For the first time in its 200-year history, The Lancet has devoted its cover to men's health. And it didn't lead with prostate cancer or testosterone. It led with the manosphere.
In a Viewpoint published Oct 29th as part of its new Series on Men's Health [Vol 408, Issue 10566, p1912-1916], public health scholars Sarah Hawkes and Kent Buse make a simple, provocative argument: the manosphere is not a subculture. It's a commercial determinant of health, just like tobacco or junk food, and it should be regulated like one.
What they actually mean by "manosphere"
It's not one group. First named in 2009, it's a shifting ecosystem that now includes:
- Men's rights / fathers' rights activists
- MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) – self-described separatists
- Incels – involuntarily celibate men
- Pick-up artists
- Looksmaxxers – the TikTok-to-clinic pipeline selling jawline surgeries, steroids, "mewing" courses, and supplements to insecure young men
- Red-pill communities – the idea that feminism has rigged the system against men and you need to wake up
A study of 28.8 million posts found users are steadily migrating from the older, "softer" groups to the newer, more toxic ones. And it increasingly cross-pollinates with racism, antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
Why boys go there
The paper says "Don't blame boys." Boys are disengaging from school, over-represented in suicide and incarceration, while youth mental health services are gutted.
The manosphere offers what mainstream institutions don't: belonging, identity, and an explanation for failure.
The money
This is the core insight: it's a commercial ecosystem.
Platforms make money from attention. Algorithms learn outrage keeps boys scrolling. Then creators monetize the insecurity they just created — $500 alpha courses, supplements, crypto, looksmaxxing surgeries.
"Financial incentives reward the most extreme expressions of misogyny because outrage and grievance are good for business."
The health cost
For women and girls: links to rape myth acceptance, domestic violence, doxxing, and threats that cause PTSD and silencing.
For boys inside: body dysmorphia, isolation, depression, and a culture that actively discourages help-seeking.
The fix? 6 steps from The Lancet
1. Go upstream: Jobs, education, mental health services that actually reach boys.
2. Schools + health together: Teach relationship and emotional skills.
3. Better stories, not shaming: Promote healthy masculinities, co-designed with boys. Pre-bunk, don't just debunk.
4. Regulate like tobacco: Don't criminalize users, regulate the industry. Enforce the EU Digital Services Act, UK Online Safety Act.
5. Track it: Monitor the ecosystem like we track an outbreak.
6. Tackle misogyny itself: The manosphere amplifies it, but didn't invent it.
Original paper:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)02027-1/fulltext