Inside the Manosphere is the latest documentary from veteran filmmaker Louis Theroux. Well known for taking on and documenting the strange fringes of society, this film focuses on equally extreme ideas. But this time, they are no longer confined to obscure fringes. They have entered the mainstream and are having real-world consequences.
These grifting ‘influencers’ not only spread misogyny and hatred to millions of their followers worldwide, but their ideas increasingly find an echo in right-wing populist movements and figures – from Donald Trump, to Nigel Farage and beyond.
Misogyny
The misogyny of the manosphere has reached a mass audience in recent years. Earlier this month, a study by Kings College London found that 31% of Gen Z men think wives should ‘obey’ their husbands, twice that of their boomer counterparts. 60% were found to believe that ‘women’s equality efforts have gone too far, or discriminate against men’. 61% of teachers in the UK have reported an increase in sexism and misogyny in the classroom compared to when they began teaching. This ties into a widening ‘gender ideology gap’: while women are leaning more left wing, a section of young men are being drawn to the right.
Over the course of the 90-minute documentary, Theroux reveals just how extreme, and at times medieval, these views actually are. Through podcasts and street interviews, women are repeatedly demeaned and objectified. Views that were once on the very fringes – such as banning women from driving or voting – are expressed openly by the likes of Myron Gaines of the Fresh and Fit podcast.
At the centre of this is the basic idea that women are essentially not people – that we are objects brought to planet earth in order to be controlled and used by men as they see fit.
This logic extends into relationships, where the idea of ‘one-sided monogamy’ is promoted. Justin Waller, a fraudulent ‘success coach’, describes his arrangement with his partner where he is allowed to date as many women as he likes. Myron Gaines takes this further, openly fantasising, in the company of his partner, about a future with multiple wives.
The Ugliest Face of the System
Inside the Manosphere is highly recommended, albeit difficult, viewing. It lifts the lid on the poisonous ideas being spouted – ideas which threaten to drag women’s rights back not just decades, but centuries. It also brings the contradictory thinking behind this reactionary wave into clear focus.
One revealing moment comes when Harrison Sullivan (better known as “HSTikkyTokky”) is grilled over the way he promotes ‘traditional gender roles’, while also building a persona around posing with bikini-clad models. On the one hand, he profits from platforms like OnlyFans, while condemning them as ‘disgusting’.
Of course, the hypocrisy of it is obvious, but it isn’t quite as confusing as it might seem. This is a contradiction that socialists have long pointed out. Friedrich Engels, in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, outlined how the development of class societies relies on the control of women’s bodies, initially because men of the ruling class needed to control who their wealth would be passed down to. The result is, on the one hand, the sexual objectification of women as commodities to be bought and sold, while at the same time telling women their role is to stay ‘in the home’.
Capitalism by its nature, relies on the oppression of women. If Engels was alive today, he would see the ideas of the manosphere as the most explicit expression of what he meant.
Taking the ‘Red Pill’
Part of the appeal of the manosphere is the way many of its key ideas are presented as being in some way ‘against the system’. But despite claiming to be the key to ‘breaking the matrix’ (a term popularised by Andrew Tate, the manosphere really represents the worst features of a system which exploits the entire working class. Their own model is itself profit driven – built on selling expensive, fraudulent ‘courses’ to their alienated and desperate followers, sometimes for fees well into the thousands.
As HSTikkyTokky explains to Louis Theroux: “I coach boys how to be boys, make money, be outside the system, not have a boss telling you what to do, not to be a soy boy.”
These men claim to have ‘taken the red pill’, believing they can now see the truth behind what they describe as mainstream media brainwashing. Once the ‘red pill’ is swallowed, according to the likes of Tate, they will be able to ‘see outside of the matrix’. It is easy to see how this message could appeal to alienated young men and boys trying to find their way in the world.
More broadly, their ideas offer a simplified explanation for a deeper anxiety: the feeling that there is little opportunity or security for them within the current system. The ‘solutions’ they provide, however, are not just deeply harmful to women, but to their male following as well.
Rather than clearly pointing out who really runs the world – the capitalist exploiters, of which Trump is a part, feminism is framed as part of this control – portrayed as a corrupting force designed to weaken men. In the mix is a heavy dash of antisemitism for good measure.
They preach that a man’s goal in life is to attain the status of a ‘high-value (wealthy) male’ – competing with other men in a ‘marketplace’. Within this framework, a man’s worth is solely determined by status and success.
The message sent out to young men is that, rather than uniting with other working-class people in solidarity to demand the standard of living we need, the only way out is to become rich at the expense of others. This sells young people a vicious and deceptive lie. The majority of young men, most of whom are working class, have no chance under this system of even stable living conditions – let alone the luxury lifestyles that the manosphere grifters promote.
Stop the Manosphere and their Rotten System
The ugliest forms of sexism, homophobia, and racism are once again moving into the mainstream of society. Louis Theroux’s documentary plays an extremely useful role in bringing much of this to the surface.
Thankfully, the main result of this documentary has been to generate a certain backlash to these toxic ideas. But that revulsion has to take an organised form in mass struggle, which we have already seen the outlines of in the US, where a general strike in Minneapolis defeated ICE at the start of the year.
Only by doing away with this system, replacing capitalism with socialism, can we actually guarantee decent homes, jobs and an end to oppression. To get there, we need a mass movement capable of fighting for this. That is why Socialist Alternative is organising – both in Britain and around the world.
