Bloomberg offers a valuable, well-documented discussion of the key role that a number of YouTube "influencers" played in pushing young males towards Donald Trump in the last election:

Paco Hope #resist

@wdlindsy I Think about how dumb the average male under 30 is. Then I remember that 50% of them are dumber than that.

Matthew Loxton

@wdlindsy
That is very sad, and speaks to how badly society is doing at the socialization of boys, and how much we are allowing right-wing influencers to radicalize and inflame them.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mloxton I very much agree. I would want, too, to acknowledge that the problem is not simply society's problem, but that young men have agency, too, and need to be held accountable for the decisions they make as free agents and adults. I plan to add a note to this thread discussing that point.

William Lindsey :toad:

@paco It concerns me that a shocking portion of younger men today are turning their backs on education, while women in the same age cohort are not doing so.

William Lindsey :toad:

@allanb Absolutely. Very well-stated. Thank you for the link.

Matthew Loxton

@wdlindsy
Very much so. People have agency, and are not just mindless automatons,. People have a duty to curate their own information diet, their own thoughts, and their own actions. Young men don't fall for the bullshit of a right-wing talk show host or internet influencer because they are under a spell, they will do it because they like it.

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy

Fascinating, and this "manosphere" is much much more than just a political phenomenon. The manoshere is reshaping society in ways that are extremely destructive and harken back to the worst cult movements in history.

To better understand the manosphere here is Laura Bates, author of "Men Who Hate Women":

And for a really deep dive here is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED four part podcast on the subject by Jamie Loftus:

we’re talking about the manosphere the wrong way - Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) | iHeart

The manosphere isn't just one of the election's biggest trending topics, it's also one of the biggest outputters of internet main characters -- so why have most of the conversations around it been so unproductive? In our first part of our series on the manosphere, Jamie interrogates the flawed ways in which media is talking about this space, and traces its origins from the 1970s all the way to Gamergate and the Isla Vista shootings. Then, she speaks with researcher Becca Lewis about where we go from here.

Follow Becca Lewis's work here: https://bsky.app/profile/beccalew.bsky.social

Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates: https://bookshop.org/p/books/men-who-hate-women-from-incels-to-pickup-artists-the-truth-about-extreme-misogyny-and-how-it-affects-us-all-laura-bates/19662669

Backlash by Susan Faludi: https://bookshop.org/p/books/backlash-the-undeclared-war-against-american-women-susan-faludi/8728966?ean=9780307345424

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iHeart (www.iheart.com)

#manosphere

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy

How to respond to the manosphere phenomenon? Most experts think that, like all cults, it has to be caught early before young men become truly radicalized. It is much more difficult to de-radicalize people than to instill strong ethics and ideals before they get sucked in. The family is most important to successful intervention. Positive male role models also play an important role. Check out F.D Signifier:

#manosphere

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration I like your point that the family is most important to successful intervention, and positive male role models play an important role. I think there also has to be a shift somewhere along the line in our fundamental presuppositions about gender and gender roles. But for the last century, at least, as that shift has threatened to take place by fits and starts, resistance has been fierce, notably by men, and also by religious bodies, almost all male-dominated.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration Absolutely. This is excellent, and I appreciate the links and further information.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mloxton Yes, absolutely.

FallsMom 🟦 🌻

@wdlindsy

I don't understand either. What do they want to do w/ their lives?

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy @paco

One of the interesting things is that these manosphere influencers discourage education in favor of 'life hacks' like crypto, podcasting and gambling. Young men who fall into this are actively ridiculed for traditional work values.

William Lindsey :toad:

I do want to offer a few words of criticism re: something Taylor Lorenz says in the article linked in /3 and /4. The quote I share in /4 is followed by this statement:

"These messages resonated heavily with a generation of young people who have felt overlooked and disenfranchised."

These messages did not resonate with young PEOPLE. They resonated with young MEN.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/5

William Lindsey :toad:

Young WOMEN did not vote for Trump Young men did so.

That's the very point of what the Bloomberg study finds.

To speak of "young people" is to disguise the reality of what we're dealing with here, and to ignore the fact that gender is central to the political shift that took place in this election, as young men voted for Trump while young women did not do so.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/6

William Lindsey :toad:

And so the problem is not being "overlooked and disenfranchised," as Lorenz says.

The problem is that younger men are willing recipients of toxic messages around masculinity, of the message that being born with a penis should give one automatic privilege and status denied to those born without a penis. The message that men should be entitled and dominant, just because. And women should be subordinate and controlled by men, just because.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/7

William Lindsey :toad:

All this is deeply compounded by the choice of way too many young men to refuse to educate themselves, to seek educational opportunities — and this is in contrast to the choices being made by young women on the whole.

The sense of entitlement, that one should have privilege and be dominant just because, without seeking to educate oneself and to work for what one seeks to obtain in life: this is toxic messaging. And young men are listening.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/8

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration @paco Yes! Absolutely. As you were posting this, I was adding a set of notes to my excerpts yesterday from Taylor Lorenz, making those very same points.

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy @paco

The statistics are shocking.

"The gender distribution has flipped over the course of a 55-year period. While men had a 58 percent share of total enrollment in 1970, by 2025 they are estimated to have a 43 percent share with the women’s share reaching 57 percent... Of a total fall undergraduate enrollment of over 19 million in 2025, women will constitute 10.9 million undergraduates compared to 8.3 million men."

Higher Education Enrollment Trends by Gender, 1970 to 2025

There has been a sea change in college enrollment when it comes to gender over the past half century. The three graphics below illustrate the percentage distribution of men versus women enrolled as…

(educationalpolicy.org)

William Lindsey :toad:

@FallsMom I think that many younger men have succumbed to the message being transmitted to them by online influencers that everything should flow easily to them because they are men — and that when things don't flow easily to them, they should resent women, who are, they want to believe, impeding them. Hence the interest in gambling, online gaming, get-rich-quick schemes involving cryptocurrency, etc. Meanwhile, younger women are going to school, seeking education, and outpacing young men.