With Andrew Tate’s arrest, a look at the ‘manosphere’ he inhabited

Over the years, he has become a leading figure of the so-called manosphere — an online network of blogs, websites, forums and content creators, where men not only talk about fitness, health and dating but also propagate anti-feminist and anti-women ideologies.

Consisting mostly of those who believe that men, predominantly white men, are under attack, manosphere as a term is believed to have appeared in 2009 when a blog of the same name began. However, it became part of popular culture in 2013 after Ian Ironwood, an author and pornography marketer, published a collection of blogs and forums about “male issues, and masculine interests” as a book, titled The Manosphere: A New Hope For Masculinity.

The manosphere has been a subject of intense discussions for its association with online harassment, violence against women and, in some instances, mass shootings.

The Indian Express takes a look at how it has evolved over the years and what groups are part of it.

The Origin

Manosphere traces its roots to the late 1970s when the UK and the US witnessed the propping up of the men’s rights movement (MRM), which opposed the second-wave of feminism — the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s that focused on equal rights and the daily discrimination faced by them in personal and professional lives.

The MRM consisted of men’s rights activists (MRAs), who denounced such progressive sexual and cultural revolutions of that era. They believed with the blurring of gender lines, men became emasculated and feminised which led to their subjugation by women. Seeking the return of traditional masculinity, MRAs considered feminism as a threat to fatherhood and family values.

They also believed that state institutions and their policies related to divorce and child support favoured women while discriminating against men and boys. MRAs, most infamously, also sought the dismantling of domestic violence services that protected women, which they presumed to be providing an unfair social advantage to them.

With the emergence of the digital world, MRAs quickly occupied online spaces to bully and harass women and feminists. Today, they make up a crucial part of the manosphere.

Groups under the manosphere

Apart from MRAs, several other groups congregate within the manosphere but the three most prominent ones are men going their own way (MGTOW), pick-up artists (PUAs) and involuntary celibates (incels).

*MGTOW emerged around the mid-2000s and is believed to be started by two men, who went by the pseudonyms Solaris (an Australian) and Ragnar (a Scandinavian, who described himself as “an old guy” and a former pilot), according to The Guardian report published in 2020.

This community’s men avoid any kind of relationship, including romantic and sexual ones, with women — a process known as “going monk” — because they believe that male/female interaction always results in women exploiting men.

*PUAs are men who typically use psychological manipulation, coercion and flattery to date or have sex with women. Although the community’s origin goes back to 1977 when Eric Weber’s book How to Pick Up Girls was launched, it came to the mainstream after the publication of Neil Strauss’s 2005 international bestseller The Game, which sold 2.5 million copies, The Guardian report said.

According to feminists, PUAs see women as mere sex objects. With the help of murky and nefarious tactics to “trick” women into having sex with them, these men hold the belief that women are shallow and attracted to them solely based on looks and money.

*Incels are potentially the most violent group in the manosphere. The group was established in the 1990s by a woman named Alana, who was based in Canada. In a bid to bring together people who had limited experience with romantic relationships and sex, she started a website, Alana’s Involuntary Celibacy Project. However, it quickly morphed into an underground community associated with violence against women and extreme misogyny.

The term incel is used for a man who blames women for his own lack of sexual activity and resents them for it. Incels believe life has been unfair to them as they aren’t good-looking enough and don’t have material wealth to lure women.

The group exploded into public consciousness in 2014 when a 22-year-old man, Elliot Rodger, killed six people and blamed women who had condemned him to “an existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires”. Since then, there have been several attacks by people who identify as incels.

A 2020 study, The Evolution of the Manosphere Across the Web, found that over the past decade, the number of men identifying as MRAs and MGTOW—traditionally older and less violent—has been declining while younger, more toxic PUA and incel communities have seen a spike, MIT Technology Review reported.

Terminology of the manosphere

Much like any other community with a devoted but insular following, the manosphere is also known to have a lot of obscure jargon used in common discussions. Below is a short guide to manosphere terminology.

*Red pill and blue pill analogy come from the movie ‘The Matrix’ in which Keanu Reeves’ character, Neo, is asked to make a choice between the red pill and blue pill. Much like in the film, taking the red pill means accepting the reality — in the manosphere it means you accept that women oppress men — while choosing the blue pill translates to remaining in the clutches of feminism.

*Black pill is an extension of the red pill and blue pill analogy. It refers to a defeatist and fatalistic worldview that if you’re physically unattractive, you’re unworthy of love. No matter what you do in your lifetime, nothing can change your fate and your relationships with women are destined to fail.

*Sexual market value refers to someone’s level of desirability in “the dating market”.

*Chads are those men who are sexually active and successful.

*Stacys refers to those women who are attractive and “promiscuous”.

*Gynocentrism is the belief that the world is female-centric and that women are uniquely privileged because society favours their interests.

*Misandry is hatred of or prejudice against men.