According to the authors of the report, published in The Lancet, the movement – which centres around a perceived masculinity crisis and a belief that feminism has systematically disadvantaged men – has contributed to many public health problems.
It argues these include violence against women and girls, mental health issues, and “delegitimising” the idea of boys and men seeking help.
Professor Kent Buse argued that boys and men are not the problem, instead blaming online platforms.
He said: “This is a business model. Outrage and grievance are good for business, so the system rewards the most extreme content.
“Expect the playbook that served tobacco so well: blame the individual, and call regulation an attack on freedom.
“Boys and men are not the problem. The problem is the conditions that leave them isolated and without a secure future, and the companies that profit from their anger and insecurity.”
The authors wrote that online platforms are cultivating and monetising young men’s insecurities as they view the material.
“Similar to the tobacco and ultra-processed food industries, content creators and hosting platforms deploy strategies that individualise responsibility,” they added.
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The report continued: “Men’s problems are framed as the result of feminism rather than structural conditions, and masculine identity is commodified through products and paid content that normalise and reinforce health-harming and performance-oriented masculinities.
“Efforts to regulate or moderate content are frequently framed as threats to men’s autonomy, restricting political space for intervention.”
Professor Sarah Hawkes, report co-author and co-founder of Global 50/50 social justice think tank, also said: “The manosphere offers boys and young men belonging, identity and an explanation for why life feels hard.
“Those needs are real. A response that only removes the manosphere, without offering something credible in its place, will fail. We need to offer boys something better, not just tell them what to avoid.”
The experts said tackling the ‘manosphere’ should involve a co-ordinated response by governments, schools, health services and community organisations – as with any other public health risk.
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They cited social exclusion and isolation as factors for those likely to access the content, and suggested boosting employment and skills to improve access to jobs, re-engaging boys in education and ensuring “equitable access to mental health and other frontline health services” to help address those at risk.
They also argued the manosphere “is best understood and addressed as a public health problem” and suggested strategies to tackle it should avoid “framing masculinity as inherently toxic or boys and men as inherently problematic”.
