The Manosphere

A frightening subculture

Louis Theroux is a British documentarian who has a solid reputation for being confrontational in just the right way, so that he gets to the truth without being overly obnoxious or offensive. So I was eager to take in his latest project, Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere, because it takes on a topic that is very near and dear to my heart, which is the many different ways that masculinity is being conveyed in today’s culture.

Theroux takes a deep dive into one of the more troubling subcultures of masculinity, which has been referred to as ‘the manosphere,’ and consists mostly of young men who have embraced the notion that men have been emasculated by the woke culture, and that we need to take back our power. Sadly, their approach to this whole notion is about as horrific and offensive as you can possibly imagine. Theroux was able to procure interviews with some of the most successful influencers in this arena, and they all tout much the same philosophy, which is that the bible specifically states that men are meant to be the dominant figure in relationships, and that women are really much more comfortable being told what to do and how to think. Most of these guys don’t think women should have the right to vote. They also believe in ‘one way monogamy,’ which means that their wives/girlfriends are expected to be monogamous, but they are not.

Part of Theroux’s genius is that he really manages to gain the trust of his subjects, so that they spew their views without any filters, basically exposing every hole in their logic. And Theroux is also very good at finding just the right moment to corner the partners of these men so that he can get to the bottom of how they really feel about their romantic arrangements.

I actually don’t want to name any of the influencers, because I don’t think they deserve any more publicity (and obscene wealth) than they’re already getting. But after one of them tells Theroux that he is eventually planning to take on more than one wife, Theroux later brings this up to the wife, in front of her husband, and it’s clearly news to her. We later learn that the couple is no longer together.

These men also spew the usual conspiracy theories about the Jews, and they are, not surprisingly, all Trump supporters, many happy to display photos of themselves at Mar a Lago, or standing next to him with that stupid thumbs up pose.

The manner in which Theroux manages to break down their beliefs and reduce each of them to muttering insults when they have no other defense is masterful, and it’s especially pathetic when one of them resorts to referring to Theroux’s connection to Jimmy Saville, which is just weird, because it was Theroux who was instrumental in exposing Saville as one of the worst child predators in British history.

The thing that’s interesting to me about this whole phenomenon is that these men are preying on a segment of the population that really could use some guidance right now. There is countless data to suggest that being a young man in today’s America means, for the first time in our history, that they don’t have the same opportunities that their parents did. For the first time in our history, a generation of American men are worse off than their fathers were. So for these men to focus on the need for men to take control of their own life has a lot of appeal, not to mention a kernel of truth. But it is the way they suggest these men go about it that is particularly ugly. While they present their ‘product’ as a way for men to build themselves up, they are all basically presenting a pyramid scheme where they are the only ones who get wealthy.

And of course there is the misogyny. One of these guys invited Theroux to sit in on an episode of his podcast, where the other guests were all women who had Only Fans accounts, and the guy proceeded to belittle these women as much as he possibly could during the course of the conversation, finding ways to show their lack of intellect, or criticizing the fact that they have had to resort to Only Fans to make a living.

Like their favorite role model, each of these guys displays just the opposite of what it really means to be a man, which to me means being respectful of others, and taking others’ views into account. As well as taking responsibility for our actions, especially if we hurt others. For these guys, that’s part of the sport of it. In fact, one guy featured a live stream of himself and his buddies beating the shit out of a guy they entrapped into meeting them under false pretenses.

Just like the beloved president, these guys not only revel in other peoples’ misery, they actually go out of their way to cause it.

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