The growing misogyny of bro science

New research peers into the manosphere. It's not pretty.

New research from the University of Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation finds that the manosphere regularly misinterpret scientific studies to promote misogynistic claims about biology and evolution—and sex.

Namely, the sex that men believe women want to have (mate choice) and the sex that these men aren’t having (male autonomy versus female “coyness”). As will become clear, these framings lead to dark places.

For reference, the manosphere is the loose-knit collection of masculine-focused podcasts, blogs, and forums that skew misogynistic and anti-feminist. The manosphere evolved from men’s movements in the seventies and eighties, when male coaches launched a “back to nature” and “brotherly” ethos to push back on growing feminism sentiment.

The modern incarnation of the manosphere positions men—mostly, though not exclusively, white men—as oppressed and powerless agents in an increasingly feminized and woke society.

To combat this trend, modern manosphere acolytes champion seemingly contrarian (though, from a historical perspective, predominantly conservative and regressive) podcasters and social media stars, many of whom employ baseless tropes about gorilla and chimpanzee societies as “insights” into who we “really” are.

In many ways, this movement is uglier and more dangerous than ever.

The descent of men

The study focuses on evolutionary psychology and mate selection (which I cover in more depth here).

A big-picture synopsis: 

• Men have long leaned on “survival of the fittest” (something Darwin didn’t write until On the Origin of Species’s 5th edition; the term was coined by Herbert Spencer) to claim that men drive mate choices through evolutionary fitness. As the authors of this new study note, this sentiment aligns with the conservative championing of laissez-faire economic and social policies, which inevitably skew male.

• Darwin’s follow-up, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, questioned the notion of male selection and theorized female selection as the driver of evolution—an idea that 19th-century feminists used to fight for bodily autonomy.

Darwin’s complementary idea about female mate choice (he didn’t believe in one sole driver of evolution) has been largely ignored in the male-dominated field of biology. Until recently, that is. A more diverse coalition of women and BIPOC entering STEM fields has forced us to rethink our approach to and understanding of biology, which is a boon for science.

The issue is that it’s a disaster for manosphere devotees who refuse to adapt their preformed notions of masculinity. 

For this paper, the researchers investigate five manosphere communities:

The authors note that female mate choice is regularly discussed in these communities—from male-skewed pseudoscience, usually only involving input from other men.

Topics tend to focus on how to “get” women and discovering what women “really” want. Adherents from all these communities believe that systemic power is in the hands of women, with men increasingly losing their rights in a “blue-pilled” society.