The Manosphere
The rise of the Manosphere can be traced to the feminism of the 1960's, which was triggered by the widespread availability of oral contraception. The status of women was due for an overhaul, and in the revolutionary spirit of the 1960's, women decided it was their time to throw off the chains of male society. As Mao Tse-Tung so eloquently put it, "Women hold up half the sky." However, in every struggle for power, there are exaggerations. Some feminist battle cries declared that all men were rapists, a pill hard to swallow for the average man and this left many men asking what it was that women wanted. As the first excesses of feminism waned, most men admitted it was time women were given their fair share of power and credit, but there were some men who resented every advance for women because it meant a retreat for them.
In primitive societies, men were responsible for certain needs of the tribe and women for others, but when women declared themselves as equal and wanted to participate in male rituals, to go hunting or to war, men saw this as not only an encroachment on their traditional roles, but as a way for women to neglect their duties like cooking, cleaning, and child raising. This was an invalid argument because we know in many societies, female duties are shared collectively, leaving some women free to participate in men's activities while their sisters stayed home to look after children and gather or tend crops. Most children grow up with some knowledge of so-called Amazon women, who were dedicated to protecting their tribe and were willing to sacrifice half of their feminine attributes (a breast) so using a bow in hunts or battle was less awkward.
Men have long excluded women from traditional male pursuits because they were not physically strong enough, but our experience of women in Olympic competitions have shown that in a contest of strength, a woman shot putter could make short work of a male marathon runner. Women can be as effective as men in battle as demonstrated by women Kurdish fighters. A woman who grows up and is trained as a warrior, makes a better combatant than a man who has been conscripted as cannon fodder.
As men see women gaining in strength, they perceive it as undermining their own. They don't want their rituals and traditions taken over by women. Although it is tolerated in some circles, a group of raucous football fans are inhibited by having a woman in their midst even if she is as loud and aggressive as they are They don't want women to be too much like men, and think these women should stick to their lane. Anyone who has seen a group of women on a bar crawl, knows that women can be just as out of control and obnoxious as men, but women's groups like that don't want a man in their midst (unless he is gay) because he acts as a damper on their behaviour. In the last decade of the 20th century a book and film came out called "Sleeping With the Enemy", a story of a woman escaping an abusive husband. This labelling of men as the enemy didn't sit well with many men, who found their habitual roles eroded, but didn't know what they were supposed to be. Women's magazines went on at length about the perfect man who would be strong but sensitive. They wanted a man who would be open about his feelings, though this was a trait that was not wanted in male dominated societies. Women have always had each other as confidantes and exploit the bond with their sisters to help them carry the burdens life deals them. A man's nature, as is obvious in the animal kingdom, is to view other males as competitors for the females and therefore as potential threats. Sharing their feelings with other men is a display of weakness, a dangerous advantage to give to their enemies. In the wild, females are usually cooperative, while the males stand apart from each other, waiting for one of their brothers to weaken so they can dominate.
The word "Manosphere" came along in the second decade of the twenty-first century when social media became ubiquitous, but the roots of a men's liberation movement followed quickly on the heels of 1960s feminism. Fathers in divorce proceedings felt women were being unfairly favoured and men financially punished by the courts. The diverse elements that now make up the Manosphere were a reaction to men losing their influence over women. Men's groups began to form, calling themselves Men's Rights Activists, Incels, Men Going Their Own Way, and Father's Rights. The common thread in all of these groups is men's belief that society has been turned on its head by feminism and that it now promotes the hatred of men. As women organized nighttime protest marches called "Take Back The Streets," men believed they were pushed out of what little territory left to them. Women had taken over their sports, their workplaces, their governments, schools, and streets, and even traditional men's clubs were forced by the law to admit women. Men were like cornered animals with no real outlet, purpose, or safe all-male place to go. They were expected to be mindless sperm donors and uncomplaining financial providers with no rights of their own. Many women believe this was just and right as men had been in control for too long so now it was their turn to dominate. In online branches of the Manosphere, men found community, but it was a community based on grievance. Men didn't see any problem with this because feminism in its 1960's incarnation, had been just as radical.
Many who frequent the Manosphere, think there are male spheres of interest where women aren't welcome. The tech world is governed by men, extreme sports are a place where men can freely express their testosterone-fuelled aggression. Although most women are probably more able than men to extract consensus from a group, many men don't believe women should be in politics. In the US there has never been a woman president as most men believe a woman would be too emotional to act rationally in a crisis. At the moment, the US is in a deep depression of poverty and unavailable housing, and many men believe it is unfair that the weak, disabled, and disadvantaged should be favoured by being allowed to the front of the line. Men are more inclined to believe in the survival of the fittest, and they see not only women, but also emasculated men, as not fit to govern.
Although some of these ideas of men as victims of an unjust society have always been around, it wasn't until the Internet entered every household, that these groups have been able to easily communicate and bolster each other's theories. The more radical of these groups promote slogans directed at women like "You body, my choice," as a counter to the women's pro-abortion movement who chant "My body, my choice." Some are radical enough to bring back the old idea that women are the property of men, that they should stay in the kitchen, look after the man's children, and keep their mouths shut. This extreme propaganda is not surprising as it flips on its head the things that so-called progressive women have said about men.
There has always been a battle of the sexes, with women and men wanting different things, but religion has stoked this war. It is an odd dichotomy that the church is governed by men but the most devoted believers are women. Men are more skeptical of the imaginary. Yet it has been male dominated religion that promoted the ideas of monogamous marriage, sexual fidelity, humility, forgiveness, and honesty. With the scandals that have beset the church, many men have become disillusioned with organized religion and all of its teachings, yet they still claim to be the children of God.
Some in the Manosphere believe America has gone soft and weak because of the influence of women. The US declares itself to be a Christian country, with some presidents insisting a person who is not a Christian cannot be a patriotic American. An unusual phenomenon is taking place these days is an uptake of young men joining the Russian Orthodox church because they consider it more masculine. The American adherents to this religion believe it is not right for men to indulge in such female habits as wearing skinny jeans, crossing their legs, using an iron, shaping their eyebrows, or eating soup. Many of these new adherents see Russian men as superior examples of masculinity because they weren't subjected to the most extreme forms of feminism. Unfortunately, many of these restrictive binary attitudes overlap with a belief in white supremacy, racism, and Christian nationalism which are not only toxic to women but society as a whole. There is now a stalemate in the skirmish of men against women, which is a reflection of a wider polarization in society.
As people look around them these days they see the eroding of male and female stereotypes as many young people declare themselves to be gender fluid. To those in the Manosphere this is everyday visual evidence of the eroding of traditional values. Given the alarming American statistics that every 45 seconds, a youth who is struggling to find their comfortable gender or sexual orientation, attempts suicide. These lost souls see no role models, nobody in society that is an example of how they wish to be when they grow up. Young men may feel masculine but have been brought up by their mothers to love and appreciate women, but at the same time they feel emasculated by them. Other young men may sense they were born in the wrong body and have nothing to look forward to but a lifetime of abuse if they follow their instincts. Although men in the Manosphere are against anything that smacks of transexuality, they are not so harsh on gay men. They may have a revulsion to being approached for sex by a gay man, but they understand the man to man rapport and feel comfortable and justified in saying "No," without their response being judged in a negative way. They may turn up their noses as effeminate gays, but they are barely aware that there are a lot of men who are sexually attracted to other men, who adopt clothes, habits, and lifestyles that are even more male fetishised than those in the Manosphere themselves. They can hardly imagine that a handsome man with a beard or moustache, dressed in leather, riding a motorbike, one who embodies what the masculinity, a real man, are actually lovers of men. This segment of the gay community has found its equilibrium, which in the old days was called straight acting, not to conceal anything but because they were born male and feel male in their souls and bodies. They have no need for women, which aligns with the Manosphere's attitude, but they cannot be part of the Manosphere because they are happy with their male fetishes and have no wish to make women subservient.
My belief is that when one sphere pits itself against another for reactionary and illogical reasons, there are no winners, only losers.
