How Anti-Feminist Backlash Actors Exploit Boys
The concept of “anti-feminist backlash” has become increasingly prominent in the discourse on international gender equality. The term variously refers to everything from individual dissent to organized political resistance against the real or imagined advancements of women, girls, and feminist movements. At its core, the notion of backlash presupposes a landscape where significant strides toward equality for women and girls have been made, prompting a reactive effort by those who disagree with and/or perceive themselves as disenfranchised by these shifts.
In the past decade, the world has undergone historic transformations – including great strides made in the women’s rights movement. While women have still not achieved full liberation, boys can see that men’s roles in the workplace and in society are evolving, with changes in gender roles and norms that may challenge the gender status quo. Amidst these macro-level social, political, and economic changes, young men are often turning to the internet and finding community and belonging that speak to their unique identities, interests, and fears, seeking guide through confusing times. Yet many men end up funneled into what has become known as the manosphere, a large, amorphous digital phenomenon that is sometimes connected to a broader, global antifeminist backlash movement, which swoops in with clear messages to help men make sense of a changing world, particularly around gender and gender roles.
This report focuses on a specific aspect of the backlash phenomenon: the organized groups, individuals, and influencers that not only persist but often thrive financially by promoting an intersectional neo-misogyny. We are not addressing sporadic or individual dissent but rather the deliberate and strategic efforts to galvanize individuals into a collective, oppositional stance. Our primary concern lies with how these organized entities target and exploit boys. While not solely confined to the digital world, it is predominantly through online organizing, advertising, and related channels that these groups reach out to and manipulate boys. This paper aims to outline and explore these dimensions, setting the parameters for our analysis of organized backlash and its exploitation of male youth. It is crucial to investigate why boys and young men are particularly vulnerable to reactionary masculinist and ethnonationalist rhetoric. Adolescence is a time when identity, values, and beliefs are still forming, making this age group especially impressionable, and the widespread use of digital spaces by young men amplifies their exposure to these ideas.