Anyone who has been online for more than a few hours has probably come across the term “manosphere”. The manosphere, also known as “red pill” content, is a philosophy of ultra-masculine men who teach other young men how to accumulate wealth, get women, and be a “real” man. Perhaps most popularized by convicted sex trafficker Andrew Tate, the manosphere is only growing in popularity. In his latest documentary, Louis Theroux interviewed many of these manosphere influencers to find out what drives them and what type of content they are truly creating.
Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is far from the first documentary Theroux has made about problematic (to put it lightly) cultures. His previous work includes titles such as The Most Hated Family in America, Louis and the Nazis, and The Ultra Zionists. The combination of his agreeable demeanor and penchant for asking hard questions straightforwardly makes him a great interviewer in these situations. Leveraging the cockiness of many of his interview subjects, Theroux created an exposing documentary that shows just how scary these sections of the internet can be.
Influence with Integrity
The manosphere is no longer contained to just 4Chan and other niche sites the same way the incel culture that led to Gamergate in the mid-2010s was. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter all use their algorithms to push “shocking” content into the feed of impressionable young boys and men. The insidiousness is intentional. When asked why he doesn’t behave himself and act kindly online, British influencer HStikkytokky said, “If I just done good things, I would never have really blown up on social media in the first place”. He’s aware of how to use shock content to get a boost for the algorithm and he doesn’t care who it hurts. When pressed on the impact, he said, “I’m not livin’ for other people, I’m livin’ for myself”.
I hope that this documentary, which came out on Netflix on March 11th, will have an impact on parents of young children. It’s hard for people who didn’t grow up with such constant messaging to realize exactly how evil and manipulative red pill content can be. Knowing these people are out there and what they are preaching can help parents to make informed decisions about their children’s screen time and role models. After all, HStikkytokky and his friends don’t care who gets hurt, they’re just in it for themselves.
A Culture of Hypocrites
One terrifying aspect of manosphere culture that Theroux exposes is how hypocritical these men are. Not only do they believe in “one-way monogamy” where the man can sleep with whoever they want and the woman must remain loyal only to them, they are uncomfortable talking about it. Despite Theroux not changing facial expressions, multiple men immediately became defensive when discussing the topic.
When non-monogamy came up in front of Hamza Ahmed’s girlfriend, he backtracked from his previous position of wanting multiple wives in a matter of minutes. Ahmed hosts the most popular manosphere podcast out there, but his girlfriend implied a lot of it was an act for the cameras. While these men may be acting or exaggerating their personalities for clicks, the millions of people who look up to them are not. The whole idea behind the manosphere is that these are strong masculine men who broke out of the “matrix” and are living a dominant lifestyle. The thing is, they’re actually deeply insecure men who will yell at women but avoid answering questions.
Theroux also made it his mission to point out the lack of integrity these men hold. HStikkytokky says that if he had a sex worker daughter, he would disown her. He does, however, own a management company that represents OnlyFans girls and regularly has them in the background of his content. Not only that, but he records videos of girls sucking his dick and posts them—which is quite literally sex work. He claims that what he does with managing the girls is different because he hates them and only does it for money. To which I might say, don’t most (if not all) sex workers do it for the money?
Making Money Like a Man
In addition to working with OnlyFans girls, manosphere influencers make their money by exploiting people online. This was the most fascinating part of the documentary for me, a person who already knew more than I’d like to about the manosphere before watching. While I knew many of these people sold non-FDA approved supplements, I didn’t realize people like HStikkytokky have financial platforms where they urge you to invest in losing causes and then take an additional cut of what you invest. In many ways, the manosphere is a multi-level marketing scheme for “manly” men—an MMMLM, if you will.
These are scammers and frauds who are encouraging men to send them their money, and now they’re worth millions of dollars. They don’t make their money in legitimate ways, with multiple influencers not even bothering to buy houses and instead renting properties costing tens of thousands of dollars a month. It raises the question of how much of their finances is actually a lie for the cameras. After all, if you were worth 50 million wouldn’t you own at least one house?
I felt genuinely sick watching this documentary and seeing the content that is getting fed to people on a regular basis. It’s disgusting and a vile indictment on our society as a whole. Still, despite how painful it is to watch, I do recommend viewing Inside the Manosphere. Louis Theroux is a talented interviewer and documentarian, and you’re sure to learn at least one thing in the 90 minute viewing.
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