How Mass Media Has Pushed Male Youth Towards the Far-Right.
I grew up in a world run by women. From a young age, my older sister, mother, and other strong women shaped my worldviews — they taught me to think beyond conventional gender norms and embrace the modern family unit. My dad showed me content that discredited the idea of men holding all the cards in society and women being at their disposal. I’ve been grateful to learn from my family and friends about where we have been as a patriarchal society, and how we should move forward, championing gender equality along the way. Yet, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that not all young people in America have been fortunate enough to be exposed to the same value system.
Recently, a “male movement” reinforcing traditionalist beliefs has percolated across the USA. According to proponents of this movement, both genders should be constrained to old-fashioned societal roles, such as the subservient role of women, the dominant role of men, etc. They not only perpetuate stereotypes from the 19th-century cults of domesticity but often encourage anti-feminist thinking as well. But what has caused this return to orthodox thinking?
To put it simply, this return to orthodox thinking can be attributed to the manosphere: “A diverse collection of websites, blogs, and online forums promoting masculinity, misogyny, and feminist opposition” (Wikipedia). Although the manosphere rose in the 1970s, it has become more prominent over the last ten years, due to the opportunity to reach a wider audience with the rise of social media.
A prime example of manosphere content that comes to mind is that of Internet personality, Andrew Tate. He first rose in popularity among American male youth in late 2016 and his online presence has only continued to grow. In spite of TikTok’s clear bans against misogynistic media, Tate’s alarming opinions on relationships, domestic violence, and gender roles have spread like wildfire on their platform, garnering millions of views and becoming mainstream. Several of these videos feature him making bigoted remarks, saying that “most men’s lives suck” because they have “no power” in their relationships, and calling his girlfriend “very well trained” among several other inappropriate comments that push male-authoritative viewpoints. As a part of an anonymous experiment, observers at The Guardian set up a fake account as an American teenager with a fake name and date of birth. They didn’t proactively search for or like any manosphere content, yet after a few days, the algorithm began to suggest Tate’s videos, illustrating his hold on the young male demographic. If Tate’s content reached a “young man’s” for you page without interference, then he could easily draw in countless other young men in the United States who are seeking to improve their lives. They may then use his prejudiced advice to attempt to do so.
Despite Tate’s extremely abusive and patriarchal behaviors (including being charged with rape and human trafficking), I’ve often seen people on the Internet encourage him by making jokes about him and posting his videos from copycat accounts. They don’t realize that in doing so, they inadvertently bring attention to his platform’s anti-women’s rights cause, consequently gaining him traction among young male audiences and introducing them to hateful rhetoric against women.
That’s right, these short videos are a small part of an even larger agenda encouraging male-dominant views: alpha-male podcasts. In addition to Tate’s own podcast with his brother, Tate Speech, many other influencers have penetrated into this medium of content to promote anti-feminist thought. For example, The Joe Rogan Experience, the most listened-to podcast in the world with 81% of its listeners being male, is highly insensitive to various racial groups and families. Rogan often brings on guests who have a history of sexually coercing women, like Joey Diaz. When discussing his time at a comedy club, Diaz revealed to Rogan that he told female comedians to perform oral sex on him as a “gateway to Hollywood”, to which Rogan laughed. From this statement, it is clear that Diaz looks at women sexually, rather than on the basis of merit or talent, reducing them to a traditional stereotype. In supporting guests like these, Rogan uses his platform to tell impressional young (mostly male) viewers that actions such as that of Joey Diaz are acceptable in society. In a larger sense, he supports deeply conservative content on his podcast and validates anti-feminist thinking.
Another such podcast is Good Bro Bad Bro, which often criticizes men for their looks. It is important to note that they harp on young mens’ insecurities in order to convey to them that they need to exercise power in a relationship to gain respect. For example, host Jack Denmo has once said “Asian men [and] Indian men…are not as attractive sexually as dating options…and what ends up happening guys is these dudes that are Asian and Indian, they have a much harder time dating girls that they find attractive.” By claiming a group of people as less attractive, they instill feelings of self-doubt that emasculate male listeners of that group. Denmo says that the way to approach this is by “going to the gym daily, and to be “famous and wealthy if you are short and ugly”. In other words, he encourages toxic masculinity to make up for physical “shortcomings” rooted in racist thinking.
By preying on younger men and teenagers, who often have no means of exposure to current affairs beyond what they see on social media, people like Tate, Rogan, and Denmo force blatantly misogynistic and chauvinist ideas into their minds. They cause men to develop low self-esteem (whether that is grounded in physical, emotional, or social critiques), and use it as an opportunity to introduce the growing male movement to the insecure men in question as a saving grace for their “flaws.” They then begin to shape an extremely conservative value system where men must exercise power in a relationship/in society, and women must roll over and take it, or else they are flawed.
After using this formula on millions of young American men, this alpha-male content has inevitably seeped into their political thought. In a poll by King’s College London, researchers found that Gen Z men are more likely than the Baby Boomer generation to believe that “feminism has done more harm than good.” Furthermore, controversial politicians like Donald J. Trump have been making increasingly frequent appearances on alpha-male podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience and This Past Weekend With Theo Von. Male audiences associate the politicians’ presence with the manosphere and begin to support those politicians, often unaware of what they stand for or what the consequences of supporting them may be. This has the power to influence the outcome of elections, such as the recent presidential election, and therefore federal/state policies. Just like that, this growing social issue is becoming a political one.
I have no issue with someone whose views are shaped by their own independent thinking. If we have different beliefs, then we may at least have a respectful conversation to determine the root of our disagreement and find common ground. After all, people are undoubtedly entitled to their own opinions. What is more concerning to me is the spread of misinformation and hateful narratives that are being told to wrongly elevate one group of people (men) over another. This issue is no longer a matter of party following or republicanism. Instead, it has become a concern of anti-feminist beliefs, sexual abuse, and far-right conservatism. Young America continues to feed into it through the manosphere.
Sources:
The Roar 