How Positive Male Role Models Can Detoxify the Social Media Male Circle

IInfluencers such as Andrew Tate have become synonymous with “toxic masculinity”, attracting large audiences of young men and boys through quasi-motivational pep talks, sports cars and displays of sexual prowess.

But what about the other side of the coin? Is anyone producing content with healthier messages for the same audience – or do men and boys just not want to hear it?

Jago Sherman, head of strategy at Goat Agency, the influencer subsidiary of marketing giant WPP, said: “There are a lot of male influencers and creators around various topics such as mental health, fitness and wellness, parenting, self-care, etc. Advocate and create content. – Love, self-expression, anti-knife crime, education, but they don’t necessarily make the headlines.

“People like Andrew Tait are able to use social media to make broad, sweeping and unsubstantiated claims that appear to offer ‘quick fix’ answers to very complex problems. The problem, of course, is that these statements are almost always not True, or an opinion disguised as fact.

“In a social environment where creators compete for attention, sometimes this kind of ‘shock factor’ content that can be quickly consumed and understood can trump longer, thought-provoking, neutral content.”

Against this backdrop, last week Labor announced a plan to help promote a more positive view of masculinity. Under the proposals, schools would be helped to develop mentors from among their own students to help combat the misogynistic vision promoted by Tate and his ilk, and explain in class how to more critically analyze what they see on screen content skills.

Some men with a more positive view of masculinity have broken through and even become household names in their own right. Fitness influencers like Joe Wicks, whose career was launched by his “The Body Coach” posts on Instagram, may not appeal to teenage boys with pornographic content, but with friendly The simple advice offered by the (almost relentlessly cheerful) demeanor can still attract millions of fans.

Perhaps the biggest sign of masculinity in a more positive light is a charity stunt, in the case of Russ Cook, known to many as the toughest old man on Instagram, and if all goes according to plan, he’s long A year’s worth of trying toe-to-toe afro length should be achievable. , ends in April.Cook has raised nearly £200,000 running charity and sandblastwho has nearly a million followers across his various social platforms, clearly proved the appropriateness of his username in the process with this stunt.

But there’s an asymmetry in some of the discussion surrounding toxic influencers, says Saul Parker, founder Bright side, working with charities and brands to help them achieve their positive goals. Young women are encouraged to seek out positive role models for their own good, and young men are often encouraged to seek out positive role models in order to treat women better. This risks overlooking the harm that toxic influencers can do to boys and young people themselves, and hinders efforts to encourage them to find better people to learn from.

“This is a generation that was born into a difficult conversation about patriarchy and its impact on women’s lives,” Parker said. “As a result, they feel like third-class citizens. Especially for the left, it’s hard to accept that young people are going through some struggles and need help.”

This is important because focusing on misogyny, rather than the broader message of traditional masculine norms that the “manosphere” thrives on, risks allowing the second generation of post-Tate toxic influencers to slip under the radar. Boys learn through repetition that the casual misogyny of someone like Tate is not cool to repeat in public, and when asked, they often insist that they don’t like the way he talks about women, but just listen to him” something else” “.

Parker said: “David Goggins is the kind of person we’re dealing with right now: He’s a former Navy SEAL who’s popular on all social platforms, but he and all of his content is about ‘ ‘self-discipline’, ‘self-motivation’, ‘get up in the morning’, ‘go to the gym’, ‘take a cold shower’, like, you know, ‘be a man’, but he doesn’t talk about women at all, or he doesn’t talk about sex at all .

“Excluding women doesn’t make it any less of a problem, it just means it’s harder to find a sharp perspective because he didn’t say anything hateful.”

In other words, getting boys to embrace more positive masculinities is not a default thing. But hope should not be lost either. Nothing in childhood experience is innate, which means toxic messages are the only ones that will gel, and with a little push, better role models will flourish.