The manosphere is a term used to describe a network of blogs, Online Communities, and websites focused on issues relating to men and masculinity. While quite a few different subcultures and separate micro-networks have emerged within the manosphere, most of the content belonging under this umbrella is focused on things such as men's rights, anti-feminism, dating, and self-improvement. Is this an organic response to feminism or an engineered movement?
Neo-masculinity
Washington Post writer Caitlin Dewey writes: "Their core philosophy basically boils down to this: (1) feminism has overrun/corrupted modern culture, in violation of nature/biology/inherent gender differences, and (2) men can best seduce women (slash, save society in general) by embracing a super-dominant, uber-masculine gender role, forcing ladies to fall into step behind them."
While this is a bit of a generalization, Dewey's statement stands, at least to an extent.
This is a vast and diverse network of forums and blogs (subcultures even), so it's difficult to describe them all in one fell swoop. The common denominator of most of them, however, is anti-feminism and self improvement.
Communities and diversity
Some communities, like one of Reddit's most notorious subreddits /r/incels is divorced from any and all attempts at self-improvement and focused on self-pity and hatred toward women. Reddit is one of the most popular gathering places for manosphere supporters, so subreddits such as /r/TheRedPill (focused on dating and self-improvement) and /r/MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way -- complete rejection of dating) are incredibly popular with hundreds of thousands of members.
They exchange experiences, share stories, paste links to manoshpere blogs, discuss politics, and so on.
All of these communities, however, seem like the antidote to mainstream, left-leaning forums, websites, and subcultures. Naturally, they are all predominantly right-wing, so one can't help but wonder if this is indeed an organic response to feminism and similar sociopolitical movements or an engineered attempt to push the right-wing agenda on vulnerable, emasculated, and fragile men (just like similar left-leaning sociopolitical movements seem to be a breeding ground for left-leaning narratives).
This speaks volumes about American society and how deeply divided it is. Both men and women seem to be seeking answers in online echo chambers.
