others some of the same benefits men get, but it’s still token in many ways.

            Now pay attention, I said society, I did not blame men for this (though they had a hand by aiding and abetting the status quo), there’s an huge cultural momentum behind male over-representation.

            As far as the economy, a nebulous “we need to fix it” is gesturing nebulously at an economy that effects everyone, but it’s hard to take you seriously when you only discuss the economy needing to be fixed in the context dealing only with young men.

            • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              9
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              7 days ago

              Respectfully, your hostile and reactionary tone demonstrated quite well that you had no intention of discussing things in a rational manner. You toss around terms like ‘redpill’ like they’re Halloween candy, and it demonstrates that even having the discussion is enough to set off your temper. I even gave you an example of the imbalance in economic opportunity favoring women and minorities, and you just ignored it.

              And that’s fine.

              Be angry, but the least you could do is try to be productive.

              The problem is the systemic impoverishment of young men is the root cause of all this, and that is what needs to be fixed if you want to fix misogyny.

              • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                7 days ago

                Again failure to discuss the substance of the argument and just making it personal. It’s crystal clear what your objectives are here.

    • Gonzako@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 days ago

      Pretty much. Misandry feeds misoginy and viceversa, if you don’t temper your discourse and make it reasonable someone else will come and make you temper it

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      7 days ago

      Bill Maher is Joe Rogan for people who think they’re too smart for Joe Rogan. He never has an important point to make about anything and is usually completely misinformed. This is a rich white Jewish guy that rarely sees any value in issues raised by any other demographic, yet always complains any time there is even a mild issue facing rich/white/Jewish guys.

      Women make up more than 50% of the population, but make up 30% of the leads in Hollywood roles, up from the previous 15% - conspiracy of the woke! Or, maybe… The marketing teams figured out that women would rather watch a movie with a female lead more often. Or maybe… its a load of horseshit.

      https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/women-hollywood-female-leads-1235830860/

      Can’t believe I’m reading defence of the manosphere on Lemmy, but here we are.

  • Fedditor385@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    31
    arrow-down
    22
    ·
    edit-2
    8 days ago

    It’s quite simple, gender equality should stand for equal opportunity for both genders, but it’s not. I only see women being pushed into places with traditionally male majority, but not men being pushed into places with traditional female majority. And worst of all, equal opportunity should not mean we will hire a less competent woman that a more competent men, to fill out some 50/50 quota.

    This is exactly the result of abusing gender equality.

    • FloMo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      8 days ago

      I only see women being pushed into places with traditionally male majority, but not men being pushed into places with traditional female majority

      Genuinely curious, got any examples of “traditional female majority places” that masculine individuals cannot enter/participate in?

      • Fedditor385@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        8 days ago

        Daycare, men who work with children in general. It feels like taboo, and I assume it’s because the general opinion seems to be that men that want to be around children are most likely pedophiles. I never heard of a program to include more men in daycare.

        • FloMo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          8 days ago

          Excellent example, and I sincerely appreciate you engaging in good faith discussion!

          I agree that being masculine should by default not be a barrier - social or otherwise - from working with children.

          How do we begin to change that as a society?

          Although I can’t think of the solution myself, I also don’t see how advancing equality for feminine individuals would hold back equality for masculine individuals.

          As mentioned in another comment, a lot of these problems seem to stem from the enforcement of dated gender norms.

          • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            8 days ago

            This is one where I think the ball is very much in the women’s court.

            I’ve seen a trend of vertical videos of fathers playing with their children, with a caption similar to “my latest ick.”

            Millennial men are the most engaged cohort of dads in living memory, and women have responded pretty poorly to this.

          • Fedditor385@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            7 days ago

            Thank you, I am actually shocked by such positive feedback, as I never expect anything positive in online discussions :D

            Well, there is not much that needs to be adjusted in traditional values. Or, to put it lightly, that was never the problem to begin with. In traditional roles, both genders use their advantage to the max, and it has worked for millenia.

            The issue is that there is a smaller % of both genders, who wish to do something “out of the norm”. Men who want to work in childcare and women who want to drive trucks. That small % should be able to do so, without discrimination. That’s it. That’s all to it, why this entire woke thing blew up. We should preserve the traditional roles as they have proven themselves to work effectively, but we need to adjust it to be flexible for things that don’t fit in the traditional norms.

            From somewhere came the narrative that men are gatekeeping women from all important positions, and women in fight for their rights to be equal went the same route to basically gatekeep men in the name of equality. And now we are in this weird limbo where the genders seem to undermine each other whereever they can.

  • ZeroOne@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    arrow-down
    13
    ·
    8 days ago

    Let me guess, the men will have their internet traffic monitored & have curfews ??

    Oh & be put on a watchlist for merely talking in a raised voice against women.

    Because I kid you not, these are real suggestions

      • ZeroOne@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        7 days ago

        Yup, in the UK women MPs were talking about bringing in curfews for MEN

          • ZeroOne@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            7 days ago

            These are lawmakers who have the power to change your lives & your instinct is treat any issue that may affect men’s lives in a negative way as a joke.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBQybc2l-gU

            E.g: Trump is sending foreign men to El Salvador to a torture camp. Yeah, it’s only funny when it happens to othet men, when your govt does this to YOU, you will be singing a different tune.

            I think I’ll speak up for men here, You need a Men-Only Lemmy/Mbin/PieFed instance. So that you can at least speak up about your issues without being laughed at or downplayed by misandrists

            • zarathustra0@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              7 days ago

              What you are saying doesn’t quite tally with reality. Your argument style seems to be to take things which have some element of truth to them and then take them entirely out of context inferring some kind of semi-paranoid hatred in others where it may not exist.

              I could imagine that some people might say you have extreme views.

              I am a man who believes that more needs to be done for men, but I think your jingoism does a disservice to the true problems many men face. It is so paper thin, overly simplistic and easy to see through that I believe you are only riling up hatred and will not possibly solve any real mens problems with your current approach.

              Honestly, your arguments are a parody of real issues. Stop.

  • catty@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    7 days ago

    Women: it’s all about us, we have our own “online safe spaces” where only women are allowed because in history, men were bad to women, It’s filled with vitriolic chronically-online women where we go around calling men “cunts”. Men should respect this and start up their own community if they want.

    Men: <they do that>. It’s given a derogatory name so public opinion can be manipulated - marketing 101.

    Women: We don’t like it. It’s not all about us, men are bad to us. They threaten equality - it’s all their fault.

    I got banned from two communities on Lemmy recently asking if it really should be host to communities that are exclusionary based on protected characteristics such as gender (to stop extremism). Lots of women moaned and were vitriolically abusive - how dare I call their army out. Community hosts really need to get a grip on such things and encourage inclusionary communities, not exclusionary. Whilst this practice goes on, racist/sexist/other extremist opinions will be fostered on the host and in those communities.

    Politics such as “yeah, well, populist opinion makes us feel like we need to separate ourselves from you because you’re not <insert protected characteristic we only like>…” but we totally respect you and want to talk to you as normal in other communities when we want to, is incongruent to the whole concept of an inclusive community that fosters equality such as Lemmy should be.

    (And if I had to guess, I think there are some bots on Lemmy also spouting vitriolic replies to stir up such hatred amogst these who isolate themselves - making themselves prime targets for manipulation - all to stir up chaos on a national level)