Manly Men

I just saw the alarming documentary Inside the Manosphere on Netflix by Louis Theroux, after reading a review by Jessica Grose in the New York Times. The men, and their cohort of Only Fans women, are cartoonish in their roles as social media influencers. Men are obsessed with body building, tales of sexual prowess, and a lavish lifestyle. One of the messages to their teenage and twenty-something audiences is: this can be you. They admit that they are salesmen and marketers. Get rich quick schemes are important sources of their wealth, as their gullible followers shell over money to their enterprises.

If that was all, then, I would write them off as fringe weirdos taking advantage of our internet culture. But that is not all. They have a conspiratorial outlook on the world. They talk of a secret cabal that is pulling the strings on the world. This is the 21st century version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The name Rothschild comes up, and they openly say “F… the Jews”.

Their misogyny is the main focus of their worldview. Women should not vote, should stay at home, and have monogamous relationships with their ubermenschen while they are left free to have as many sexual liaisons as they want. Women should be scantily clad caricatures, an extreme take on Trump ladies. The women depicted in this documentary, however, are working girls who are also busy monetizing their influencing businesses.

Another reason not to ignore these dystopians is their popularity. They have millions of followers. They were essential to the Trump election in 2024.

They riff on the fascistic elements that have been with us for over a hundred years. Overt masculinity, disdain of intellectuals and tolerance, a return to a past before suffragism and feminism. There are intellectual elements to this fascism as expressed by Peter Thiel, Tucker Carlson, and the newly resigned Joe Kent. They are not talked about in this documentary, however.

There is a strain of nihilism and anarchism in this manosphere. Both the left and the right, mostly youth, have always been drawn to this iconoclasm. The young rebel against the world order and bourgeois society. I remember the “burn, baby, burn” and “don’t trust anyone over the age of thirty” slogans of the extreme left of my youth. Lack of a filter, and derogatory comments about race, gender, and religion are taken as virtues. Indeed, this is part of Trump’s appeal.

Theroux delves into the psychological elements of these men. They come from fractured homes which have a history of domestic violence. They have a criminality to them which is seen as being edgy and manly. They detest people who express kindness and tolerance to others. And they have a devoted following that eagerly takes selfies with them when they are seen on the streets. They are swarmed by excited male teenagers who see them as role models.

The documentary is disturbing, but worth a watch. Know thine enemy.