Many Christians are sceptical of recent feminism. There are worries that it encourages hatred towards men or the family, or that its recent “sex positive” guise promotes promiscuity. Some traditionalist Christians go further and consider that feminist ideas contradict Biblical teaching about gender roles.
Inside and outdoors the Church, there have been concerns about alleged negative effects of feminism or prioritisation of ladies’s rights – akin to fatherhood not being valued, or men being discriminated against in divorce and family court. Inconsistencies are highlighted, like a curious lack of concern about women’s representation in difficult jobs akin to rubbish collection or sewage treatment, or neglect of high rates of suicide in men.
Given this context, it’s perhaps not surprising that some Christians have shown sympathy to what known as the “manosphere”, a web-based movement that challenges feminism and celebrates masculinity. However, the movement includes some beliefs which can be contrary to orthodox Christian ethics, including encouraging the manipulation of ladies to have sex, severe misogyny and an expression of dislike for girls.
For example, there was a substantial amount of hatred expressed online towards several women who turned to Christ after repenting from sex work recently, and a preoccupation with the sin of female ‘body count’ (the variety of sexual partners) while ignoring the identical behaviour in men.
The manosphere will be confused with, or sometimes overlap with, a wider movement that seeks to encourage men in a more positive direction, addresses potential biases, is willing to query some feminist beliefs and is comfortable with traditional masculinity, perhaps led by popular figures akin to psychologist Jordan Peterson and podcast host Joe Rogan.
However the manosphere takes such concerns many steps further and has some questionable characters and interests.
The self-named “godfather of the manosphere”, Rollo Tomassi, which is a pseudonym, has a spread of questionable advice and commentary on men and tips on how to navigate the difficult arena of recent sexual relationships, akin to “Women don’t desire a person to cheat, but they love a person who COULD cheat”.
Another distinguished figure is H Pearl Davis, an American woman living in London who often posts highly controversial videos on YouTube and claims to be Catholic, although her understanding of Christian beliefs seems weak. A number of her provocative views include that ladies shouldn’t be allowed to vote because they should not conscripted in war and that men shouldn’t get married as they’re penalised by divorce law at present.
She highlights the entitled and negative behaviour of a small number of ladies, akin to gold-digging, sexual immorality or prostitution on OnlyFans, and presents it as whether it is the conventional behaviour of recent women today. A typical tweet reads: “Imagine all women disappeared tomorrow. Would society function? Like it or not yes it could. The same just isn’t true vice versa.”
Even higher profile is Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer who has developed an unlimited fanbase after advocating for a macho type of masculinity and domination of ladies. Tate, a recent convert to Islam, has made dubious comments on whether women are a person’s property, and is alleged to have boasted about manipulating a girlfriend into doing sex work for him. He is as a consequence of stand trial in Romania for alleged rape and trafficking, which he denies.
It’s clear that a whole lot of “manosphere” content is firmly against Christian ethics, though the identical could possibly be said of the extremes of recent feminism, too.
Here are some terms related to the manosphere that illustrate its concerns:
MGTOWÂ
Men Going Their Own Way is a movement that daunts men from having committed relationships, arguing that men are penalised by having children and getting married in society at present.
Red pill
In the 1999 film The Matrix, Neo selected to take the red pill slightly than the blue pill, a call that led to a realisation that the world was completely different to what he had believed it to be. The term will be used when people experience a sudden change of attitude towards politics, especially progressive ideology, but inside the manosphere is used when people experience the unravelling of feminist beliefs.
Incel
This stands for ‘involuntary celibate’ and is a word for the increasing variety of men who should not having relationships with women but wish to. They are sometimes characterised as resentful towards women and even dangerous, but more sympathetic coverage asks why so many younger persons are finding it hard to search out and stay in a relationship?
Father’s rights activism
Broadly this movement argues that family courts penalise men and that current law and practice makes it difficult for separated fathers to take care of relationships with their children, or deal effectively with former partners who seek to alienate their child from the daddy.
MRAs
Men’s Rights Activists include the above, but additionally many subjects which can be considered problems for men but not women. It also challenges the denial of harms committed by women, akin to female-on-male domestic violence and abuse.
Pick Up ArtistsÂ
Within the manosphere there may be a whole lot of dubious advice about tips on how to attract women and have sex with them, including using manipulative and abusive behaviour.
The Church’s response
Christian commentary on the manosphere varies. There has been a whole lot of concern, especially from those sympathetic with feminism. However even very traditional, conservative Christians, akin to the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles, who opposes liberalism and advocates for girls to remain in the house, hav strongly criticised ideas akin to the manosphere’s opposition to marriage, the promotion of promiscuity or discouragement of male responsibility. “I’m just a little concerned that that even individuals who rightly diagnose the issues with marriage are coming up with solutions that won’t help in the long run – namely men being selfish,” said Knowles in an interview with Pearl on his channel.
Less traditional, complementarian voices have advocated for a more balanced understanding of masculinity. For example, pastor David Mathis, on the Godward Life conference in November, characterised the manosphere as calling for “men to rebel against feminizing in our world, and the church… the vision finally ends up being little greater than a caricature of manly strength and backbone.” Instead, he advocates for maturity in men: “Both strong and mild, he can wield his strength when the moment calls for it, or with admirable restraint he can walk in gentleness.”
In turn, the Church has often been criticised by the manosphere. Even conservative pastors akin to Desiring God creator John Piper – who can hardly be described as a friend of feminists as a consequence of his complementarian views – have been accused of minimising women’s sins while harshly condemning men.
“I even have an amazing deal of respect for the ministries of a lot of these churches and pastors… but we should be honest that they’re badly off base and really uncharitable on this area,” writes conservative Christian author Aaron Renn for the Theopolis Institute. “The Church has adopted a really skewed approach that improperly berates and belittles men, and has badly misled them with teachings that just aren’t true. Those is perhaps strong statements, but not nearly as strong because the anti-male sermons that these pastors themselves preach.
“There’s been rather a lot written in regards to the way the Church has abused and harmed women, however the Church has abused and harmed a whole lot of men too.”
As with many modern web movements, it appears that evidently the manosphere feeds on hurt and resentment at real injustices that churches should take heed to, explore and respond fastidiously. The manosphere’s solutions to real concerns often don’t align with Christian teaching, and the Church must outline a greater way forward.
Heather Tomlinson is a contract journalist. Find her at www.heathertomlinson.substack.com or on twitter @heathertomli
