How to counter damaging anti-feminist and misogynist beliefs among young men

Research links the rise of anti-feminist social media influencers and  'Red Pill' online communities to increased violence against women.  Experts say we need to educate young men in media literacy to counteract the damaging alpha male belief system

Kickboxer and online personality Andrew Tate. Picture: Instagram

It’s a term that originated in the science fiction movie, The Matrix, but ‘Red Pill’ has come to represent something much more — a belief that women have emasculated men. 

What makes this ideology alluring to men is its simplicity — the world is divided into ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ males and the dating ‘game’ is nothing more than a marketplace. 

To some, the promise is irresistible: rise from being oppressed to achieve the status of an ‘alpha male’, with all its accompanying wealth and sexual agency.

‘Red Pill’ has come to represent something much more — a belief that women have emasculated men. Pic: iStock

While it is easy to vilify the men who subscribe to such misogyny, Dr Debbie Ging, associate professor of digital media and gender at DCU, reminds us that manosphere groups, such as men’s rights activists (MRAs), men going their own way (MGTOWs) and pick-up artists (PUAs), only gain traction by appealing to the listener’s deep-rooted insecurities.

“Influencers such as Rollo Tomassi and Jordan Peterson, as well as a plethora of neo-masculinist life coaches, have become adept at weaponising and monetising male anxiety, anger and vulnerability for their own political and economic agendas,” Ging says.

A recent Hope not Hate poll of 1,200 16–24-year-olds in Britain found that 67% had read, listened to or watched content from social media influencer Andrew Tate, while 52% of 16-17-year-old boys held a positive view of the influencer.

Tim Squirrell

Tim Squirrell, head of communications at the London-headquartered Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), believes that the elephant in the room is ‘status threat’ — the fear of losing long-held social standing or privilege. “For a lot of young men, the world is not what it was 50, 25, or even ten years ago,” he says.

“There is a rising current of progressive tendencies around women’s rights, around the rights of LGBTQ+ people and other [marginalised] groups. And so, there is a very real felt sense that the place of men that was once dominant is threatened.”

Mainstreaming misogyny

While the language of misogynist extremism was once relegated to the dark corners of Reddit and 4chan, today, Red Pill misogyny is spilling into mainstream culture.

Ging, who has conducted extensive research in this area, explains that platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok have played a key role in the “mainstreaming of anti-feminist ideas”.

More importantly, research is beginning to show a correlation between the online expression of these misogynistic beliefs and violence against women in the real world.

In Ireland, the latest data reveals the prevalence of such violence. More than one in two women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, based on the latest figures from the CSO.

Debbie Ging

Eight out of ten Irish teenagers have reported experiencing sexual harassment, according to a survey by the Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) in 2021. Girls aged 15-17 years are five times more likely than their male counterparts to be “sexually shamed” and three times more likely to have “rumours, gossip, or lies spread about their sexual behaviour”, according to a survey conducted by Ging and her colleague, Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva, in 2022.

In responding to these social realities, Ging stresses the need to address the deeper cultural, political, and economic roots of the problem. In her view, we must “tackle the causes of male isolation, anxiety, and anger” which spring, not from feminism, but from “rigid gender norms” and a “desolate economic outlook”.

There is a growing awareness of the need for early education and prevention to address these issues. Published by the government in June of last year, the Zero Tolerance strategy takes aim at domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence, proposing measures such as doubling refuge spaces, revamping school curricula, and launching public awareness campaigns to challenge pervasive myths.

Dannielle McKenna, who manages Dublin’s Rialto Youth Project, says marginalised boys and young men may be particularly susceptible to the influence of figures like Andrew Tate — currently under house arrest in Romania — whose ‘red pill truths’ appeal to the need for power and wealth.

She says, “He is creating the narrative that your needs will be met if you act like him. [He promises that] you are going to be respected in society, you are going to be valued, you are going to hold wealth, and you are going to have a sense of belonging around other men.”

To counteract this alpha male belief system, McKenna emphasises the importance of teaching young men and boys that they can achieve success without resorting to dominance or suppressing their vulnerability.

As part of this overall mission, McKenna, in partnership with artist Fiona Whelan and theatre company Brokentalkers, launched the ‘What Does He Need?’ project in 2018.

The project aims to open up the debate about masculinity and explore “how men and boys are shaped by and influence the world they live in”.

According to Carol Tuzan, who leads the Mentoring in Violence Prevention (MVP) schools-based programme for Edinburgh City Council, the peer-to-peer aspect of such community work is crucial.

She says, “Young people are often the most effective in challenging their peers’ harmful attitudes and beliefs. A safe and supportive space allows peers to question and challenge each other, encouraging healthy positive attitudes and relationships.”

MVP, part of the Scottish government’s Equally Safe strategy, encourages student mentors and mentees to have conversations around gender-based violence and rigid gender norms, often through role-playing scenarios in which they act as bystanders.

Kaitlyn Regehr

Digital literacy is also an important factor in prevention. Kaitlyn Regehr, an associate professor of digital humanities at University College London, is actively involved in the MVP programme.

“We need critical digital literacy [programmes] across schools that explain how the digital space works, including the echo chamber effect, and how high dosages of this type of content change the way young people think and behave. We need to engage boys and girls in co-creating new codes of conduct for the digital space in which they now live,” she says.

Áine Lynch, CEO National Parents Council

Family support systems

Closer to home, Aine Lynch, CEO of the National Parents Council, echoes the critical need for educating young people in media literacy. She stresses that a family’s value system can serve as a protective barrier against external misogynistic narratives.

“Parents can ground these messages in their everyday lives by asking questions such as, ‘What does this mean for your relationship with your sister, your mother, your neighbour?’” she says.

While families play a crucial role, Lynch also recognises the importance of schools in challenging the red-pill mindset. Such efforts may soon be aided by introducing new, more inclusive RSE and SPHE curricula, which, according to a Department of Education spokesperson, will address topics such as “pornography, sexual and gender-based violence, LGBTQI+ issues, and sexual health”.

Sean Cooke

Beyond changes to school curricula, including male voices in ongoing conversations surrounding masculinity is critical. This view is strongly advocated by Seán Cooke, the CEO of the Men’s Development Network, a non-profit organisation devoted to promoting gender equality and supporting men’s wellbeing.

Cooke reminds us that masculinity is not a monolithic concept: “There are many forms of masculinity, and it is important for us to allow all of these [nonviolent] masculinities to have validity in their own right.”

Cooke highlights the value of engaging men and boys in a way that is “non-judgmental, non-adversarial and [provides] them with a different perspective.”

While recognising the need to address misogynism, he says that “inviting men into the conversation” to reflect on why they hold such beliefs is a more constructive approach than pathologising or blaming them.

According to Cooke, blame often sparks more hostility and may even reinforce harmful beliefs.

Instead, he invites men to “step in” by engaging in dialogue with the women in their lives, to “step up” by addressing inappropriate language and behaviour, and to “step back” by examining their status.

In this way, he suggests, men can become allies in the pursuit of gender equality.