What does the manosphere mean? The toxic 'incel' culture shown in Netflix's Adolescence

Yahoo

19-03-2025

Sir Gareth Southgate has warned that 'callous, manipulative and toxic influencers' are taking the place of traditional role models in society, causing a 'crisis' for young men.
The former England manager used the prestigious Richard Dimbleby Lecture on Tuesday to voice his concern that 'unhealthy' online spaces are filling a 'void' in young men.
His comments came as Netflix released its new series, Adolescence, about a 13-year-old boy accused of the murder of a girl at his school. The widely acclaimed miniseries, featuring Stephen Graham, focuses on toxic masculinity and incel culture that an increasing number of young boys are being exposed to online.
The creators of the series have stated that they would like the drama to be shown in Parliament and in schools to promote "discussion and make change".
And Southgate, who stepped down from his role at the FA last summer, said young men are filling a space left by lack of mentorship with "unhealthy" alternatives promoted by social media influencers.
"These are callous, manipulative and toxic influencers, whose sole drive is for their own gain," he said. "They willingly trick young men into believing that success is measured by money or dominance, that strength means never showing emotion, and that the world, including women, is against them."
His strong words echo a wider discussion about the damage the so-called 'manosphere' may be causing to young men around the world.
The manosphere is a term that references a collection of websites, blogs, and online forums that promote masculinity, misogyny, and general opposition to, and hatred of, feminism.
These websites have seen a recent rise in popularity after being promoted on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, while X (formerly Twitter) has recently loosened its online policies around such sites.
The manosphere has long been critiqued for fostering misogynistic attitudes and promoting harmful stereotypes of women.
Many of the issues discussed in the 'manosphere' were previously limited to forums such as Reddit and 4Chan, but controversial influencers like Andrew Tate have brought the manosphere into the mainstream - with young boys a key target demographic of his messages.
Self-proclaimed misogynist Tate, who has been accused of a series of crimes against women that he denies, is referenced in Adolescence, and is often seen as a key figure in the so-called manosphere.
Laura Turquet, the deputy head of the research and data team at UN Women said: "There has a been a development of a 'manosphere,' an online ecosystem where extreme and outdated ideas, particularly about violence against women, but also related to a very narrow kind of idea of masculinity."
Within the online manosphere, there are a number of subcultures professing some of the most controversial views. Referenced in Adolescence, incel stands for 'involuntary celibate' and the term refers to men who say they cannot find romantic or sexual partners, despite wanting them.
Male supremacist in nature, incel communities often harbour resentment and anger towards women and society and blame women for their lack of romantic success.
The incel community has existed in its current guise online since the early 2000s with the creation of message boards such as love-shy.com and incelsupport. Originally intended as forums to support shy people trying to find love, they were eventually overrun with angrier content.
Forums on Reddit and 4Chan, some attracting 40,000 members, were more extreme and were closed for posts that 'glorifies, incites, or calls for violence'. The incel community has since moved to closed forums or more obscure websites.
This online sub-culture has inspired real-world violence in the shape of a mass shooting in Alto Vista in 2014, which left six people dead, and a van attack in Toronto in 2018, in which 10 people were murdered.
In the UK, Jake Davison, who killed five people including his own mother, in August 2021, had strongly misogynistic views and shared disturbing online posts.
Davison, from Plymouth, was fascinated by serial killers and 'incel' culture, and had shared hate-filled views on Reddit forums used by incels.
Many incels claim they have been 'red-pilled' and have realised that men do not hold systemic power or privilege in today's world, which they believe is ruled by feminists.
The term 'red pill' comes from the 1999 film The Matrix, and is used by incels to describe the feeling that they have woken up from the belief that they once held power, and now accept the 'truth' that they do not.
The extreme nature of the movement has lead to some debate as to whether incels should be considered a terrorist movement.
Southgate's concern is that young men have no real world or community support roles, and this can lead to a void in young men's lives.
Certainly, as so much of our lives move online many young men find acceptance and friendship in places such as social media, with some of the biggest accounts being held by social commentators like Tate.
Tate, who has millions of social media followers – over 10 million on X – says he is "absolutely" a misogynist, also claiming that women are inferior and morally deficient.
We are also seeing young men more isolated than ever. The Survey Centre on American Life found that men have fewer social ties than they used to, with just 27 per cent saying they have at least six close friends, while in 1990, this figure was 55 per cent.
A study, published in The Journal of Sexual Research, has found that these isolated young men often make fundamental errors about what women look for in a romantic partner.
It found that young men overestimate the importance of physical attractiveness and financial resources, while underestimating the importance women place on intelligence, kindness, humour, and loyalty.
Kings College revealed last year that one in four UK males aged 16 to 29 believe it is harder to be a man than a woman.
The study, by King's College London's Policy Institute and Global Institute for Women's Leadership in partnership, that a fifth of men aged 16-29 look favourably on Tate.
As young people spend more time than ever online, many of the most popular social media giants have been criticised for amplifying toxic content.
Researchers have said they found a four-fold increase in the level of misogynistic content suggested by TikTok, where Tate gained much of his notoriety, over a five-day period
The research, conducted in partnership between UCL, the University of Kent and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), found a huge increase in the level of misogynistic content in the 'For You' page of TikTok accounts.
Principal investigator, Dr Kaitlyn Regehr UCL Information Studies, said: 'Algorithmic processes on TikTok and other social media sites target people's vulnerabilities – such as loneliness or feelings of loss of control – and gamify harmful content.
'Harmful views and tropes are now becoming normalised among young people. Online consumption is impacting young people's offline behaviours, as we see these ideologies moving off screens and into school yards.'
On Monday, Ofcom gained new powers to force technology firms tackle online illegal content, as part of the Online Safety Act.
The regulator will force social media companies to find and remove content such as hate crimes, child abuse, terrorism, content encouraging or assisting suicide, and fraud.