Normally, when I'm looking for posts to write about, I look for things that have high engagement or have gone viral. This post from Newsweek has been up for three hours and has 5 likes and 5 retweets, despite having been seen a reported 13,000 times. Still, this one caught my eye. I have a son, but he's 27 and a systems analyst at a major hospital, so I guess I'm fortunate that my wife and I were able to raise him before the "manosphere" became a thing. I still don't know what the manosphere is even after having read the entire article in Newsweek, because the writers never define the word. My guess is that it's comprised of online influencers who are popular among young men. But who are they talking about? I remember there being quite a panic that Jordan Peterson had a large following among young men, who appreciated someone not trying to feminize them. I really don't know anything about Andrew Tate, but I'm guessing he's part of the manosphere.
Newsweek tracked down a psychotherapist who warns readers how to protect boys from the manosphere. It's kind of an odd picture choice to go along with the article … that doesn't look like a boy shielding his eyes from the laptop screen.
How to protect boys from the manosphere, according to a psychotherapist https://t.co/Qe99i7LGKR pic.twitter.com/DM5mMxVUjn
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) September 19, 2026
Melissa Fleur Afshar reports:
Zara Kadir, who specializes in child and family psychotherapy, says parents worried about the manosphere's grip on their sons need to resist the urge to correct, dismiss or panic when they repeat "red pill" beliefs they have heard online—and get curious instead.
…
Kadir, 41, holds two master's degrees—one in counseling and psychotherapy with adults, and another in child, adolescent and family psychotherapy—and is herself the mother of two children.
She has spoken publicly about the growing influence of manosphere content on young boys, an issue that has moved from the margins of parenting discourse to its center over the past few years, and which reached a cultural flashpoint in 2025 with the release of the acclaimed Netflix drama, Adolescence.
The British television series, which followed a 13-year-old accused of murdering a female classmate after being radicalized by the online misogyny rampant in manosphere forums, forced a wider reckoning with how easily manosphere rhetoric can reach children—and how ill-equipped many parents feel to respond.
Spoiler: The kid did it.
Ah, Adolescence. As I reported last year, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was so impressed by the series, which can be found on Netflix, had a roundtable with the show's creators, and the government confirmed that the series would be shown in secondary schools.
Kadir's central piece of advice is simple: take your child's thoughts seriously, even the ones that sound absurd.
"You need to indulge your children's thoughts and curiosities even if you think that they are ridiculous," she said. "If you shut down a conversation before it's even begun, then you will send them further away."
…
That same approach, she said, becomes essential once boys start bringing home ideas absorbed from online figures in the manosphere—content that often frames women, relationships and masculinity in rigid, transactional terms that are in opposition to feminist ideals.
OK, so the author isn't defining "feminist ideals" either. Is that the danger of being red-pilled? Questioning feminist ideals?
Again, Afshar never defines the manosphere or names any of these misogynistic influencers or gives examples.
My wife watched Adolescence and said it was great. I guess you have to watch the series to understand who is telling your 13-year-old to kill girls. So the psychotherapist with two master's degrees says to talk with your kids and be curious. If only I'd had this advice when I was raising my son.
How is “Manosphere” being defined?
— Ken Paris (@TunaSafeDolphin) September 19, 2026
If a man makes content directed to other men telling them to avoid terrible state contracts, how to thrive living free, & how to effectively interact with women… is that in the “Manosphere” or not?
And what’s wrong with that?
THIS is why young men cannot listen to or take advice from women. They don't understand a man's problems. They don't care about a man's problems.
— AI8MyJob (@AI8MyJob) September 19, 2026
Women care about women.
Their advice will only produce men who are more helpful to women. They don't care about your problems.
Future articles she’ll write:
— Look, Point and Laugh (@Cc_405) September 19, 2026
“Why aren’t men approaching women anymore?”
“No man would give me their seat on the subway. What happened to chivalry?”
I would literally never take advice about men or boy from the woman on the right for literally any issue
— ConservamemeHQ (@ConservamemeHQ) September 19, 2026
Again, the reason this post caught my eye is that it reminded me of the Jordan Peterson panic. Just this spring, California's first partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, said that her sons like to follow sports figures on YouTube, but that leads them into darker areas of social media, where they're met with "alt-right, extreme, Jordan Peterson-type" content that teaches them hate, racism, and misogyny. I also reported back in November 2020 that several employees of Penguin Random House Canada cried at a meeting when they learned their company would be publishing Peterson’s new book. In 2023, the College of Psychologists of Ontario ordered him to undergo "social media communication coaching" (which Peterson has accurately dubbed "re-education camp") or lose his license. After all, he had "deadnamed" Elliot Page on Twitter and was banned after he refused to delete the tweet.
Anyway, moms, look out for the manosphere, whatever that is.
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