The manosphere can operate like a vortex, pulling in the uncertain young men who are often lost and seeking self improvement.
asserted
who → operate → improvement
Flynn Martin is one who says he was radicalised by the manosphere.
asserted
he → say → manosphere
But once the anti-women algorithm infiltrated his social media, it took just months for the hobby content creator to become another online prophet of misogyny.
asserted
creator → infiltrate → misogyny
In late 2022, he posted a controversial video of himself ranting on social media.
asserted
he → post → media
It was deliberately provocative, he tells 7.30 — "rage bait" for more "clicks and views".
asserted
he → tell → clicks
From the front seat of his car, he rhetorically asks: "Is it actually OK being a straight white male?"
asserted
it → ask → car
Then he turns his focus on women.
"
asserted
he → turn → women
It's all pretty convenient when they say men are only good for 'that, that and that' … but as soon as they open their little f***ing useless mouths, I don't want to f***ing hear it."
asserted
I → say → it
The videos went viral.
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videos → go → ?
But Flynn says — at the time — he did not care.
asserted
he → say → time
"When you become so intoxicated by the idea of garnering as much attention as possible … you don't have a regard for what you're saying," he says.
asserted
he → become → what
Flynn says he had become convinced the world was rigged against "straight white men" and women were to blame.
asserted
women → say → men
"I was the perfect example for someone who can be exposed and susceptible to that content," he tells 7.30.
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he → expose → 7.30
Two years out of school, isolated through COVID and a year into a film degree, he was, in his words, "super lost and confused".
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he → isolate → words
Flynn felt his frustration boiling over into anger because he did not know what he was meant to do, or where he was going in life.
asserted
he → feel → life
"That was when all this manosphere content just started flooding my algorithm," he says.
"It did feel inescapable … once it started showing up, it didn't stop.
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it → start → algorithm
The clips he was seeing bombarded him with a familiar formula, peddled by prominent anti-feminists.
asserted
he → see → feminists
They ranged from alpha-male self-improvement and get-rich advice to pseudo-scientific claims that women are inferior and "can't come to logical conclusions".
uncertain
women → range → conclusions
Flynn says he barely noticed the effect such content had on his mindset but admits it changed the way he thought.
asserted
he → say → way
"You just become so insecure that it becomes a lot of internalised self-hatred … and that can very easily spew out into misogyny, taking that self-insecurity and self-hatred and taking it out on other people," he says.
asserted
he → become → people
"It just started spewing out into how you speak and what you talk about with people."
asserted
you → start → people
He says it did not take long until he had adopted the language of the manosphere as his own.
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he → say → own
The manosphere has gone mainstream
Flynn's experience is mirrored by admissions made by several other young men in new research documenting pathways into the manosphere.
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experience → go → manosphere
A team from Queensland University of Technology, Deakin University and Dublin City University interviewed more than 50 men across Australia and Ireland who had spent time in its online communities.
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who → interview → communities
While the work is ongoing, clear patterns are emerging.
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patterns → emerge → ?
The manosphere, they say, has gone mainstream — no longer a fringe society or a niche that men must seek out.
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men → say → that
"Anyone going online … will very quickly encounter it," Professor Michael Flood, who was part of the research team, tells 7.30.
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who → go → 7.30
Professor Flood has spent more than 30 years studying men, masculinity and gender-based violence and says anti-feminist groups have existed for centuries.
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groups → spend → centuries
"What's shifted is that they've now moved online and proliferated and expanded in troubling ways," he says.
"
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he → shift → ways
And there have also been really significant changes in how people come to the manosphere.
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people → come → manosphere
"It's very easy to go down those rabbit holes."
asserted
It → go → holes
Troubling testimonies
To protect the men's identities, the researchers gave them pseudonyms.
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researchers → protect → pseudonyms
Some described the draw to online anti-women spaces as the chance to live out a "power fantasy".
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Some → describe → fantasy
Henry* was 15 when he developed a habit centred around "hate".
asserted
he → develop → hate
He told researchers "it was fun" to talk about how much he despised women, and at one stage, the now-28-year-old saw it as a competition.
asserted
old → tell → competition
"I'd post something hateful, see someone double down and take it further, and I'd think: how can I take that even further, to just be the most vile person posting right now?" he told the researchers.
asserted
he → post → researchers
Others echoed that experience.
asserted
Others → echo → experience
"There's something about … at least some part of every teenage boy which is going to just wanna [do] the politically incorrect … you're gonna see how far you can take things, just to see how far you can take things," said Sebastian*, 19.
asserted
Sebastian → be → things
Brandon*, 33, said manosphere content was "hilariously confronting", telling researchers "you get numbed to it the more time you spend getting bombarded with stuff".
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you → say → stuff
Professor Flood says in many cases the men did not go looking for manosphere content but it still found them.
asserted
it → say → them
…and 31 more, not listed.