The ‘Manosphere’

By Sid Venkataramakrishnan and Tim Squirrell

The Manosphere is a loosely connected network of groups, actors, influencers, communities and spaces online. It is composed overwhelmingly (although not exclusively) of men and covers topics ranging from masculinity and relationships to self-improvement, work and gender politics.

The Manosphere is held together by a form of male supremacism, an ideology defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as “rooted in the belief of the innate superiority of cisgender men and their right to subjugate women, trans men, and non-binary people”. While all groups within the network share a misogynistic framework which treats women as inferior, they are often critical or even antagonistic towards each other based on other beliefs.

While most attention has centred on its English-language manifestations, the Manosphere is global. ISD’s research found that Hungarian-language toxic relationship advice on TikTok has received millions of views, that Australian boys and young men are being exposed to extremist content including misogyny through YouTube’s algorithm, and that Manosphere content can be found in countries from Germany to Jordan.

This Explainer first sets out major subgroups within the Manosphere, whose harmful activity ranges from promoting dehumanisation to violent targeting of women. This is followed by an exploration of themes which emanated from the fringes of the ecosystem but have become increasingly mainstream.

Major groupings

Pick-up artists

Traditionally, pick-up artists (PUAs) are individuals who promote a variety of techniques to attract women into sexual and romantic relationships; these techniques are collectively known as “game”. PUAs came to mainstream attention after the release of Neil Strauss’ book The Game in 2005. However, the history of the movement dates back at least 50 years to Eric Weber’s manual How to Pick Up Girls.

PUAs often espouse misogynistic attitudes, emphasising that women’s value comes from their appearance alone. They also often claim that the way to sexual success is to use emotional manipulation including back-handed compliments (negging) and limited warmth. Some high-profile PUAs have advocated practices that manipulate or violate consent. At least one PUA has been jailed for threatening and abusive behaviour; this individual offered tips on his YouTube channel for overcoming “last-minute resistance to sex”.

Image 1. Screenshots from PUA accounts on X. The first has more than 180,000 followers while the second has close to 80,000.

PUAs often appeal to science to explain their beliefs and behaviours: for example, a 2023 paper arguing that there are inherent differences between genders that can be exploited by men for the purposes of seduction, or a 2012 paper which claimed to find solid empirical support for pick-up artistry. This is further reinforced using pseudo-scientific ideas such as neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) to suggest that what PUAs are proposing has a basis in evidence-based research.

PUAs often monetise their craft through a variety of methods, though the most common are selling courses, e-books and seminars to men hoping to improve their ‘seduction’ skills. Common examples include video ‘tutorials’ on video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, and manuals sold via e-commerce site Gumroad or personal websites. In some cases, PUAs offer in-person training courses with themselves or so-called “instructors”.

Among the most successful PUAs is Erik von Markovik, who uses the stage name Mystery and starred in a 2007 show on the channel VH1. Markovik has more than 50,000 followers on Instagram where he promotes his own pseudo-scientific ‘Venusian arts’. He also sells a PUA course which promises 30 hours of lessons for almost $1000.

Incels

Involuntary celibates (incels) are males who believe that they are not able to have an intimate relationship, to which they are entitled. They claim that women are superficial and highly selective, only having relationships with a small percentage of the most desirable men. Incels believe that they are excluded from this “sexual market” due to factors including their appearance, height, race or mental health (with a focus on appearance as the primary factor). As they have a nihilistic belief that there is no escape from this state, incels who do eventually have sexual relationships are written off as voluntary celibates (volcels) or ‘fakecels’ (fake incels) and discounted. This reinforces a sense of desperation and anger at the world.

Misogyny is at the heart of incel belief systems: women are viewed as less intelligent than men while being manipulative and obsessed with appearance and money. Feminism and improved gender equality is believed to have broken a system which would have provided incels with a guaranteed sexual and domestic partner. As a result, incels believe that their lives are fundamentally worthless and liken their experience to torture. Talk of suicide is common; in several cases, incel ideology is believed to have been linked to suicides. A forum linked to a number of suicides is run by two self-described incels; as of April 2025, the UK’s online safety regulator Ofcom launched an investigation into the forum.

At its most extreme, incel ideology has manifested in terrorist violence. The most infamous case, the 2014 Isla Vista killings, brought the ideology to public attention and provided a martyr in the perpetrator Elliot Rodger; many incels refer to Roger with the title of “Supreme Gentleman” or “Saint Elliot” and see him as a role model or hero. Other attacks include 2017 in New Mexico, Toronto in 2018 and 2020, and 2020 in Arizona.

However, even on incel forums which claim to reject violence, rape fantasies against women and girls are common. Calls for violence against men are also not uncommon. These are often directed at ‘chads’, the imagined ideal of masculinity whom incels claim are the sole recipients of women’s sexual interest. However, this anger is directed towards all males who are seen as more attractive and therefore have the possibility of entering relationships.

Incel ideology is found across dedicated forums, image boards such as 4chan and major social media platforms including X, TikTok, Discord and Telegram. Reddit was formerly a major hub of incel beliefs, although this has reduced after the removal of a 41,000-member subreddit in 2017 (and successor subreddits in the following years) following changes to the platform’s violent content policy.

Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW)

Like incels, Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) believe that feminism has been a destructive force for men. They also believe modern society is ‘gynocentric’ (i.e. it revolves around women), and that it is better for men to isolate themselves. The core differentiating factor between incels and MGTOWs is that the former desire relationships but believe they cannot achieve them while the latter claim to eschew them voluntarily.

MGTOWs believe it is safer and healthier for men to live separately citing issues such as false rape allegations, female promiscuity and the cost of alimony. Cultural events such as the Me Too movement are also cited as evidence that men are unfairly punished in modern society. MGTOWs have a variety of approaches to ‘separatism’ which range from having sex but avoiding relationships to celibacy (known as going “ghost”).

While the MGTOW community typically do not show the same calls for violence endemic in the incel community, they remain highly misogynist. MGTOWs emphasise the supposedly greater challenges facing men while imagining women as universally superficial, shallow and disloyal.

MGTOW content is easily accessible on X, with several smaller groups on Facebook. Reddit formerly hosted some of the most prolific MGTOW communities, but many of these have been removed.

Men’s Rights Activists

Modern Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) can trace their history back to a split from the men’s liberation movement in the 1970s. Since then, the movement has taken an increasing anti-feminist stance. Similar to MGTOWs or incels, MRAs believe that men face systemic discrimination or even oppression. They also believe that advances in women’s rights have come at the cost of men.

Unlike incels or MGTOWs, MRAs’ grievances are not restricted to sexual relationships with women. Instead, their primary belief is that feminism has disadvantaged men, limiting their power and status. Nevertheless, more extreme MRA discourse can overlap with incel beliefs – most pointedly that giving women the right to vote, education and a life in the public sphere has undermined men’s status.

MRAs commonly cite statistics to argue that men suffer more in society. These include rates of suicide, employment in dangerous professions, custody in divorces and the relative focus on female genital mutilation (FGM) in comparison to circumcision. Some MRAs have also criticised sexual violence prevention schemes as unfairly demonising men, downplaying rape accusations and claiming that many rape accusations are falsely made.

The MRA movement has traditionally sought to present itself as a moderate force against ‘overreaching’ feminism. A Voice for Men, one of the most visible MRA websites, claims its mission statement is to “provide education and encouragement to men and boys: to lift them above the din of misandry, to reject the unhealthy demands of gynocentrism in all its forms.”

However, the site seeks to cultivate a sense of victimhood based on imagined grievances, medieval fiction and strawman arguments of feminism. An online encyclopaedia affiliated to AVfM (Wiki 4 Men) bemoans the loss of spaces which formerly excluded women, while an article by AVfM’s founder blames women who are victims of rape for dressing provocatively and flirting with men.

MRAs are unusual among the subgroups in that they also have a visible offline presence. In the UK, the activist group Fathers 4 Justice engaged in high-profile protests and stunts to draw attention to what they saw as the legal inequalities facing fathers. A British political party, Justice for Men and Boys (and the Women Who Love Them), contested two seats in the general election in 2015 without success. An Indian NGO, the Save Indian Family Foundation, ran an independent candidate in a local election in 2018, receiving less than 1 percent of the vote.

Male lifestyle gurus

Male lifestyle gurus offer advice on a range of topics including fitness and personal finance as well as relationships and sex. While this content is not necessarily part of the Manosphere, popular gurus regularly promote misogynist rhetoric and pseudoscience. Their aspirational messages to audiences promote the idea that to be an “alpha male” – i.e. wealthy, well-regarded and powerful – requires a dismissive or even antagonistic relationship towards women.

Former kickboxer Andrew Tate has come to epitomise this type of guru. Tate’s content is based around juvenile fantasies of a heroic struggle (for example, naming his cryptocurrency trading course “Trenches Campus” in reference to physical warfare). Tate is also a self-described misogynist: he has suggested domestic abuse in response to a woman accusing him of cheating, describes women as “intrinsically lazy”, and stated that a “woman’s purpose” is simply having children. He is facing allegations in the UK, US and Romania including rape, human and sex trafficking, and money laundering.

Myron Gaines, known as Fit, is another prominent example. Fresh and Fit, the video series which Gaines co-hosts with Walter Weekes (known as Fresh) has 1.6m subscribers on YouTube. Misogynistic content is common: Gaines and Weekes criticise women for their appearance and frequently shame single mothers for having a child while unmarried. Gaines has also written a book called Why Women Deserve Less, and has invited Andrew Tate on to the podcast on multiple occasions. Fresh and Fit often have provocative and misogynist titles: for example, they say that women cannot tell men what to do or attack sex workers (particularly OnlyFans models) as ‘tainted’. Fresh and Fit also heavily promote content about personal finances and entrepreneurship, with weekly “Money Mondays”.

In addition to misogyny, there are major questions about the accuracy of financial content promoted by male lifestyle gurus. DADDY, a speculative cryptocurrency promoted by Tate, is down by more than 80 percent from its all-time high. A video from Gaines suggests viewers should ‘invest’ in complex and extremely risky financial schemes by taking out tens of thousands in credit card debt. It has been promoted repeatedly by smaller lifestyle guru accounts seemingly unrelated to Gaines himself.

Platforms have taken some actions against male lifestyle gurus for promoting dangerous content. In 2022, Meta and YouTube banned Tate from their platforms. However, ISD’s research found that content featuring the guru was still promoted to the social media feeds of young boys through YouTube’s algorithms even after the ban.

Key Themes

Pills

The Manosphere routinely refers to differently coloured pills, each of which refers to a different level of exposure to and/or acceptance of what these groups deem to be reality. These metaphorical pills are inspired by 1999 science-fiction movie The Matrix, in which the protagonist is offered two pills: the red shows him the reality of the world while the blue returns him to a state of ignorant bliss.

Affiliates of (typically reactionary) online communities refer to being “redpilled” as recognising and embracing their worldview, although the terminology is not solely restricted to extremist movements and needs to be understood in the broader context of how it is used.

The three most commonly referenced pills are the Red, Blue and Black Pill, outlined below.

The Red Pill

The Red Pill is used to signal that an individual accepts the worldviews put forth by whatever individual or group using the term, typically with an implication that it resists the status quo. In the context of the Manosphere, ‘taking the Red Pill’ includes beliefs such as feminism is harmful to men, that the world is biased in favour of women and that men are entitled to sex from women.

The Red Pill is both used to denote support these narratives and as a call to action to further disseminate them. A search on both mainstream social media platforms and Manosphere websites quickly uncovers videos or threads about “how to redpill” others, especially women. Some sites directly call to visitors to “take the Red Pill”, which is offered as an explanation for and solution to all the woes and ills of men (including unhappiness in marriage, unemployment or low self-esteem). Individuals that consider themselves “redpilled” may refer to negatively to those that are not as “normies” or as “bluepilled”.

The Blue Pill

The blue pill sits opposite to the red pill. To be deemed “bluepilled” is to be considered ignorant of the world. While typically a pejorative, some feminist and anti-Manosphere communities have adopted the term to satirise the Red Pill.

The Black Pill

The Black Pill is used by incels to refer to their belief that there is no way out of being an incel. Incel forums are often riddled with imagery and mentions of suicide. Common acronyms associated with being “blackpilled” include LDAR (“lie down and rot”) or “going ER”, a reference to the murders and suicide of Elliot Rodger in Isla Vista.

Gender

At the core of all Manosphere groups are reductive and misogynistic beliefs about women, feminism and gender roles. Common ideas include:

Women are driven purely by sexual desires and greed;
Traditional gender roles have been devalued by feminism, undermining society and making it revolve around women (gynocentricity),
Western women are ‘spoiled’ while women from other cultures are malleable and docile,
Women are responsible or deserve violence committed against them.

Women are driven purely by sexual desires and greed

The view of women as shallow, avaricious and uncaring is most evident in incel communities. Incels allege that women routinely have sex for the best-looking men when they are young. They are then seen to ‘settle’ for safer, wealthier men when they have had enough sexual adventures. This is often framed in terms of “alpha f*cks, beta bucks” (beta males being a common term used in the Manosphere for men who are seen as submissive both in general and specifically towards women).

However, these misogynist beliefs are also common throughout the Manosphere. Gaines’ book, Why Women Deserve Less, constructs images of women as being unreliable, cruel and obsessed with money, taking advantage of ‘chivalrous’ men. MRAs have also promoted claims that women seek to marry men and then divorce them with the aim of taking as much money and property as possible.

Traditional gender roles have been devalued by feminism, undermining society and making it revolve around women

One of the clearest summations of the Manosphere’s view of traditional gender roles comes from Gaines’s book, in which he describes an “Old Contract” between men and women: “men provided resources and protection. Women provided sex and (if wanted) children”.

These misogynist views are common throughout the Manosphere. They reduce women’s value and existence to male sexual gratification with reproduction as a secondary feature. Incels routinely degrade women as “femoids” or “foids” (a word with disputed origin, commonly understood as a portmanteau of ‘female’ and ‘android’ or ‘humanoid organism’), giving them a subhuman status. Women who are seen as unattractive because of their weight are dehumanised as “landwhales”.

Male lifestyle gurus and other Manosphere influencers also extend this belief to treating women as little more than property: in an interview, Andrew Tate said that women “are given to the man and belong to the man”.

As women’s value (to Manosphere adherents) comes from their sexuality and sexual availability, the Manosphere is particularly antagonistic towards women who have or are seen to have multiple sexual partners. Notably, this belief does not extend to men, who are instead perceived as more masculine if they have multiple partners. Incels call women who are perceived as promiscuous as “roasties”, based on a pseudo-scientific belief that women’s labia change after having sex to resemble roast beef.

Male lifestyle gurus also target women who have sex for ridicule and humiliation: Fresh and Fit routinely invites sex workers (typically OnlyFans creators) on to the podcast to humiliate them. The hosts describe women having a “high body count” (multiple sexual partners) as a red flag for whether they should be considered for a relationship. The term “holes” is also often used for sex workers throughout the Manosphere, denigrating them and further reinforcing the idea that their only value is in their bodies. The “thot audit”, a 2018 campaign which began on 4chan to report OnlyFans creators to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), also reflects the belief that women who engage in sex work deserve to be punished.

Feminism is typically seen as the root cause of the supposed disruption of the ‘normal’ relationship between men and women. Andrew Tate has described feminism as part of The Matrix, his description for a system designed to enslave and emasculate men; he has also cited the ‘feminisation’ of society due to feminism as a reason for his conversation to Islam, “the last true religion on the planet”. Bronze Age Pervert, a far-right esoteric male influencer, uses the term “the longhouse”, which has a similar meaning while attempting to build credibility through referring to historical societies. MGTOWs and others use the term “gynocentric” to describe modern Western society. Feminists are often stereotyped as unattractive, overweight, obnoxious and with unnatural dyed hair; they are also seen as seeking to block more attractive women from entering relationships out of spite.

These beliefs are not limited to Western countries. Hindu nationalist Manosphere accounts in India are often critical of feminism and women who exercise autonomy in ways that they perceive as non-traditional. The term Honda Sherni (a pun on “Hindu” and “sherni”, the Hindi word for lioness) is used to attack either women who are seen as adopting a Hindu nationalist aesthetic purely for online attention, or who are perceived as using Hindu scripture to support modern ideas such as feminism.

Western women are ‘spoiled’ and ‘corrupt’, while women from other cultures are malleable and docile

A corollary to the above belief is that women in societies without the ‘corruptive’ influence of feminism make for better sexual or even life partners. A 2013 article from Matt Forney, whose writing promotes misogynist and racist ideas, claimed to show how “American Women Are Inferior to Other Women Worldwide” on metrics such as loyalty, charm and beauty.

A common claim promoted by incels – and to a lesser degree by far-right accounts outside of the West – is that Western women routinely engage in bestiality with dogs and would prefer to continue doing so over having a relationship with an incel. The so-called “Dogpill” is used to simultaneously denigrate Western women as libidinous and to reinforce the nihilistic and hopeless beliefs of incels.

Forney’s suggestion to look for partners in countries outside of the West is part of a broader Manosphere belief; it also aligns with the longer-term trend of sex tourism. Women from certain non-Western cultures are seen as sexually submissive, docile and eager to please. These stereotypes are typically applied to east Asians, although eastern Europeans and Latin Americans are sometimes also seen as ideal partners.

There are some exceptions to the belief that Western women have been corrupted by feminism. These include:

Anti-feminist MRAs such as the Honey Badger Brigade (affiliated with AVfM) and Chloe Sunderland, who primarily echo the talking points of male MRAs,
Tradwives, women who claim to offer a curated vision of a ‘traditional’ relationship from the mid 20^th century or earlier,
Far-right influencers, who combine antipathy towards feminism with other topics including white supremacy.

Women are responsible for – or deserve – violence committed against them

Violence perpetrated against women is a theme that pervades the Manosphere. Although only more extreme communities (especially incels) are open in their support for lethal violence, calls for physical punishment are common as are attempts to downplay the severity of gender-based violence.

As noted above, incel forums regularly include fantasies about (sexual) violence against women; this is seen as both retribution for women failing to enter relationships with incels and as a warning to ‘put them in their place’. Incels who carry out attacks successfully (such as Elliot Rodger) are lauded as heroes.

There is considerable academic and political debate over whether misogynist (mass) murder should be labelled as terrorism. The perpetrator in the 2020 Toronto attack carried a note supporting an “incel rebellion”; in 2023, he was sentenced as a terrorist, the first time that gender-based violence was labelled as such. In August 2024, the UK Home Office announced that the government intended to treat misogyny as extremism.

PUAs and male lifestyle gurus have also espoused support for physical violence, usually with the aim of controlling or dominating women. In a 2014 article, Forney described “How to Beat Your Girlfriend or Wife and Get Away with It”, claimed that spanking women was the best way to “discipline” them without impacting their appearance or their ability to provide sexual pleasure. Forney also claims that women crave spanking, and that if even if a man was reported to the police it would be dismissed as rough sex.

Even among Manosphere adherents who do explicitly support violence, it is common to blame victims for the violence inflicted on them. This is especially true for sexual violence and rape, with claims that women “asked for it” based on their clothing, drinking or promiscuity. Some male supremacists claim that women owe men sex, and that failing to voluntarily engage in sex, especially in marriage, justifies rape (the Indian men’s right group SIFF was among those critical of an Indian law criminalising marital rape).

A related belief is that women systematically make false allegations of rape due to regretting consensual sexual encounters, to discredit men they dislike or disagree with, or as a form of revenge. Manosphere communities such as MRAs argue that feminist concerns about the prevalence of sexual violence are misleading, claiming instead that false allegations are common.

Multiple studies indicate that the rate of false allegations is likely to be around 2-4%, undermining these claims. Additionally, rates of successful prosecution for sexual violence remain low. Data from 2017 to 2020 suggested that less than 16% of rape victims reported sexual assault to the police in England and Wales, due to factors including embarrassment and the belief that law enforcement couldn’t help. Recent statistics from the UK suggest that under 1% of those rapes reported resulted in a conviction.

Health

Discussions of health, physical fitness and diet are obviously not the sole preserve of the Manosphere. However, many individuals put a heavy emphasis on the idea that a man’s body is strongly connected to his self-worth; in many cases, they directly profit from selling advice linked to this.

There are three primary aspects to discussions of health in the Manosphere:

Strength and status,
Sexual appeal,
A rejection of modernity, including body positivity, processed foods and mainstream medicine.

Strength and status

Although different parts of the Manosphere imagine the ideal man in varying ways, a broadly overarching emphasis is on strength. Often, this is expressed through the lens that to be a man requires physical prowess to protect himself and his family. For example, influencer Ivan Throne (who formerly went under the moniker of “Dark Triad Man”) emphasises the cruelty of the world and claims that ruthlessness is required to survive and thrive.

Being a strong man is also seen as a necessity to be a successful man, an argument often made by male lifestyle gurus who are promoting their own fitness courses. For example, an email from Andrew Tate selling his fitness training programme says that it will “REMIND [clients] TO BECOME SOMEONE OF IMPORTANCE.” In another email selling the course, Tate imagines himself as a warrior fighting “endless battles…[which he] endlessly win[s]”, contrasting himself with the unfit reader.

In some cases, Manosphere beliefs around strength directly intersect with extremism. Active Clubs (ACs) are white nationalist extremist groups that emphasise physical fitness and hand-to-hand combat, with a history of violence. They emerged from the Rise Above Movement, a California-based street-fighting group active within the alt-right movement, and use physical training to promote propaganda and recruit new members.

Sexual appeal

Across the Manosphere, health and sexual appeal are often directly linked. This reflects a general belief that women are entirely superficial; as such, members of the Manosphere believe that it is vital to be physically fit to remain in a relationship. Among a number of subgroups including male lifestyle gurus, this is often implied through the physical fitness of the influencers themselves.

Among incels, sexual appeal and fitness are often directly and explicitly linked; ‘chads’, the imagined perfect men, are nearly universally seen as muscular and fit as well as tall and white. As such, some incels focus on physical fitness in the hope of securing a relationship: if this fails to lead to a relationship, it is used as further evidence that women are looking for idealised men.

Incels also pursue other methods to take on the appearance that they believe is most attractive to women. The concept of looksmaxxing, now a general term to refer to care taken in physical appearance (including hygiene and dress sense) originated among incels. At its most extreme, looksmaxxing can include unnecessary and potentially dangerous surgical interventions to alter eye shape, sharpen jawlines or even lengthen legs.

A rejection of modernity, including body positivity, processed foods and mainstream medicine

A more esoteric facet of the Manosphere focuses on the idea that to be healthy is to reject modern values in favour of traditional ones. This is most evident among esoteric male lifestyle gurus such as Bronze Age Pervert, whose politics of aesthetic and identity is based around a hypermasculine male form. Maintaining a classically attractive body is seen as a reactionary statement, contrasted with a more liberal culture which accepts body positivity.

The modern diet is another target for the Manosphere. It is important to note that not everyone concerned about the quality of modern food is inherently a part of the Manosphere. Nevertheless, Bronze Age Pervert and similar gurus have often referred to the work of Ray Peat, an author whose most famous claim is that seed oils are dangerous for humans. Other influencers emphasise the importance of raw milk or support the carnivore diet (a highly limited plan usually restricted largely to meat, fish and eggs). The explanations for these diets are sometimes woven into elaborate conspiracy theories that rising rates of obesity are part of a government plan to weaken populations.

Connections to extremist movements

Although the Manosphere is not completely subsumed by the far-right, there are strong overlaps in many areas. Far-right groups – including Christian nationalists and neo-Nazis – often share beliefs that women are inferior to men and should be relegated to the domestic sphere. These beliefs are echoed by “redpilled” Islamists as well as esoteric influencers. Key themes in this section include:

Iconography,
Hierarchy of races,
Esoteric influencers,
Islamism and the Manosphere.

Iconography

Incel forums commonly include far-right, neo-Nazi imagery alongside other violent aesthetics. As noted below, racism is rife in incel communities (although as many incels at claim to be non-white, it is a nuanced topic). As such, the use of these images should be seen at least in part as deliberately shocking. It is also important to reflect on the increasingly amorphous nature of online subcultures and forums. Incels may be part of far-right spaces which lack formal membership or structures, and may simply pick up these ideas and aesthetics through exposure. Moreover, while this iconography emerged from far-right spaces, it has increasingly spread through other extremist groups – ISD’s research into digital Salafist extremists found the use of imagery which was created originally by far-right and white nationalist users (the online Salafist ecosystem is discussed more below).

Hierarchy of races

Globally, far-right political parties and politicians have increasingly drawn on longstanding narratives that black men are inherently violent and hypersexual; since at least the start of the 21^st, century these tropes have increasingly also been applied to Muslim men.

Elements of this belief appear throughout the Manosphere, often linked to beliefs in white supremacy as well as anti-migrant sentiments. For example, during the 2024 anti-migrant riots in the UK, Andrew Tate drew parallels between far-right protesters and Palestinians, arguing both were facing displacement – an argument based on the white supremacist Great Replacement conspiracy theory. Tate also used an image to suggest that the Southport stabbing attacker was a Muslim who had arrived illegally by boat; in reality, the attacker was a Christian of Rwandan origin who had grown up in the UK. Tate himself has converted to Islam and is mixed race.

Among incels, racism is a prevalent but highly complex topic. White men are held up to be inherently the most attractive, while black men are seen as attractive to women through a white supremacist lens of hypersexuality. Many incels at least claim to be south Asian or east Asian; they often blame their failures to form relationships on their appearance as a result of their ethnicity, and also claim that their ethnicity insulates them from being racist. However, the community often reproduces far-right beliefs: for example, treating black and Muslim men as inherently sexually violent. As such, if a woman is sexually assaulted by a black or Muslim partner, it is seen as a failure on their part to understand the risk of being with these men. Incels use the white supremacist phrase “burn the coal, pay the toll” to refer to violence committed by black men in particular.

Women are also subject to racial hierarchies. White Western women are seen as tainted by feminism but eastern European counterparts are viewed as combining a conservative culture with idealised looks (at its most extreme, this crosses into anti-miscegenation propaganda and a distaste for “race-mixing”).

Far-right voices often emphasise the importance of protecting white women who are seen as being at risk as part of wider demographic changes (such as The Great Replacement). On X, for example, far-right accounts worship the diversity of white women (shown through various eye colours) and contrast it with non-white women (shown as all having brown eyes). Among non-white women, east Asians are seen as meeting both imagined beauty standards; by contrast, black women are seen as simultaneously hypersexual and unattractive.

Esoteric influencers

Some online influencers use esoteric or ancient traditions to support their beliefs; among the most successful is Bronze Age Pervert (BAP). BAP makes use of works from Classical Antiquity to construct a worldview that is anti-feminist and misogynist. In his work, he states that the failures of the modern world stem from “the participation of women in political life.” Bronze Age Pervert refers to modern society as ‘the longhouse’, an imagined matriarchy. BAP’s most famous work, Bronze Age Mindset, also includes explicit racism, describing migrants as “dwarf-like zombies …imported for slave labor and political agitation from the fly-swept latrines of the world.” BAP has been noted as highly popular as a far-right thought leader.

Islamism and the Manosphere

Although far-right extremists have the most obvious crossover with the Manosphere, other extremist movements overlap based on shared misogyny and opposition to other social changes viewed as progressive or ‘degenerate’. In 2022, Andrew Tate announced his conversion to Islam, having previously expressed his admiration for conservative, patriarchal forms of the faith.

Beyond Tate, ISD has found overlaps between the far right, extremist Islamist communities and the Manosphere in “Islamogram” – online communities of young Salafist extremist communities which blend alt-right memes, gaming subcultures and Islamist beliefs. Members of Islamogram believe that women should be relegated to the domestic sphere; they also see a shared fight with the far-right, based on opposition to feminism, LGBTQ+ rights as well as deep-rooted antisemitism.

The ‘Manosphere’

Major groupings

Pick-up artists

Incels

Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW)

Men’s Rights Activists

Male lifestyle gurus

Key Themes

Pills

The Red Pill

The Blue Pill

The Black Pill

Gender

Women are driven purely by sexual desires and greed

Traditional gender roles have been devalued by feminism, undermining society and making it revolve around women

Western women are ‘spoiled’ and ‘corrupt’, while women from other cultures are malleable and docile

Women are responsible for – or deserve – violence committed against them

Health

Strength and status

Sexual appeal

A rejection of modernity, including body positivity, processed foods and mainstream medicine

Connections to extremist movements

Iconography

Hierarchy of races

Esoteric influencers

Islamism and the Manosphere

Further Reading

General reading

Academic reading:

Major groupings

Pick-up artists

Incels

Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW)

Men’s Rights Activists

Male lifestyle gurus

Key Themes

Pills

The Red Pill

The Blue Pill

The Black Pill

Gender

Women are driven purely by sexual desires and greed

Traditional gender roles have been devalued by feminism, undermining society and making it revolve around women

Western women are ‘spoiled’ and ‘corrupt’, while women from other cultures are malleable and docile

Women are responsible for – or deserve – violence committed against them

Health

Strength and status

Sexual appeal

A rejection of modernity, including body positivity, processed foods and mainstream medicine

Connections to extremist movements

Iconography

Hierarchy of races

Esoteric influencers

Islamism and the Manosphere

Further Reading

General reading

Academic reading:

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