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A growing body of work examining the manosphere and the rise of the men's rights movement has, understandably, focused on the role of misogyny. Many government authorities and counter-extremism organisations have stated that tackling men's misogyny is key to addressing the influence of the manosphere and prominent 'manfluencers' like Andrew Tate. However, by focusing on men's individually held attitudes toward women, this approach overlooks the group and identity processes that underpin the appeal and formation of such groups. That is, how men are uniting in response to perceived threats to their ingroup status posed by gender equality and feminist progress.

In this talk, I will present a social identity account of the manosphere. Drawing on a series of studies, I explore how intergroup threat and small group interactions shape men's support for men's rights activism and foster the emergence of a shared men’s rights identity. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the social psychological processes that drive backlash, rather than focusing exclusively on individual-level misogyny.

I conclude by discussing a promising avenue for intervention: promoting positive-sum thinking, which reframes gender equality as mutually beneficial for men and women. This approach can help reframe gender equality as something men can be part of and benefit from, rather than something that challenges or devalues their status and identity.

By: Reny Baykova
Last updated: Monday, 13 October 2025