Researchers Say Online "Manosphere" Should Be Treated as a Health Problem

Scientists and health experts are calling for the "manosphere" to be treated as a public health problem, the same way smoking and junk food are treated. The manosphere is a loose group of websites and online communities that share certain beliefs about men and masculinity. A new report, published in the medical journal The Lancet, says these online spaces are hurting boys, men, women, and society as a whole. The authors want governments, schools, and health services to work together to reduce the damage.

The report describes the manosphere as a spread-out online world where people and companies make money by keeping users engaged. Communities in this world share the belief that feminism has been unfair to men and that there is a crisis of masculinity. The authors say that anger and feelings of being wronged are good for business in these spaces, so the most extreme voices get the most attention. This pushes the content to become more and more harmful over time.

Researchers say boys and young men are a key target. Their insecurities — feelings of self-doubt and worry — are encouraged and then used to sell them products, paid content, and a sense of belonging. Professor Sarah Hawkes, one of the report's co-authors, said the manosphere gives boys belonging, identity, and an explanation for why life feels hard. She added that simply removing the manosphere without giving boys something better in its place would not solve the problem.

Professor Kent Buse, another co-author from Monash University in Malaysia, said the real problem is not boys and men themselves. Instead, it is the business model built to profit from targeting them. He compared it to the tobacco industry, which for years blamed individual smokers instead of admitting cigarettes were dangerous. He argued that public health tools used to fight tobacco should now be used to fight the manosphere.

The report lists several things that make boys more likely to be drawn into these online spaces. These include being left out of education, not having good job opportunities, and feeling socially isolated. The authors say these root causes must be fixed alongside online harms. They recommend boosting job skills programs, re-engaging boys in school, and making mental health services easier for boys and men to reach.

The researchers also gave advice about how to talk about this issue responsibly. They warned that messaging should not treat all boys and men as the problem, or frame masculinity as always being harmful. They said regulation should target the online platforms that host dangerous content rather than punishing the users themselves. This is similar to how governments ban tobacco ads aimed at children rather than punishing smokers.

A second study, also in The Lancet, looked at how old-fashioned ideas about masculinity are hurting men's health. Professor Jim Catto of the University of Sheffield wrote that online stories about male grievance are filling a gap left by a lack of real support for men. He said tackling the manosphere must be part of a bigger conversation about how society supports men's well-being. Both studies agree that the problem is shaped by the world around young men, not just their personal choices.

Mark Brooks, from a charity called the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys, welcomed the report's findings. He said it was important that the report recognized boys and men as victims of online harm, not just the cause of it. He pointed out that too many conversations about the manosphere blame boys without looking at the bigger pressures they face in education, the economy, and society. Both reports call for steady, coordinated action on many fronts to reduce these harms.