Manosphere should be treated as a public health issue, UK experts say
Report in the Lancet calls for a coordinated response from government, schools, health services and communities, likening the manosphere to tobacco and ultra-processed food.
At a glance
- Experts writing in the Lancet say the manosphere and online misogyny should be treated as a public health issue, like obesity or smoking.
- The report says the manosphere is a lucrative commercial ecosystem that rewards the most extreme misogynistic content.
- The authors link boys' disengagement from education, loneliness and money worries to vulnerability to online misogyny.
The manosphere and online misogyny should be treated by the government as a public health issue, in the same way as obesity or smoking, experts have argued in the Lancet.
The authors of a new report say a coordinated response is needed from governments, schools, health services and community organisations, modelled on the public health approach already used against tobacco use and ultra-processed food.
The report defines the manosphere as a diffuse commercial ecosystem and loose collection of online communities united by shared beliefs about masculinity, misogyny and male victimisation. It describes how those communities have grown into a highly lucrative online industry that makes money by promoting the most extreme expressions of misogyny and aggrieved masculinity.
'A business model, not a fringe'
Prof Kent Buse, a co-author and co-founder of the social justice thinktank Global 50/50, said the manosphere is a business model rather than a fringe, and that outrage and grievance are good for business, so the system rewards the most extreme content.
He predicted the sector would follow the playbook used by the tobacco industry, blaming the individual and calling regulation an attack on freedom, and argued that public health has a tested toolkit for commercial harms that should be used here.
Buse stressed that boys and men are not the problem. The problem, he said, lies in the conditions that leave them isolated and without a secure future, and in the companies that profit from their anger and insecurity.
The authors point to growing disengagement from education among boys around the world, alongside loneliness, money worries and social exclusion, which can leave young men searching for a sense of belonging. Those pressures, they say, can make young men more vulnerable to online communities that offer simple explanations for their difficulties and often encourage them to blame women and feminism.
Offering something better
Prof Sarah Hawkes, the report's other author, said the manosphere offers boys and young men belonging, identity and an explanation for why life feels hard. She said those needs are real, and that a response which only removes the manosphere without offering something credible in its place will fail. The aim should be to offer boys something better, not simply tell them what to avoid, she added.
Mark Brooks, policy and communications director at the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys, welcomed the report's position that this is a public health issue and that men, boys, women and girls are all victims of the content.
He said the discussion had too often positioned all men and boys as a problem, without taking into account the broader economic, educational and cultural challenges that drive their engagement. Not all men and boys engage with this content equally, he added, and the centre is working on research to identify who is most at risk.
Source: The Guardian World.
Questions and answers
- What is the manosphere?
- The Lancet report defines it as a diffuse commercial ecosystem and loose collection of online communities united by shared beliefs about masculinity, misogyny and male victimisation. It says the manosphere has evolved into a highly lucrative online industry.
- What do the report's authors want governments to do?
- They call for a coordinated response involving governments, schools, health services and community organisations, similar to the public health response to tobacco use and ultra-processed food.
- Who wrote the report and what did they say?
- Prof Kent Buse, co-founder of the thinktank Global 50/50, and Prof Sarah Hawkes wrote the paper in the Lancet. Buse said outrage and grievance are good for business, while Hawkes said boys need a credible alternative, not just warnings.
