The digital spaces young men inhabit are no longer neutral backdrops: they actively shape identity, relationships and behaviour. Clinicians and researchers are reporting that online male communities—sometimes labelled the manosphere—are offering not only advice on fitness and dating but also normalising hostility toward women and promoting risky strategies like looksmaxxing and other optimisation tactics. These trends have moved from comment threads into real-world harm, prompting forensic services and mental health teams to sound the alarm.
Across several countries, specialist centres report rising numbers of boys and young men whose offending or boundary-crossing behaviour is tied to these online influences. One large outpatient forensic provider, the Waag, estimates it treats around 800 boys a year for such problems and believes roughly three-quarters of those patients have encountered manosphere content. Clinicians describe a spectrum of influence: for some young men the online communities offer practical tips and belonging; for others the content is a risk factor that amplifies aggression, sexual coercion and social withdrawal.
What the manosphere looks like online
At its broadest, the manosphere is a loose collection of forums, channels and creators that exchange ideas about masculinity, dating, money and status. Many users encounter it through mainstream platforms and then move to more private spaces such as Telegram or niche subreddits. These communities mix everyday material—sports highlights, gaming clips, fitness routines—with more ideological messages that normalise misogyny or promote radicalised views of relationships. The result is an algorithmically reinforced pipeline: innocuous content becomes the entry point for narrower, more extreme narratives.
Everyday content as the gateway
Research that compared gendered feeds on short-form platforms showed how different the digital experiences of young men can be. Ordinary videos—sports, fashion, lifestyle—often sit at the start of a chain that leads to creators selling self-improvement products, dating tactics or conspiratorial claims. This pattern makes the pathway into harmful ideas subtle and hard to spot: it is not just the explicit extremes that matter, but the gradual normalization that occurs when similar messages are repeated and unchallenged.
Clinical and social consequences
Forensic and psychiatric teams report an uptick in offences connected to manosphere influence, from online sexual coercion and sextortion to violence and property crime. Clinicians such as Larissa Hoogsteder at the Waag have identified that about 40 percent of affected youths show a level of influence that can be considered a clear risk factor for offending. The profile of those most vulnerable splits into two main groups: young men with multiple pre-existing risks—trauma, emotional regulation difficulties, developmental problems—and socially isolated individuals, some of whom sit on the autism spectrum and are desperate for belonging.
Treatment hurdles and trust-building
Practitioners describe specific challenges in engaging these young people. Influence from male-oriented online spaces can lead to distrust of female staff and resistance to conventional therapy. To adapt, services are developing targeted screening tools, following influencers to better understand patient worlds, and using curiosity rather than confrontation to open conversation. Clinicians stress the importance of documenting the role of online communities in records, while also avoiding rhetoric that further alienates users and deepens polarisation.
Prevention and policy responses
Stopping harm requires action at multiple levels. Within schools and community settings, mental health education and digital literacy can help young people recognise manipulative content and question uncorroborated claims. Platforms must be encouraged to audit recommendation systems and be held to account for environments that amplify harmful trends. At the same time, experts call for a compassionate approach: combine accountability for harmful acts with outreach that offers alternatives—peer groups, mentoring and positive male role models—that meet needs for connection without endorsing abuse.
Long-term change also means investing in research and in clinical capacity so health services can respond faster. If we accept that online cultures are shaping offline behaviour, then responding only after harm occurs is inadequate. The alternative is to build digital and social systems that protect young people while holding harmful actors and platforms to account—creating a landscape that is both safer and more redeeming for those at risk.