A recently released Netflix documentary on the “manosphere” is making some big cultural waves. In it, Louis Theroux, a British filmmaker and journalist, interviews prominent young and charismatic male influencers who feel victimized and ostracized in a world that’s been improved by feminism and other pursuits toward sociopolitical justice. According to the BBC, the manosphere “refers to a network of websites, forums and influencers who promote what they describe as ‘traditional’ masculinity – where men hold a dominant role in a relationship and women are subservient.” Many such men are fueled by a nagging sense of “aggrieved entitlement,” a term American sociologist Michael Kimmel has used to describe men – often white, straight, able-bodied working class men – who feel wounded because the privileges that their gendered identities once (often unconsciously) afforded them – economic security, societal power, and sexual access to women’s bodies to name a few – are disappearing. Many of these men blame minorities, such as women, feminists, queers, and non-white racialized individuals for their present plight. Anti-woke sentiments of the kind being inculcated into the mainstream by the Trump administration also feature heavily in the manosphere.
The findings of a recent large (23,000 subjects) global study about gender and sex roles – conducted by the UK’s IPSOS and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Business School at King’s College London – provide useful insights into the philosophies of gender and power that are presently fueling the manosphere phenomenon. One rather astonishing statistic from the 29-country-spanning study specifies that “31% of Gen Z men agree that a wife should always obey her husband and one third (33%) say a husband should have the final word on important decisions.”
Click here for the King’s College summary of their findings.
And here for a NY Post summary of the study.
