The Manosphere: Preventing Harmful Attitudes in Young Men and Boys

This article examines the impact of harmful attitudes towards women spread through the manosphere and how this can be identified with recommendations for parents, guardians, educators and professionals on addressing this with young men.

Misogynistic attitudes present a key risk to women in intimate relationships

Using decades of experience in tackling male violence towards women and working with young people, we have provided an overview of the issues related to the Manosphere as well as recommendations to parents, educators and other professionals about how to address this and prevent harmful attitudes from taking hold. For an understanding of the impact of misogeny within intimate relationships, visit our article Toxic Masculinity: How do we Tackle Misogyny in Domestic Abuse?

Misogeny and the Manosphere

Brought to prominence this year by the Netflix drama ‘Adolescence,’ extreme misogynistic views amongst young boys are causing rising concern. Providing an exploration of the motivations behind acts of violence against women by young men, ‘Adolescence’ follows 13-year-old Jamie Miller who is arrested for the murder of his classmate. It is evident throughout the story that Jamie has been radicalised by misogynistic content online. He shows sympathy for the incel – short for ‘involuntarily celibate’ – worldview, where women are blamed for the unhappiness and sexual deprivation of sexually unsuccessful men.

Alongside incels, controversial ‘alpha male’ influencer Andrew Tate is mentioned by name in the drama. Tate and other similar influencers promote a hyper-masculine, misogynistic worldview under the guise of self-help for disempowered men. Together with ‘Red Pill Culture,’ ‘Pick-Up Artistry,’ and ‘Men’s Rights’ activism, incels and ‘alpha male’ influencers like Andrew Tate make up a family of online content that has been dubbed ‘the Manosphere.’ Manosphere content, easily accessible across social media platforms, fosters hostility toward women, and deliberately and explicitly teaches abuse tactics. The influence of the Manosphere is widespread, as outlined in recent research:

• The charity Hope not Hate found that 80% of 16-17 year old boys in the UK had consumed content created by Andrew Tate.

• Internet Matters found that 56% of young fathers (under the age of 35) approved of Andrew Tate.

• 76% of UK secondary school teachers and 60% of primary teachers indicated they are extremely concerned about how online misogyny is influencing their students (Over et al.,  2024).

• A 2020 survey of Incel community websites found that Incels are generally young, white men with 82% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 30. The largest percentage (36%) were between 18 and 21.

The impact of the manosphere and it's popularity amoung young men and boys is, however, not yet fully understood:

Until recently, this international movement has been a hidden problem. Although some influencers have gained widespread notoriety, many others do not engage with mainstream news channels. As a result, the scale of the manosphere may be underestimated by many adults unless they have regular contact with teenagers and young people. Teenagers and young people are regularly exposed to this content through social media and video sharing platforms including Reddit, TikTok and YouTube. (Over et al. 2024)

How do we recognise harmful misogynistic content?

Similar to other extremist terrorist groups that operate online, media attention has forced the more violent rhetoric away from mainstream platforms into more private online spaces. However, more subtle misogynistic content is pushed to young men by algorithms on social media platforms. Algorithims are designed to offer users more of the content that they like, meaning that, in combination with systems that block unfavourable comments, young men using these platforms will receive just one highly polarised view of the world. Content can vary from extreme misogynistic views that are easier to identify to more subtle ways of diminishing women that will then drive more extreme content to the user.

Examples of more subtle misogynistic content include:

• Views that denigrate only female celebrities (for example, the 5 meanest celebrities will contain only females),

• Overly critiquing female celebrities or well-known female personalities,

• Promotion of views that represent double standards,

• Using language that is specifically designed to represent unfavourable female qualities, such as 'Karens' or Stacy's,

• Memes or jokes that contain sexist messages and reinforce gender roles,

• Alpha male specific content that promotes men as being strong and in control,

• Focus on wealth generation as a masculine pursuit.

Online gaming can also promote an environment where women do not have a voice and can be represented within games as highly sexualised or submissive to men.

What is the impact of the manosphere?

With content that actively seeks to reduce women's freedoms and excert male dominance it is likely that women and girls will feel the impact of these harmful messages. To understand the impact of the manosphere in UK schools, teachers discussed cases with researchers where students made misogynistic comments and engaged in discriminatory behaviour towards female students and staff. Teachers raised concerns that this was impacting the well-being of female students. Additionally, research showed that the extent to which male pupils engage with the manosphere in specific schools was directly related to the extent to which female teachers within the same school reported depressive symptoms and work-related stress.

One secondary school teacher reported an incident in which male pupils told a female pupil “I wouldn’t even rape you” and “You wouldn’t make much money on Only Fans”. A primary school teacher reported an incident in which a male pupil said “It’s ok to hurt women because Andrew Tate says so”. Over et al. 2025

While women and girls may be seen as the primary victims, mental health experts highlight the risk to the mental health of young men. The manosphere contextualises men's experiences within society as a loss, a loss of control, a loss of masculinity and a loss of meaning to their lives. The online content provides a new way for young men to find meaning, take back control from women and restore a sense of masculine identity. This naturally draws lonely and angry young men to a place where they feel accepted and misogynistic influencers often assert that they have a role in helping men with their mental health. However, these same influencers often express contempt for mental health problems with researchers finding that the stigma surrounding seeking help for mental health problems is particularly high among young men who engage with the manosphere.

Research is still in it's infancy but there are indications that men engaged with the manosphere often recognise the lack of wholeness that the manosphere cannot provide and do seek other alternatives. The challenge is for researchers, government, educators and parents to present an alternative viewpoint

What can be done to change harmful attitudes towards women in young men?

Early identification and education is crucial in preventing the escalation of misogynistic behaviour, and it is important to work with young people to equip them with the tools to recognise and challenge these behaviours early on. Adolescents are drawn into this online world at a developmental period where they are often about to experience the disappointment, embarrassment and rejection that almost inevitably accompany dating for the first time. This engages young men and boys with a discriminatory viewpoint when they are particularly vulnerable to it. Parents, educators, and mentors must create and promote a healthy idea of masculinity rooted in emotional intelligence, equality, and respect, as opposed to dominance, control, and emotional suppression.

Preventing misogynistic attitudes in young boys requires a concerted effort from parents and guardians, educators, and wider society. This can be achieved by:

Modelling acceptable behaviour - children learn from the adults around them, and educators must not participate in behaviours that promote misogynistic attitudes. The participation of men who are committed to challenging misogynistic beliefs and behaviours is especially important in this context.

Promoting equality - For example, teaching children about the achievements and contributions of women in our society can foster a more equal view of the world and challenge traditional gender roles.

Teaching children to question what they see online - In educational spaces and home life, young people must be taught to question the misogynistic messaging in the media that they consume. This also means addressing sexist jokes and harmful stereotypes and teaching children to challenge ideas not only around women’s roles, but also around men’s.

Building your awareness of online content - This involves constantly updating your awareness about what is happening online. You can do this by talking to your child about what they are looking at online, listening when children speak to each other or explore social media platforms yourself. Open a you tube account, type something innocuous about women and see what comes up.

Restricting access to pornography - Equally important is to understand the accessibility of graphic and violent pornography. In the smartphone age, children have access to pornography at young ages. Pornography is a powerful audio-visual through which sexist, racist and classist messages are delivered, especially in moments when the viewer is not able to engage critically with the material. It’s crucial to understand how violent online pornography can be and how this impacts children's ideas about sexual health and healthy relationships.

Providing effective sex education - This needs to address pornography, and its messages around sexuality, misogyny, and masculinity in order to prevent pornography being the primary sourse of sexual education.

Having frequent, honest conversations - Counter-messaging must be as frequent, as incisive, and as widespread as manosphere content or pornography is. Teaching boys to engage critically with misogynistic messages from an early age can help distance them from the beliefs that lead to violence and abuse and being open to discussing sexual practices is really important.

Enganging with children - Internet Matters has a wealth of information and practical tools to facilitate this, including quizzes, videos and prompts for conversation starters.

How DVACT-PAI can help

DVACT-PAI experts have a wealth of experience over several decades of working with harmful misogenistic behaviour, including the development of behavioural interventions in the early 90s. DVACT-PAI provide training, consultation and supervision for teams of educators, social workers and other professionals in the field. Contact us for further information.

If you are a social worker and are concerned about domestic abuse within a family, DVACT-PAI can complete assessments and interventions with victims and/or perpetrators regardless of the status of the case. Assessments examine the use of abuse used in the relationship and the impact of this on the children and victim, with a risk management plan for each member of the family. DVACT-PAI also deliver focused and specialised treatment programmes for both victims and perpetrators.

Detailed guidance for social workers on how to complete safety planning with families can be found in our post How to complete safety planning with families.

Help and resources

Young Minds Support parents and young people with their mental health in the UK https://www.youngminds.org.uk/

Family Lives provides help, support and advice to UK parents https://www.familylives.org.uk/

Find support and advice on internet safety for children at Internet Matters https://www.internetmatters.org/

New research could help prevent young men being radicalised by online misogyny - https://communityjustice.scot/blogs/new-research-could-help-prevent-young-men-being-radicalised-by-online-misogyny/

Only hate: What is Misogyny - https://www.internetmatters.org/issues/online-hate/what-is-misogyny/

References

Baker, C., Ging, D., & Brandt Andreasen, M. (2024). Recommending toxicity: The role of algorithmic recommender functions on YouTube shorts and TikTok in promoting male supremacist influencers. DCU Anti-Bullying Centre, Dublin City University. https://antibullyingcentre.ie/publication/recommending-toxicity-the-role-of-algorithmic-recommender-functions-on-youtube-shorts-and-tiktok-in-promoting-male-supremacist-influencers/

Bunce, C., Zendle, D., & Over, H. (2024). Male pupils' engagement with online misogyny predicts sexist discrimination in schools and poor mental health among female teachers.

Over, H., Bunce, C. J., Konu, D., & Zendle, D. (2025). What do we need to know about the manosphere and young people’s mental health?. Child and Adolescent Mental Health. https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/camh.12747

Over, H., Bunce, C., Baggaley, J., & Zendle, D. (2025). Understanding the influence of online misogyny in schools from the perspective of teachers. PloS one, 20(2), e0299339. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0299339&trk=public_post_comment-text

Konu, D., Bunce, C., Wilcox, E.C., Galdas, P., Zendle, D., & Over, H. (2024). Exposure to the manosphere is associated with help-seeking stigma among young men.

About us

DVACT-PAI are a team of domestic abuse experts, available throughout the UK, who provide assessments, programmes, consultancy and training to local authorities and the family courts. Our experts have decades of experience working directly with domestic abuse perpetrators and victims, as specialist assessors and as expert witnesses in the family courts.

​DVACT-PAI was formed with the aim of using our expertise to help safeguard children from abuse, this is at the heart of everything that we do. To read more about us please visit our post - Who are DV-ACT?