Regular, real-world conversations with boys and young men are key to helping them handle extreme, potentially harmful messages they may be encountering online from a network of popular spaces and personalities known as the ‘manosphere’.
To help parents and carers understand the appeal and impact of the manosphere, eSafety has published an Online Safety Advisory explaining what it is and what families need to know.
A new Louis Theroux Netflix documentary, ‘Inside the Manosphere’, is generating renewed focus on harmful stereotypes promoted in some online forums, including rigid stereotypes about what it is to be a ‘real man’.
“What makes the manosphere so appealing is it promises a formula for ‘guaranteed’ success: physically, sexually and financially. This is a very potent and alluring promise, especially when someone is dealing with the ordinary turbulence and insecurities of adolescence,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.
“These influencers thrive on notoriety and clicks, and their advice is often overlaid with provocative and harmful gender tropes, including that women are manipulative, irrational or less deserving of respect. They also advocate for very rigid ways to be, look and act as a man, including suppressing any emotion that might be perceived as ‘feminine’ - a message that can be disastrous for any young man grappling with low self-esteem or mental health challenges.”
eSafety wants parents, carers and extended families to appreciate they can provide influential and positive alternatives to rigid stereotypes of how to be a young man in today’s complex world.
“We want parents and carers to be aware, informed and engaged, not alarmed. Overwhelmingly, boys and young men are critical, savvy and resilient online users, but these negative gendered narratives are seeping into mainstream platforms and conversations.
“As highlighted throughout eSafety’s Young Men Online research series, we need to keep providing boys and young men with lots of healthy and diverse role models to look up to, whether that be in the extended family, school, sports clubs or community groups.
“Actively cultivating critical thinking is also a must. The most lauded of these influencers are financially exploiting the vulnerabilities of some young men, either through advertising revenue or product placements on their well-subscribed platforms. We need to support boys to spot exploitative patterns, while also educating them how algorithms and recommender systems are usually designed to promote controversy and outrage - something I call ‘outragement’.”
Ms Inman Grant said parents and carers should not underestimate the power of being positively and actively engaged in their children’s online lives.
“You don’t need to understand every meme, acronym or emoji. What’s more important is being actively engaged in how boys are navigating the online world from their first digital interactions.
“eSafety research shows a positive relationship between parental engagement and young people’s willingness to talk about negative online experiences. We found that 95% of children who said their parents regularly encourage open conversations about online safety would speak to them if something online made them feel upset, uncomfortable or ashamed.”
The advisory encourages parents and carers to:
- ask open questions rather than shutting conversations down
- take an interest in where their children spend time online
- encourage them to question and critically assess online content
- talk early and often about respectful relationships, including consent
- encourage positive role models in their children’s offline lives
- reassure boys and young men that seeking help and talking about mental health is a sign of strength.
To further support families, eSafety is hosting a series of webinars to help parents and carers navigate these issues and better support the boys and young men in their lives.
Read the advisory The manosphere: what it is and what parents and carers need to know.
Register for parent and carer webinars.