A trend that is confirmed. For the second year in a row, the High Council for Equality notes a “polarisation” growing among women “more feminist” and men, particularly young people, a growing portion of whom are sensitive to discourses “masculinists”in its annual barometer (document PDF) on sexism, published Monday January 20.
According to this survey, almost half (45%) of men under 35 believe it is difficult to be a man in today’s society, compared to only 19% to 33% of older men. In two years, support for this idea has increased by 19 points among 15-24 year olds and 11 points among 25-34 year olds, notes the barometer.
Among men aged 25 to 34, 13% even find it difficult to be a man but easy to be a woman – compared to 4% to 10% of older men. Young men also express a greater propensity to adhere to stereotypes of their own gender: 67% of those under 35 (compared to 47% of men in general) believe that to be respected as a man, one must be athletic, 53% (37% of men) that you should know how to fight and 46% (32% of men) that you should not show your emotions.
Where does masculinism come from? What does the resurgence of this current of thought among young men reveal? How can we understand its coexistence with a growing support for feminism among young people – including men? To find out, franceinfo spoke with Mélissa Blais, sociologist specializing in anti-feminist movements, professor at the University of Quebec in Outaouais.
Franceinfo: What is masculinism?
Mélissa Blais: Masculinism is a form of antifeminism which is based on the idea that men suffer because of women and feminists, because society is too feminized and women take up too much space. It is one of the modern forms of antifeminism, with conservatism, which it rubs shoulders with and with which there can be overlaps.
“Antifeminism is not new: in every period of history, there has been opposition to feminist struggles. This is the characteristic of a counter-movement: it has adapted to the advances of feminism to continue to be audible.”
Mélissa Blais, sociologist specializing in anti-feminist movementsat franceinfo
Where the opponents of the suffragettes highlighted the so-called intellectual inferiority of women, the masculinists denounced a crisis of masculinity because of feminist advances, and promoted a complementarity between virile men and gentle women.
When did it appear?
It began to develop in the 1980s, and became especially known in the 2000s, in countries where the feminist movement was strong and audible, such as Australia, England, the United States and Canada. Part of the population then had the impression that their interests were being undermined by this emphasis on feminism and public figures who claimed to be feminists. Men therefore took action and organized to slow down the movement which they imagined would be the cause of a withdrawal of their rights.
-Masculinism first took the form of a movement of separated and divorced fathers. They contested the automatic collection of alimony, believed that they were at a disadvantage on the question of child custody because judges were sold to feminists, that women denounced non-existent violence to obtain custody… These movements of fathers made themselves known through visible tactics of opposition to feminists, in particular by climbing bridges or cranes.
Since then, masculinist communities have largely moved online, and constitute what is called the “manosphere”. These disparate communities of online men go by several names (Incels, seduction coaches, alpha males, etc.), have developed sub-fields of interest, sometimes with different visions of the role of women. They are often worn by influencers, like Andrew Tate [influenceur masculiniste poursuivi pour violences sexuelles et traite d’êtres humains en Roumanie et au Royaume-Uni].
Why does masculinism seem to appeal to more and more young men?
Masculinist influencers sell an ideal: the dream of social advancement, wealth and success via the “revirilization” of men. They tell the young people:“Come, if you feel bad about yourself, you just have to become a real man to reach this ideal”. However, youth is conducive to anxiety, to worries about the future. Moreover, they are selling an ideal in the literal sense, since they all have products to sell: training to learn how to seduce or become rich, retreats to get together with men, etc.
Unlike divorced fathers, who were only in the negative, in the fight against women and feminists, these “seduction coaches” also offer something positive, since they tell men: “You just need to take charge of yourself to get better.” It is therefore easier for them to camouflage their support for anti-feminism.
This model often goes hand in hand with a very romanticized vision of the conservative ideal of the family model: a house in the suburbs, a dog, a cat, etc. Feminism and LGBT+ activism are seen in this model as internal enemies, threats to the traditional family, and the migrant as the external enemy. Faced with this, salvation comes from white masculinity. But be careful: even if we see that more young men than before vote for the extreme right, and that there is a difference between the vote of young men and young women, not all masculinists are extreme right .
Does masculinism affect other populations, beyond young men?
Yes, we see that these ideas exist beyond young men, because there are elements of masculinist discourse which have become mainstream. During the 2000s, the media certainly contributed to the dissemination of these ideas, in the way they gave voice to fathers’ movements: they symmetrized feminist and anti-feminist speech by saying that everything was equal. This normalized anti-feminist discourse. But now, masculinists no longer even need the media to address the general public: they have radio shows, YouTube channels, are present among university teachers in Canada…
That said, I remain quite optimistic. We talk a lot about the revival of masculinism among young men, but in France as elsewhere, we also see that more young men adhere to feminism than before, or even claim to be feminists. Masculinism is gaining ground in this generation because feminism is gaining ground too, and it is popular and audible.
