Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere

I don’t know how shocking Inside the Manosphere will be to people who are already inside it, but I was gobsmacked and appalled by the extent to which this regressive spiral has been packaged and sold via international tech platforms that should know better.

Inside the Manosphere is a meta masterpiece that tackles the algorithmic poison being served to young men, but also says so much about the battle between new and old media, as well as the toxic battleground of social platforms, contemporary conspiracy theories and the parasocial relationships that make some influencers rich.

Halfway through Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (Netflix) I thought, yes, these toxic young men are awful but are we actually learning anything new?

While the documentary may not offer a startling new thesis, it still lands in its own subdued way. What lingers is not simply the ugliness of the rhetoric, but the banality of the scam.

With some genuinely shocking moments, this is a fascinating, frightening — if frustrating — account of masculinity in crisis.

We know he is an intelligent man who lives in this world – the silent supposed bafflement and dependence on giving people enough rope to hang themselves, which are such a large part of his arsenal, look like increasingly feeble weapons when the matters are of such increasing importance in all of our lives.

Ultimately this is an expensive Netflix documentary that’s provided maximum exposure to individuals who consider any kind of attention a win. It leaves a bitter, nasty taste in the mouth.

This is very biased full with double standard, if you like me expecting a real deal to actually learning something new about the issue you wouldn't get anything from this, the show is not thoughtful at all it such a waste of time.

MGTOW men mostly call out all the double standards, the way women leave high school and collage with high body counts, modern women only chase the 6666 guys, they no longer cook and clean, the courts always screw men over with child support and alimony even when the women was the one who abused and cheated and even when she makes more money. I am glad so many young teens and young grown men are no longer dating and are calling out the system and women, MGTOW men are not saying it is okay for men or women to have high body counts and to be abusive, MGTOW hates cheating and abuse regardless of who does it.

Oh how Louis Theroux has fallen. This isn't as interesting, deep or thoughtful as his older work back from the early 2000's. The core problem is that it's not a very deep documentary. It's basically interviews with 4 "bro dudes" (a mix between the lads lads lads types you've seen in pubs or young men who encourage the traditional male values like being in shape, being brave and projecting a traditional male presence) who have an online audience of mostly men and encourage lad behaviour. Louis even states that they're not really a representative of the "Manosphere" but wanted to focus on these individuals because he found them more interesting, but this is brushed over quickly and it's made out throughout the show that they're representative of everyone who gets labelled with the "Manosphere" Basically this show will only appeal to radicle feminists (checkout the reddit AskWomen thread for examples of this). It doesn't focus on that actual toxic side of the these influencers like how they promote risky practices to their viewers (e.g. investing in unknown cryptocurrency, fitness courses that are absolute rubbish and overprices, promotions of unhealthy energy drinks). It focuses on the idea that there are men who hate or use women. It doesn't do a deeper dive into why they have a following either. There's no insight on Louis' behalf into how or why they gained their following. There's no insight into why the "lad" behaviour is necessarily a bad thing either. There's no evidence presented that shows that it actually hurts women (much like how recorded incel murders is actually only at 13 worldwide, much lower than most believe). Yeah their content is crude but it isn't mainstream. Sure the influencers say controversial things that people who are not their target audience won't like, but then so do a lot of people these days including the opposite side of the spectrum, such as religious fanatics or radicle feminists. There's also no insight into who is their main demographic (it's mostly Asian men by the way, and they follow a specific religion from the middle easy that encourages multiple wives). All of these things are very important to know if you want to understand this problem. There is also an argument to be made that Louis Theroux has always been an example of the type of man you get if you take away all traditional male values. He's the result if you don't have male only spaces, if you demonise traditional male values of being in shape and having confidence, if you demonise male banter. Is that the future for men that you really want? The truth is that there's some compromise that needs to happen between both the Manosphere group and the radicle feminist groups who think men are out to get them. This show doesn't address that at all, it just jumps on a bandwagon of this word is bad and look at these horrible people. Until people try to understand why something is the way it is, it's never going to change.