The Manosphere and the American Military

As a Veterans Advocate and the mother of a veteran who served eight years in the 82nd Airborne as Intel Analyst for the 7th Special Forces Group I have some experience with the military, and some rather strong feelings about its participation in the manosphere and the impact the manosphere is likely having on it.

If you are not familiar with the manosphere the Wikipedia definition is “…a varied collection of websites, blogs, and online forums promoting masculinity, misogyny, and opposition to feminism.” These various sites are directly and primarily aiming at young men who are feeling untethered and looking for community and purpose.

As it happens many folks, (not all and certainly not women for the purposes of this subject matter), who consider joining or do actually enlist in the military fall into the same category as those who are grabbed up by the manosphere and it’s ever-expanding multitude of resources. The average age of those who enlist in the military is 19 – 21. According to a survey from the organization “Hope Not Hate,” 80% of 16 – 17-year-old boys have seen manosphere content. Of that content 26% of those boys rejected the ideas presented and 45% considered the ideas positively.

So, just before reaching the average age of military enlistment boys are being connected to the manosphere. Like any of us scrolling the internet they are connected to content that they may not have been specifically looking for. Like any of us they have the choice to dig deeper into the intentionally appealing content shared with them and designed for them. Unlike those of us who are older than 25, the life experience of the targeted young men and boys as well as the incomplete development of their brains makes them much more easily influenced,

Much of the appeal of the manosphere is designed around helping boys and young men to find purpose. Much of the community building is wrapped around patriotism, community, money making and a sense of stability. The most common reasons young men join the military are sense of purpose, patriotic focus, job training and career building skills, community, and financial stability.

Looking at the two groups and the reasons that young men are attracted to them it becomes quite easy to understand the significant overlap. Understanding that many of the young men who enlist are likely already well versed in the focus of the manosphere and given that it is likely that approximately 45% of those young men consider the manosphere content to be positive it makes a great deal of sense that the military is developing into a comfortable place for followers of the manosphere and possibly an increasingly uncomfortable place for others.

Now think about the recruiting that we have all seen and heard for the military. Images of strong and tough people often carrying weapons, running challenging courses and in impressive formations. We all know the slogans like “Be All You Can Be,” for the Army and “The Few, The Proud,” for the Marines and each of us carries those messages in our own specific way, but not one of us would be likely to think of them as anything but forceful and proud. Being forceful and proud is exactly what the manosphere is trying to encourage in the young minds of their followers. The question then becomes what does a 19-year-old envision as being forceful and proud and where has he gotten that perspective from?