How The Manosphere Poisons Young Men’s Minds

Note: This article was written entirely by the author. The accompanying visual was generated using AI.

The word toxic masculinity is perhaps overused today. But the manosphere, which peddles red pill ideology, is indeed toxic for men and society at large. Impressionable young men are told they have no inherent value, while only beautiful women do. Men are told, and come to believe, these ideas espoused by charlatans on YouTube. They internalize that if they do not drive exotic luxury cars and have yachts full of women, they are failing at life.

Red pill and manosphere ideology does not hold up to any sort of rational scrutiny. Some women do believe that men have to be rich and provide them a luxury lifestyle. I will not deny that. But most of the women, and even men, I have met in my life find grifters like Andrew Tate and their insecure male dominance ideas abhorrent. The ideas that men must earn their basic worth through wealth, dominance, and sexual success are shallow, cruel, and ultimately degrading.

There is a recent Netflix documentary called Louis Theroux: The Manosphere which I recently started watching. In it, young men approach their manosphere heroes and agree that men have no inherent value and have to be rich to have worth. This, to me, is poisonous and depressing for young men. Points are made such as young beautiful women being invited onto yachts, while young men who do not pay to play will not.

This is most likely true, but it does not take into account that these young women are expected to be beautiful, often objectified, expected to have sex with their hosts, and very likely would be thrown off the boat if they do not. That, to me, is the manosphere. It fuels bitterness and anger in men by suggesting that women have it easier in life, when in fact it ignores many of the dangers and hardships women face. Some women probably do have certain advantages, often granted by superficial and greedy men. But those advantages come with conditions, risks, and humiliation of their own.

Many young men are enchanted by manosphere YouTubers who rent yachts and luxury villas. Appearances can be deceiving. The women they surround themselves with could very well be bought and paid for. Numerous people such as Theroux have pointed out that these men are not as wealthy as they lead on. They judge men they perceive as physically weak, such as one of the men in the documentary does to its director, even though he is well past middle age and appears to have an average physique for his age.

It has been observed by many that the manosphere has an apparent animosity towards women and society in general. Ideas are espoused such as men being under attack by feminists, or the infamous 80/20 hypergamy rule, where supposedly 80% of women only want the top 20% of men. All you have to do is touch grass and see that this is not reality. Average men in looks or physique are seen everywhere with average or even above-average women.

Now men are taught by manosphere red pillers that every rejection is political or civilizational. They blame feminism if they are single or get rejected. Even worse ideologies spawn from the red pill, such as MGTOW, incels, and black pillers. All of these ideologies are filled with men wounded by rejection. That is the core of their grievance. If a woman rejects him, he blames her for being too picky and too entitled. He also blames himself. If only he were taller, richer, better-looking, and fitter. Instead of improving his personality, he obsesses over becoming fitter and more dominant.

What is interesting is that the manosphere does not heal men. It merely monetizes and deepens their wound by telling them what they want to hear. If more women are in higher education than men, it is feminism or society’s fault. It is also well known that men commit suicide at higher rates than women do, and the manosphere is only making this worse. Many men come to feel that their whole worth depends on female approval and validation. If they are not having threesomes with women with plastic surgery, they believe they are utter and complete failures.

The manosphere pretends to be about strength. But it merely breeds fragility, paranoia, and insecurity. It breeds men who depend on external validation for their life’s meaning. They look down on men who do not make their existence revolve around paid women, leased fast cars, and rented Spanish villas. That, to me, is the sad thing about the manosphere. It is destroying the mental health of young men and also making the lives of ordinary women much harsher.

What young men need is not more grifters teaching them to resent women and worship dominance. They need self-respect, discipline, purpose, and a healthier understanding of their own worth. They need to know they are not failures for being ordinary, rejected, or still figuring life out. The manosphere cannot give them that, because it profits from their insecurity.