What Louis Theroux gets wrong about the Manosphere
The "Inside the Manosphere" documentary only scratches the surface of these creators and their impact.
You’re here because you’re watching politics get body-slammed by digital culture and content creators. I’m here because I’m the only one who can guide you through it.
Historically speaking, it’s rarely a good sign when a group of men, united in bigotry, have their own hand signal.
Personally speaking, I can say it’s never a good sign when a grown man has neither rugs nor art in their home. Or only wears a rotation of heavily patterned, Spanx-esque, slim suits. The red-pilled ring of the manosphere flies these red flags (and many others) with pride, confidence, and absolute reckless abandon across all of their brands and products.
It’s what makes them ideal subjects objects for documentary probing in Louis Theroux’s “Inside the Manosphere” which just dropped on Netflix. Their verging-on-epidemologically contagious content has made them a frequent “Who Broke It” topic, too. From January:
“Many men (many, many, many, many men …) view influence as the polar opposite of irrelevance. In the pursuit of influence — which they mistake for real power — they trade any trait that keeps them rooted in reality: generosity, self-awareness, curiosity, openness, honesty, respect, humility, levity, accountability … need I go on?
But this is the blueprint marketed to young men right now, available on demand across the internet free of charge, at least on the ground level.”
Three of the seven members of the crew I wrote about in that piece serve as main characters in this doc. Watching it swiftly remediated whatever minor uncertainty I felt for painting them with such a broad, negative brush. They are morally bankrupt on a cellular level, sustained by grifting so obvious, it cleared the bar for most popular accusation in all the pieces I watched and read. We’ll get to others in a bit.
Here’s where I tell you to watch the 90-minute film … when you’re done reading this obviously. I think there’s good context here that will help if you haven’t had much exposure to their world, which, for your sanity, I hope is the case. With that in mind, let’s define some key terms and concepts first.
GOOD TO KNOW
These are some things I think are essential to understanding the world this documentary is claiming to define — it’s successful in some places and fails in others. So, I’ll fill in some gaps.
Manosphere: Politicians and creators have played it very fast and loose with this term, widening the jurisdiction to include any conservative-adjacent male with a podcast. In reality, we got this label in 20091 to describe long-existing blogs and forums where men could gather, organize, and rile each other up over their shared misogyny, dating trials, and fitness goals.
*Grace Note: My biggest issue with this doc is it presents our current manosphere in a total vacuum, crediting its creation to Andrew Tate and Dan Bilzerian, who were more spin-offs than forefathers. You can get a really good sense of that disparity and the real history of the solar system from Jack Donovan who entered the manosphere in 2010.
“The Manosphere, as I originally experienced it, was a very big tent full of different factions of men who shared many of the same concerns about what was happening to men and masculinity. … the Manosphere’s ideas had been picked up and disseminated by a younger crop of social media-savvy influencers who could connect with younger men and possessed sales and marketing skills that many of the OG guys lacked.”
The Matrix: Everything is “The Matrix” for these dudes. Your 9-5 job? The Matrix. All of your relationships? The Matrix. That hand signal they do? The Matrix. As HStikkytokky2 defined it in the doc: “the colluding powers at the top of the world who want to keep everyone down,” keeping everyone “broke” and in “the slave mindset.” They sell this idea of society “boxing you in” to young men worldwide, guiding them — usually through paid courses online — on how to escape.
Red-pilled: Yes, this term that explicitly describes this class of Manospherites, also comes from “The Matrix.” They choose to take the red pill that allows them to see reality for what it truly is (evil, colluding, feminist), to transcend mediocrity and reach success, wealth, and subservient women.
(The irony of “The Matrix” being made by trans sisters is not lost on me.)
One-sided monogamy: This comes up in relation to a couple of the featured characters in the doc. They are in a relationship with — or in one case, common-law married to — a woman who is monogamous in their direction, but not given the same commitment back. It’s a deal that the women claim to be consenting to and even happy with.
*Grace Note: This is the blueprint! “I can have a girlfriend who cooks and cleans and worships me, who I don’t owe any loyalty to and who will participate in threesomes with any girl I bring to our home?” (A real setup discussed in the film). Just to be clear, this is the exact magical thinking taking hold of young men with a wifi connection.
Clip-farming: This is how they go viral and spread their gospel. HS gets around 50k views on his streams that go on for up to 11 hours. It’s the spliced up bits posted to Instagram and TikTok that carry a message in a bottle across the seven seas. One of the guys, Sneako, spent years banned by every major social platform, and yet his teachings raked in millions of views thanks to his clip farmers from around the world.
HOT AND BOTHERED
As you can imagine, the stars are not loving the mainstream experience. The movie opens with each one of them charging Theroux with making a hit piece against them before they’ve even begun. All of them proceed, despite their suspicions. You can’t really help it when somebody makes themself look stupid, can you?
HStikkytokky wiped his whole Instagram, then uploaded a video saying the entire UK is criticizing him without knowing “me or my purpose.”
“So many people right now are taking everything I said in that documentary at face value and don't have the brain cells to comprehend that maybe I say things and do things for a reaction because it makes me money and allows me to live this lifestyle.”
Keeping the insane quote above in mind, Donovan actually nails exactly why it’s so hard to pin these guys down: “You can’t catch a man in a contradiction if he tells you his words mean nothing.”
Myron Gaines has been in a balls to the wall crashout on Twitter, replying to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who hurls an insult his way.
Meanwhile, Justin Waller is very busy continuing to post his motivational quotes. Unbothered.
HYPOCRITI-CALL OUT
Like I said above, the word “grift” came up over and over again. Financial incentives underlying each and every move creators make can always take them from anodyne to sinister real quick. Notable reactions coming through:
Pyramid Scheme: People have a hard time buying that anyone actually believes their shit, feeling like the scam is so obvious. Creator Jamaal Burkmar felt like this doc only skimmed the surface of the MLM-style scheme, wishing it got deeper into the men spreading the message and the women who have suffered because of it. (I agree!)
That’s hot: Unintended consequence of this hypermasculinity? It runs women straight into the enemy’s arms — in this case, a lotta gals online posted about having the hots for Louis Theroux. What a backfire!
I loved the contrast between one popular video about Theroux using the song “Big 🍆 Energy,” and one about the rest of the guys using “Short 🍆 Man”
For a dollar: This was literally that “Billy on the Street” gag. One of the best moments in the whole thing is Justin Waller saying women haven’t invented anything around us (they are outside), and Louis Theroux saying … well, is that a fact? Now we get tons of videos by women a) calling him an idiot and b) sharing handfuls of inventions … like the aforementioned wifi … created by women.
Pls listen: A classic — women have been warning of the dangers of these men forever but no one listens until a man says it. This video made me lol.
Trust me bro: A couple days into the discourse, more normal men are wading in with takes — specifically like this and this — about how even when they were fat, unemployed, miserable losers it didn’t affect their dating life because they’re just nice to women. It’s that simple.
I particularly loved this video from Your money mate, Sarah.
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LOOSE ENDS
📰 Something you should read today: Two divergent reads on this topic, both worth your time, imo.
“Almost none of them seemed willing to consider that “the manosphere” may now function as a protective shield for feminism itself — a way to discredit, marginalize, or pathologize male voices that raise inconvenient questions. Once a man can be placed somewhere inside that dark and blurry category, his arguments no longer have to be answered. He can simply be associated with misogyny, extremism, resentment, or grievance. Has ‘the manosphere’ become one more ideological weapon used to protect feminism from scrutiny?”
Bella Mackie, Multiple Anxieties:
“In the case of the manosphere influencers, being a man consists of gym, talking about how much money you have and being constantly worried that your girlfriend might undermine or emasculate you […] If you fail to reach the standards set by either side, then what? Toxic masculinity is a trap set by men and watching this show made me wonder whether they’ve ever considered just give not trying to be a man for a bit? It would leave them with a lot more time on their hands to acquire a hobby that isn’t just wearing tank tops and calling women whores.”
🕵️ Someone you should know today: Gina's Space posted a great video just in reaction to the first 30 minutes of the doc … backed to that failure of contradiction note we hit above —
🥹 Something to make you smile today: I went and saw my absolute idol record a live podcast last night. There is no person alive whose energy I hope to emulate more in my content than Zach Lowe. And it was awesome to see basketball fans from near and far show up for him on a stormy Monday night. Plus, Howard Beck and Jacoby? What more could a girl ask for? (The Celtics not to be relentlessly booed by the NY crowd, perhaps.)
imagine saying hstikkytokky out loud to a puritan? we are our ancestors wildest dreams
Thanks for watching it so I don’t have to - it’s frustrating to think there’s hope only to end back up at square one :/
I might skip this documentary.