The men who helped Trump sweep to victory through inspiring young men to vote, such as billionaire investor Elon Musk and podcaster Joe Rogan, hold a network of power and influence that might further exacerbate the undermining of women and girls’ rights and safety during a second Donald Trump presidency and beyond.
Given the existing reach of far-right, misogynist figures in Australian schools, it’s also important to consider potential implications for Australian education.
Here in Australia, pre-election polling found Australian men were more likely to indicate support for Trump than women. More starkly, while a lower figure than those American young men who voted for Trump, a significant 43% of Australian men under 30 indicated their support for Trump over Harris. While some data indicate Trump’s appeal to young men is based on economic policy and job prospects, it’s impossible to ignore the appeal of strongman politics, misogyny and male supremacy.
This type of misogyny is highly influential. Now no longer restricted to online spaces, it is likely that we will see boys and young men emulating and repeating Trump’s views and attitudes. Taking this alongside the polling data from Australia that indicate broad support for Trumpian politics, policies and persona, there will likely be waves of influence in Australian schools that will require policy, curriculum and leadership-level response.
Urgent need for training in critical thinking about the manosphere
Trump has a history of endorsing conspiracy theories. During his campaign, he affiliated himself with anti-abortion and anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist, RJK Jr, who said Trump had promised him control of public health agencies, ‘because we’ve got to get off of seed oils and we’ve got to get off of pesticide.’
For boys and young men consuming manosphere content and vulnerable to its misinformation, the emboldening effect of Trump’s election will have very real impacts on their understanding of key global issues, as well as girls’ and women’s safety.
This will make curriculum attention to critical thinking an essential and urgent priority. Critical and creative thinking has long been a general capability included in the Australian Curriculum. Now we need to pay specific attention to equipping young people with skills to identify misinformation and resist pervasive conspiracy theories; and increase all students’ critical digital literacy skills to understand how the manosphere exploits and manipulates their feelings and beliefs.
Brazen disregard for truth
Trump’s brazen disregard for truth and fact mirrors other manosphere figures, such as Tate, Trump and Joe Rogan. Both Trump and Rogan have claimed that Invermectin cures COVID and that vaccines alter your genes, among other conspiracies.Trump’s presidency is also a threat to climate action, which significantly regressed under his previous term. Joe Rogan and fellow manosphere figure Jordan Petersen have also faced criticism by scientists for their public climate change denialism. A conversation that took place on X between Trump and Musk was also widely condemned for being seeped in climate misinformation. The outcome of the election has also clearly emboldened white supremacists in the US, and is likely to do the same for such groups in Australia. This is especially concerning given their visibility has been already growing here in recent years..
Trump and manosphere support in Australia
Our research has indicated that figures of the manosphere—a term used to describe online groups, individuals and forums who represent anti-feminist and anti-women ideas—have influenced how boys behave towards women and girls in Australian schools. Andrew Tate is one of the most infamous members of the manosphere, a public misogynist charged with rape and human trafficking.
Once the election results were becoming clear, Tate announced that he is ‘moving back to America’—a clear endorsement of the election result and the permission provided for men like him to thrive in Trump’s America.
Tate later proudly boasted that ‘the men are back in charge’. He was making it clear women’s grievances were irrelevant now a male supremacist president was reinstalled.
These statements align with the comments posted by prominent far-right leader and activist Nick Fuentes, who posted on X ‘Your body, my choice. Forever’. This vile sentiment very quickly became a viral meme, across all the major social media sites. It was even printed on T-shirts and readied for purchase. Australian women have also reported being on the receiving end of the ‘’your body, my choice’ statement as well as experiencing an increase in violent and misogynist messages from men online since Trump’s election win.
In a climate of increasing hostility and endemic levels of violence against women, the affirmation of male supremacist ideas and attitudes by the election of a misogynist to public office presents a very real threat to women’s safety in Australia.
Viral misogyny
Tate’s influence on other manosphere creators and sympathisers and the viral spread of his misogynistic ideas is part of a phenomenon known as ‘networked misogyny’. The endorsement of Trump by high-profile figures such as Rogan and Musk provide an example of how figures of the manosphere work to support each other and provide access to power. For example, Musk used his significant profile on X to ‘amplify right-wing conspiracy theories, spread misinformation and promote the Republican candidate.’
Algorithms presenting manosphere content such as Andrew Tate’s to boys and young men regardless of whether they search for it. There is now a strong body of research documenting the ways that this content shapes how boys and young men treat women. This includes sexist and derogatory comments and behaviour. It also includes a refusal to accept the gender wage gap is real and opposition to gender equity.
Inaccurate beliefs
These beliefs are key parts of grievance politics that were key to Trump’s success, and feed inaccurate beliefs about disadvantage and lack of opportunity. These ideas find homes in the minds of boys and young men, who in return begin to see women and girls as barriers to their success.
It is crucial we increase all students’ critical digital literacy skills to understand the malign influence of the manosphere. With Australia heading into an election year in 2025, this need is more critical than ever.
Stephanie Wescott is a lecturer in Humanities in Social Sciences in the School of Education, Culture and Society, Monash University Faculty of Education. Her research explores socio-political phenomena and their intersections with education policy and practice.
Steven Roberts is a professor of Education and Social Justice in the School of Education, Culture and Society at Monash University Faculty of Education. He is a sociologist and has published widely in the areas of Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities and Critical Youth Studies.
On a flight recently I stumbled across the Barbie movie. Not something I would normally choose to watch I found it an insightful analysis of the manosphere.
Thank you for your comment, Tom. I’m glad you found that is offered an interesting perspective on this topic.
Young men have almost no shot at owning a house or finding a wife in this economy.
Despite women ganing access to empowerment and employment hypergamy is still real and this means a significant section of men will likely never have a family.
You must realise what this will do to our nation. Do we really want a mass of unattached lonely men with no investment in society?
Young men understand this. The manosphere simply puts to them that in order to reproduce and secure a relationship you must intensely compete with both men and women.
Women are now competition and men probably won’t be nice about it, they are fighting for a future and a family.
What vision of the future do you have to sell young men? Critically think about how privileged you are and how little men deserve in life?
I’m a high school teacher and all I can see is a huge amount of failure at every level to address the coming rage of a generation of men that have zero investment in society. You people are so far removed from the reality of what young men face
Thank you for your comment, Sonny.
It’s certainly a challenging time socially and economically for lots of people. Unfortunately the message of the manosphere to young men is that they are entitled to majority ownership of things that are also reasonable rights for women (i.e. reproductive choice and financial autonomy). Further, the manosphere positions women as the enemy of men, rather than social and economic inequities that are actually shaped by government policy. There is also lots of manosphere content that convinces young men that they are powerless and hopeless, which is the opposite message of the feminist movement, which suggests that all people deserve liberation and dignity. It’s a popular and age-old tactic to sell the fear of the ‘other’, and it’s almost always a distraction from social and economic policy that fails most people, but especially the vulnerable.
I would help to sell a vision of the future where young people think critically about who is selling them a particular version of reality and why they might be invested in that particular narrative, and whether it is reflective of the truth of their lives.
Stephanie Wescott
Thank you for the reply it’s nice to be able to give an academic a perspective from the chalkface
I understand your point that men have historically assumed they should own most things but that is far removed from what young men are dealing with today.
Now the young men I see don’t actually see women as enemies as such but they certainly view them as competition (which in all fairness they are). I do not believe this is fear of the other driven by base sexisim but more driven by worsening material conditions.
Like I tried to illustrate with my previous post many young men desire partners with a view of starting a family. Is this the particular narrative you are suggesting they question? Do you believe most young men can be educated out of their desire to seek a relationship and form a family?
A really important question you have to ask yourself is the importance a young man will place on nebulous high minded ideas such as liberty and dignity when it serves no purpose in furthering the goals in their lives. I’m not sure this generation of men will enjoy the liberty and dignity of renting a one bedroom apartment and living without a partner or children as much as you think they will.
Not to be rude but what you have commented on did not really address any serious issues I was talking about. The saileint issue here is how to convince men to invest in society while at the same time telling them that forming a family, finding a partner and owning property are quite possibly out of their reach.
Just saying your wrong for “fearing the other” may be a morally correct position but how is this going to help? This is the problem I have with education researchers the rhetoric is always the same but actually contains zero solutions.
This is a problem we are going to have to deal with and simply standing on the ethically sound high ground and trying to convince young men to fight against an innate drive in order to be “good” people seems almost doomed to failure.
This is why idiots like tate are popular, sure they are at fault for spreading the wrong message but academics and policy makers will also shoulder a massive part of this blame. You and your peers are failing to engage with these issues at any level much less offer any solutions.
Look at America, look at Europe. We are forming a new generation of young reactionary men due to their life prospects being in the toilet. Address it with real policy solutions and not further lecturing on the virtues of femnisim. If you need ideas I’m sure I can come up with some that work.
Please do elaborate on the solutions.