Syracuse, NY (NCC News) — As younger people spend more time than ever scrolling on TikTok, there is a risk of them falling into a pipeline of harmful communities. One of social media’s most notorious communities is known as the “manosphere.” Here is an example of what the manosphere is.
In a TikTok created by the user Marvin Johnson1602, he says, “Women say they don’t need men, but of course they do. Otherwise, who would they work for? Men invent everything, men create everything, men own everything, so what would women do without men?”
Messages like this one circulate social media, gathering popularity in an online community known as the manosphere.
The Cambridge dictionary defines the manosphere as “websites and internet discussion groups that are concerned with men’s interests and rights as opposed to women’s, often connected with opposition to feminism or dislike of women.”
The manosphere is predominantly full of men who often refer to themselves as “incels,” short for involuntary celibate. The online community is also known as the red pill community, which will often promote male interest at the expense of women, using the ideas of masculinity, prosperity, and monetary success in society as goals that their audience of generally young men would follow.
Transcript
ON TIKTOK, YOU MAY NOT NOTICE BETWEEN THE DANCE VIDEO’S AND CELEBRITY
BLOGS A SMALL GROUP DELIVERING AN INTENSE MESSAGE
TikTok User: “Women say they don’t need men, but of course they do. Otherwise, who would they work for?”
THIS ONLINE COMMUNITY GOES BY THE NAME THE “MAN-US-SPHERE.”
THE CAME-BRIDGE DICTIONARY DEFINES THE MAN-US-SPHERE AS “WEBSITES
AND INTERNET DISCUSSION GROUPS THAT ARE CONCERNED WITH MEN’S
INTERESTS AND RIGHTS AS OPPOSED TO WOMEN’S, OFTEN CONNECTED WITH
OPPOSITION TO FEMINISM OR DISLIKE OF WOMEN.”
IF YOU ARE NEW TO SOCIAL MEDIA LIKE TIKTOK. THE APP SHOWS USERS SHORT
VIDEOS, GENERALLY 30 TO 40 SECONDS LONG. SOMETIMES VIDEOS LIKE THESE
TikTok User: “90% of alimony is paid from men to women. Women win almost all the child custody battles, okay? And people might sit there with the men don’t fight for the kids. The reason why they don’t fight for the kids is because their lawyers tell them not to waste their money and time.”
MANY OF THE MAN-US-SPHERE’S BIGGEST INFLUENCERS TRANSCEND SOCIAL
MEDIA AND AREN’T EVEN SUSPECTED TO BE A PART OF THAT COMMUNITY.
Makana Chock: “We’re talking about Ashton Hall. Okay.”
THE VIDEOS OFTEN DEPICT’S HIM WAKING UP AROUND 4’O O’CLOCK AND
ENGAGING IN A UNIQUE ROUTINE FULL OF LUXURY AND FITNESS. CONCLUDING
IN HIM DOING BUSINESS.
WHAT BECOMES EVIDENT IN HALL’S VIDEOS IS THAT THEY ARE MEANT TO SELL
YOU ON A LIFESTYLE AND HOW TO REINVENT YOURSELF.
Ashton Hall TikTok: “This is a blueprint to success…”
PROFESSOR MAKANA CHOCK HAS BEEN STUDYING THE WAYS THAT PEOPLE
PROCESS THE MESSAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
INFLUENCERS LIKE ASHTON HALL CAN PURPOSELY OR INADVERTENTLY DELIVER
MESSAGES OF WHAT MASCULINITY SHOULD LOOK LIKE.
Makana Chock: “There’s sort of an association of muscularity and fitness with power and money and
financial success, and social success and sexual success that sort of tied into all of this
message about this is what it means to be manly and to be a leader.”
WITH EVERYONE OF HALL’S VIDEOS, HE OFFERS A UNREALISTIC LOOK OF WHAT
MASCULINITY SHOULD BE, SIMILAR TO THE MESSAGES THAT THE MAN-US
SPHERE OFFERS TO THEIR AUDIENCE.
Ashton Hall TikTok: “You’ll go from nothing to millions as an online fitness coach.”
TikTok user: “You become successful not to get girls but not to deal with the [expletive] that inevitably comes from dealing with girls.
THE MANOSPHERE LOOKS TO INFLUENCE YOUNG BOYS’ PERSPECTIVE,
DANGLING THE ANSWERS OF ONE’S IDENTITY AND MASCULINITY THROUGH
MESSAGES THAT OFTEN TARGET WOMEN.
THE ONLINE COMMUNITY USES THESE MESSAGES TO SOW FURTHER INSECURITY
INTO THE VIEWER OFFERING A COURSE OR LESSON THAT CAN BE BOUGHT.
OFTEN TELLING THEIR AUDIENCE HOW TO FIX THEMSELVES. REPORTING FOR NCC NEWS KYE’L TORAIN.
According to data from Kepios.com, there are approximately five billion users worldwide who use social media, and over 400,000 new users join every day. For many young men looking for answers to their masculinity, they can easily fall into this community without ever noticing it. Some of the biggest influencers can inadvertently usher young men into the manosphere community, like one of the most popular influencers currently, Ashton Hall.
“There’s sort of an association of muscularity and fitness with power and money and financial success, and social success and sexual success that sort of tied into all of this message about this is what it means to be manly and to be a leader,” said Syracuse University Professor Makana Chock, who has been studying the ways that people process social media. “There’s actually some concerns that what we’re seeing is this. Some of it is just fitness and looking better, but some of it kind of verges and overlaps with some of the more toxic masculinity sites.”
The manosphere often forms messages using fitness and associates it with prosperity and overall success. Blurring the line between positive fitness workout content and disparaging societal messages. This content on TikTok will often be amplified through the algorithm that TikTok uses, plunging the user further down an echo chamber of like-minded influencers.
“I think one of the things to do in any type of social media or online media engagement is to be aware that a lot of this stuff tends to circulate within a bubble, and that maybe if you’re looking for information, you should make a conscious effort to get out of that bubble,” said Chock.