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The Manosphere and Mental Health

Gender-based violence, hate, and discrimination against vulnerable communities have a negative impact on the mental health and well-being of everyone.

Published: July 2025

Less than a year ago, a survey conducted by the gender-based violence prevention organization White Ribbon and pollster Angus Reid found the majority of Canadians were completely unfamiliar with the “manosphere”— a digital space that watchdogs say is being used to promote hateful and misogynistic views amongst young men.  

Likely the number of Canadians who are aware of the manosphere is higher now, thanks, largely, to the widely viewed Adolescence, a critically acclaimed British crime drama that aired on Netflix in early 2025 and sparked a conversation about the manosphere. Despite this, there are still significant gaps in understanding this unwieldy space and the impact that some of the discourse spread within it might have on gender-based violence, women, 2SLGBTQI+ people, and other vulnerable communities, and the well-being of boys and young men. 

What is the Manosphere?

The “manosphere” is the name given to a large, but loose, network of men’s groups that communicate online via these tools and spaces: 

  • Podcasts and webcasts
  • Blogs
  • Websites
  • Online forums, such as Reddit
  • Gaming platforms
  • Social media, including (but not limited to) TikTok and Instagram
  • There’s no one philosophy uniting the manosphere. Broadly speaking, most of the content creators and influencers trade in a combination of anti-feminism, misogyny, and a distorted view of self-improvement rooted in hypermasculinity, dominance, and control.
  • While a few groups frame their content as serious reflections on masculinity, much of the manosphere thrives on sensationalism – selling male victimhood and hyper-masculine posturing as both identity and profit model.
  • Since digital media is an attention economy, influencers are incentivized to be more extreme to increase engagement. Many use abusive language and promote misogyny, anti-2SLGBTQI+ rhetoric, transphobia, and hatred of refugee and other newcomer communities.   

How Did the Manosphere Start?  

The origins of the manosphere have been traced back to men’s rights movements established in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the backlash against Second Wave Feminism that saw women make some gains. Many members of men’s rights groups singled out feminism as the main cause of a range of social problems. 

The Backlash Goes Digital

Men’s rights groups eventually migrated online and were joined by others, including fathers’ rights groups, pick-up artists, and incels (involuntary celibates) and, by 2009, it was being called the “manosphere.” Compared with the 1970s backlash that used face-to-face meetings, print media, radio, and television to make its argument, the manosphere has a much wider reach, especially with young people, many of whom own tablets and smartphones and have unsupervised access to the internet. 

  • “It’s the reach, but it’s also the private aspect of digital media, so parents don’t necessarily know what their kids are doing online,” says Kyle Ganson, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.
  • Since the algorithms are built around engagement and play a major role in what we see on digital media, Ganson says you can very quickly get “thrown down a rabbit hole without really intending to.”  
  • Since the manosphere can be big business, it’s always targeting new members, no matter what their age. “We’ve seen reports that show boys getting involved in these kinds of groups at ages younger than 14, so we’re talking about eight- to 14-year-olds who are already active members,” says Humberto Carolo, White Ribbon Chief Executive Officer.  

The Manosphere and Mental Health

Online discussions of masculinity don’t inherently pose risks to mental health, but some of the specific sites and content can have an impact on the well-being of boys and young men. In addition, there are negative mental health outcomes felt in communities impacted by increased discrimination, stigmatization, and gender-based violence that is encouraged in some parts of the manosphere. 

Here are some of the negative mental health outcomes that experts are concerned about. 

  • Body Dysmorphia and Self-Harm – The “looksmaxxing” community is a corner of the manosphere that sees six million users per month visit looksmaxing sites in the hopes that they’ll get tips on how to become better-looking, more masculine – as defined by other users, who also rate photos of men to determine their attractiveness. Recent research at Dalhousie University has found that the looksmax community “subjects users to masculine demoralization, wherein they are seen as failed men and encouraged to self‐harm.” 
  • Rage and Aggression – A certain amount of rage is built into some discourses found in the manosphere. “Young people start believing that 2SLGBTQI+ people, women, newcomers, and refugee communities are to blame for men’s challenges and problems,” says Humberto Carolo. “They start to think they’ve been left behind and don’t have access to resources and a rage starts to emerge.”
  • Violence Against Vulnerable Communities – Because the algorithm rewards engagement—both good and bad—and content producers are trying to grow an audience for profit; some influencers slowly drift into extreme territory. Dehumanization, hate speech, and violent rhetoric aren’t uncommon.

There’s plenty of concern that some young men and boys are radicalized and prompted to violent actions by what they see and hear. In 2018, a 25-year-old man, inspired by an online misogynistic community, posted that the “Incel rebellion had begun” before he used a van to run over pedestrians on a sidewalk in Toronto’s North York. Ten died; 16 were injured. 

Gender-based violence, hate, and discrimination against vulnerable communities have a negative impact on the mental health and well-being of everyone. Negative content can lead to serious ramifications.

Harm Prevention: What Steps Can We Take 

Learning more about the manosphere, including some of the language commonly used, can help parents identify potential problems early.

  • A good introduction is the “My Friend, Max Hate” campaign launched earlier this year by White Ribbon. It contains an introductory glossary of words from the manosphere, including terms like “red pilling,” and “hustle bros”. Max Hate is also on TikTok. 
  • The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has an excellent primer on the manosphere. 

Parents, families, educators, guardians, and all role models can help young people navigate digital media by having open and honest conversations and teaching them media literacy, says Kyle Ganson. Here are a few of Ganson’s concrete tips: 

  • Explain to kids that social media is just a very small snippet of what the real world is actually like. 
  • Teach them how to unfollow and unlike particular things to train the algorithm to be more attuned to what they actually want.
  • Instead of making it about oversight, make it more like going on a journey with them that you can help navigate, Ganson says. “Remember they’re trying to figure out their place in the world, their identity and fit in with their peers, so not stigmatizing or shaming them is really important.”
  • One guideline Ganson suggests is a “no screens in the bedroom rule.” If it’s used in an open space like the living room, it’s a little less private. It will also curb tech-induced sleep disorders.  
  • Concerned parents should consider joining other parents in the friend group and talking about setting social media rules and boundaries as a group. 

“I think the other thing is actively promoting what you want your kids to do,” says Ganson. “So that means, for parents of young boys, how do you teach them the values of manhood and masculinity? Ultimately, kids learn by viewing. They learn by seeing their parents and other male figures in their lives.”

And that falls to more than just parents, says White Ribbon’s Humberto Carolo. 

“We need men, in particular, to speak out against this so that we help to drown these hateful ideologies and provide young men with good examples of what it means to be supportive and what it means to live healthy masculinities,” says Carolo. “We need examples for how to open up and talk to those around us about our issues and deal with our emotions in healthier ways.

Resources

  • Educators, coaches, and all role models can find resources, definitions, and tools on the My Friend Max Hate site, a campaign from White Ribbon.
  • White Ribbon, an organization formed after the 1989 anti-feminist École Polytechnique mass shooting in Montreal that left 14 women dead, and 14 others injured (men and women), has many tools and resources for everything from allyship and learning about consent on its website. and on healthy masculinities on its Instagram account.
  • In Nova Scotia, a school-based program, Guys Work, was established in 2012 to help young men examine how traditional masculinity norms can impact their health and the health of their peers.
  • NextGenMen brings its Cards of Masculinity program into schools, communities and workplaces to help men and boys open up and challenge the status quo and reevaluate widely held ideas about gender norms. 
  • Man|Made, a four-week course in London, Ontario, helps peer leaders and young men become agents of change in the creation of a world without violence. 

Further Resources

  • CBC Gem aired a documentary, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, on the manosphere in 2024. 
  • Also in 2024, Télé Québec released Alphas, another documentary that explores the manosphere. 
  • The Institute for Strategic Dialogue offers a deep dive into the lexicon of the manosphere, outlines the main communities involved and has a list of links for further reading. 

Reviewed By

  • Humberto Carolo, a globally recognized gender-based violence prevention expert and the chief executive officer for White Ribbon who focuses on engaging men and boys as allies in promoting gender equality and healthy masculinities. A former co-chair and current board member of the Global MenEngage Alliance, Humberto is a founding member of the North American MenEngage Network and has developed significant cross-cultural experience in diverse settings, including in Brazil, Cape Verde, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Zambia and Ethiopia. He serves on the External Advisory Council for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre and is a member of the Ontario Government’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, as well as the Religions for Peace Standing Commission on Advancing Gender Equality.

  • Kyle T. Ganson, PhD, MSW, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. His research focuses on eating disorders, muscle dysmorphia, and muscle-building behaviours among adolescents and young adults, particularly boys and young men. Dr. Ganson is the principal investigator of the Canadian Study of Adolescent Health Behaviors, a national, longitudinal study of health behaviours, including eating disorders and muscle-building behaviours, among Canadian adolescents and young adults across all 13 provinces and territories in Canada. Dr. Ganson has published more than 122 peer-reviewed academic papers in leading adolescent health, eating disorder, body image, and substance use journals. His research has been featured on the CBC, CTV News, U.S. News and World Report, Healthline, and The Guardian, among others. Dr. Ganson has over 10 years of direct clinical social work practice experience and he teaches clinical social work courses to MSW students.

  • David Garzon is the Director of Marketing and Communications at White Ribbon. It is the world’s largest movement of men and boys working to end all forms of gender-based violence and discrimination. Through global campaigns and educational initiatives, White Ribbon promotes gender equity and delivers workshops and programs to schools, workplaces, governments, international institutions, and communities around the world. David is in charge of developing and implementing strategic marketing and communication initiatives to engage various partners, promote philanthropy efforts, and raise awareness about the organization’s goals and impact. David has worked in Bolivia, Guatemala, and Colombia, delivering workshops and implementing projects on gender equity, masculinities, 2SLGBTQI+ rights, gender-based violence, feminism, youth empowerment, health, and fair trade. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Latin American and Caribbean studies from York University, a certificate in Critical Reflections on Masculinities from the Center for Social Research, Technology and Capacity Building.