Misogynistic attitudes have existed throughout history, but some young men are being caught up in a newly-packaged version of misogyny, driven by online communities and influencers.
The effect of figures online such as Andrew Tate and communities linked to the so-called ‘manosphere’ has become an issue impacting young men in Scotland.
But how did this new form of misogyny emerge, who is behind it, and what is Scotland doing to protect women and girls affected by it, as well as men swayed by this ideology?
Ferret Fact Service explains how we got here.
What is the ‘manosphere’?
The manosphere is an umbrella term covering a series of connected online communities and influencers which often promote misogyny and anti-feminism.
People within the manosphere often focus on masculine identity, and revere what they consider to be traditional western gender roles.
Often, there is also a sense that men are being unfairly characterised and that society is biased towards women. People who promote this view are called men’s rights activists (MRAs).
Andrew Tate is perhaps the most prominent manosphere influencer, having been catapulted into the global spotlight in recent years through videos on TikTok. In his videos, he pushes an anti-feminist position, saying women belong in the home, and are a man’s property. He also regularly criticises the perceived influence of ‘woke’ ideology.
Tate, who reportedly moved to Romania in 2017, is facing allegations there of human trafficking, rape and of forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
There are also ties to right-wing extremism within the manosphere. Far-right talking points and memes are regularly promoted on linked websites, and influencers within the community have promoted racist conspiracy theories.
Several communities which are part of the manosphere have been linked to violence against women, such as the so-called ‘incel’ or involuntary celebate movement, whose adherents have been unable to find a romantic partner and blame this on women and the influence of feminism.
Self-identified ‘incels’ include 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and then himself in a 2014 attack near the campus of the University of California injures fourteen and kills seven, including himself. In a series of YouTube videos he spoke of his desire to take revenge against women for his lack of relationship success. His actions were later celebrated in online spaces dedicated to ‘incel’ ideology.
Jake Davison, a Plymouth man who killed five people in 2021 including his mother and a three-year-old child, was also inspired by ‘incel’ ideology and mentioned Rodger in videos.
How are these views spread to young men?
Manosphere influencers and associated content has been boosted through social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
Influencers and groups have successfully used marketing and social media manipulation tools to spread their messages widely, exposing them to audiences who are not necessarily looking for related content.
Short videos of Andrew Tate were used to boost his profile significantly in 2022. Despite his official account being banned from the platforms, videos promoting him racked up billions of views, posted by supportive accounts and members of his online business academy, Hustler’s University.
Terminology and memes linked to the manosphere are also commonly found online on X, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
What do young people think about misogyny?
There have been a few recent polls done to find out the views of young men in the UK around misogyny and feminism.
One survey, by King's College London in partnership with Ipsos UK, showed significant divides in attitudes between young men and women.
For example, 68 per cent of women aged 16 to 29 said it is harder to be a woman than a man, just 35 per cent of men of the same age agreed.
There were also diverging views on the impact of feminism. Among those aged 16 to 29, 46 per cent of women thought feminism has done more good to society than harm, while only 36 per cent of men thought the same.
Andrew Tate’s influence on society was broadly thought by those polled to be negative, although one in five men aged 16 to 29 who had heard of Tate said they had a favourable view of him.
Data vis: Do young people in Britain think feminism has been good for society?
Is misogyny a crime in Scotland?
There are several laws in place in Scotland relating to violence against women. These include legislation on domestic abuse, including coercive control, and sexual offences.
However, rates of conviction for sexual offences remain low, and Scottish Government statistics from 2018 to 2020 showed only 22 per cent of people who were raped reported their attack to police.
In 2024, Scotland’s new hate crime law came into force, but there was significant criticism of the decision not to to include women as a specific protected group.
The report which formed the basis of the new law was authored by senior judge, Lord Bracadale.
In his review of hate crime laws, Bracadale recommended there should be protections for women in the new legislation.
However, this was not included in the final law.
Instead, the Scottish Government planned to put forward a separate misogyny law, which it described as “the first of its kind in the world”.
A spokesperson for the government said the new law would “create a new focus on protecting women and girls to address criminal behaviour motivated purely by misogyny.”
A consultation was opened regarding the misogyny offence in March 2023, proposing five new laws.
- Misogynistic harassment, when directed at a woman or girl or group of women and girls.
- General misogynistic behaviour causing a woman or girl to experience fear, alarm, degradation, humiliation or distress.
- a new statutory aggravation concerning misogyny, which would be used where an offence had a misogynistic motive or someone demonstrated misogyny whilst committing a crime.
- An offence of threatening or abusive communications to women or girls that reference rape, sexual assault or disfigurement.
- An offence of stirring up hatred against women and girls.
This would mean women were protected in the same way as other protected characteristics are in the existing hate crime law.
The Scottish Government plans to introduce the new misogyny law during the current parliamentary year, after it was included in first minister John Swinney’s programme for government.
Ferret Fact Service (FFS) is a non-partisan fact checker, and signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers’ code of principles.
All the sources used in our checks are publicly available and the FFS fact-checking methodology can be viewed here.
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Main image: iStock/Liudmila Chernetska
I was interested to understand whether the authors think that there is a particularly Scottish dimension to this issue:
Does Scottish culture play a part in the manosphere? Are Scottish influencers at work here, good and bad? What groups and programs are in place in Scotland to identify, deprogram, and support young men?
I’m disturbed by the inference in this article that it is only women and girls who are the victims of a culture gone wrong, and that it is the law that should be left to address it.
Well done for opening the subject. But the Ferret has more work to do here.