Louis Theroux’s latest documentary, Inside the Manosphere, has accumulated a notable amount of attention – from academic and public audiences alike – in recent weeks. Even prior to its release on the 11 March, it appeared that many viewers were awaiting the piece with anticipation – eager to witness Theroux enforce his usual journalistic style (which notoriously allows the controversial subjects featured in each piece to ‘expose’ and often embarrass themselves). This time, he sets his sights on a strand of hyper-masculine content creators representing a ‘spectrum of [misogynistic] … online actors known colloquially as the Manosphere’ (Gerrand et al., 2025: 443). Following the overwhelming scale of attention received by their fictional mini-series Adolescence, which depicted similar issues last year, it is perhaps unsurprising that Netflix has released a feature-length documentary on the subject to once again reach a wide audience. But what are the implications of platforming and further amplifying the visibility of misogynistic actors like those featured in Theroux’s latest documentary?
The Spectacle of the Manosphere
The film does reveal a side of the manosphere that perhaps has been less considered in popular/ mainstream representations thus far. Whereas Adolescence told a story about ‘red pill’ radicalisations of masculine youth, Theroux tries to broaden the scope of his piece by revealing another aspect of the manosphere for audiences. He notably directs our attention to a handful of notable ‘finfluencers’ (financial influencers) in particular. This framing gives us a glimpse into what the feminist scholar Debbie Ging has referred to as the ‘new commercialized manosphere, or neo-manosphere’ – which she says allows us to consider the phenomenon ‘not just as an ideology but also as an industry’ (Babin et al., 2026: 3).
In the current ‘digital age’, the internet is saturated with endless amounts of content, and the attention spans of online audiences are a limited and valuable resource. Maintaining public visibility, as well as harvesting attention and engagement from viewership, has therefore become an essential strategic endeavour for financial gain amongst all internet influencers (Abidin, 2020). Some manosphere influencers, like Harrison Sullivan (also known as HSTikkyTokky), attempt to manipulate and profit from recommendation algorithms on platforms like TikTok – which can be used to amplify shocking and/or hateful content (Babin et al., 2026) – by ‘rage baiting’ viewers into interacting with their posts. Finfluencers specifically will usually stylise and narrate their content strategically, telling stories of personal ‘rags-to-riches’ success (Babin et al., 2026) to lure in and enthral masculine audiences. Their content suggests that a high life of wealth and abundance – filled with flashy cars, attractive women, and lavish apartments – is easily accessible and within any ‘ordinary’ man’s reach, if they only buy into an ethic of strict ‘self-discipline’ and adopt a stance of ‘traditional ‘hard’ masculinity’ as prerequisites (Babin et al., 2026; Gerrand et al, 2025).
Although featuring some (limited) commentary on the fraudulent promises of masculine success made by finfluencers, a main problem with Inside the Manosphere is that it contributes to the construction of the manosphere as a popular public ‘spectacle’. As recent commentaries have poignantly remarked, the documentary only reinforces ideas about hustle culture and hyper-masculine influencers as ‘aspirational’ –by presenting their lives against upbeat ‘motivational’ soundtracks, flashing lights, and aesthetics of luxury for instance (Hoare, 2026). Ultimately, depicting the daily lives and assets of finfluencers as ‘glamorous’ (Hoare, 2026) and desirable in this way reaffirms manosphere ideals about what masculine ‘success’ looks like, as well as how aspirations of financial and romantic success might viably be achieved. Equally, the platforming of the ‘rage-baiters’ on a Netflix documentary has only allowed them to accumulate greater visibility and attention in the mainstream eye.
The Voices Left Behind
Another notable critique of Inside the Manosphere shared by academic experts studying ‘red pill’ masculinities and the manosphere is that it neglects any substantial reflection on the harmful implications of online misogyny for women (see e.g. Poutney and King-Hill, 2026). Though a very small number of women – mainly girlfriends or wives of the featured influencers – make an appearance in the film, their screentime is limited and, unsurprisingly, they appear reluctant to respond to questions in the presence of their domineering partners. Beyond this, the film misses an important opportunity to give voice to women facing the consequences of technologically-mediated gender-based hate and normalised misogynistic violence (Lewis, 2025). Nor does it platform insights from research organisations/ charities highlighting and challenging the likes of networked misogyny or violence against women and girls. Instead, it remains narrowly fixated throughout on building a spectacle of the manosphere that satisfies the morbid intrigue and entertainment of viewers.
Towards the end of the piece, the misogyny of manosphere influencers is attributed to individual experiences of childhood ‘trauma’, mainly connected to absent fathers. The audience is shown images of each influencer as young children – evoking sentiments of prior innocence and suggesting that parental failure related to masculine socialisation is what transforms these men into the misogynistic actors we see today. This is a dangerous and totalising narrative for the documentary to push. It shifts blame onto single mothers as ‘inadequate’ while also suggesting that the only real solution to the problem is for society to produce ‘stronger’ male role models. Earlier points made about the widespread public discussion generated by Adolescence again feel relevant here: ‘it does seem curious and problematic to focus on and empathise with the male perpetrator’ (Winter, 2025) when it comes to mediated reflections on misogyny. As Aaron Winter explains, the ‘centring of male grievance can also legitimise the very issues that justify hate and violence, and which extremists, including the far right, exploit’ (Winter, 2025).
While the documentary does disavow the misogynistic attitudes of individual manosphere influencers, it simultaneously leans into the aesthetics of ‘hustle culture’ and lends further visibility to the manosphere (and its key personalities) as a form of ‘spectacular’ entertainment that profits from the moral outrage of audiences. At the same time, it fails to critically address the severity of digitally‑networked misogyny or the harms it imposes on women and girls.
References
- Abidin C (2020) Mapping Internet Celebrity on TikTok: Exploring Attention Economies and Visibility Labours. Cultural Science, 12 (1): 77-103.
Babin KA, Ging D, and Haslop C et al. (2026) Beyond the manosphere: a panel discussion exploring the wider phenomenon of male-centred online communities. Journal of Gender Studies, 1-26. - Gerrand V, Ging D and Roose JM et al. (2025) Mapping the Neo-Manosphere(s): New Directions for Research. Men and Masculinities, 28 (5): 443-464.
Hoare A (2026) Inside the Manosphere: Superficial spectacle over serious scrutiny. Angela Ruskin University. Available at: https://www.aru.ac.uk/news/inside-the-manosphere (Accessed 22 March 2026). - Lewis J (2025) The Misogyny paradox: the more it spreads, the less we can talk about it. LSE Women, Peace and Security. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2025/08/15/the-misogyny-paradox-the-more-it-spreads-the-less-we-can-talk-about-it/ (Accessed 22 March 2026).
- Poutney E and King-Hill S (2026) Inside the Manosphere: What Louis Theroux reveals and what we still aren’t talking about. University of Birmingham. Available at: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2026/inside-the-manosphere-what-louis-theroux-reveals-and-what-we-still-arent-talking-about (Accessed 22 March 2026).
- Winter A (2025) Celebrate Adolescence’s Emmy win – but don’t forget the message at its core. LBC. Available at: https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/celebrate-adolescence-emmy-win-dont-forget-message-5HjdCzw_2/ (Accessed 22 March 2026).
Find out more about studying Sociology at UON by coming to an Open Day.
