How algorithms, incel culture and the manosphere are fuelling violence against women

Content warning: This article discusses sexual violence, family violence, online radicalisation and misogyny. Support resources are listed at the end of the article.

Just when we thought we’d seen the worst horrors of toxic masculinity, rape culture, and the patriarchy on women’s safety, CNN released their report exposing a global rape academy in March. 

The report explained how an online forum dedicated to teaching men how to drug and rape their unconscious wives, share it online, and get away with it was visited 62 million times. Men around the world gathered in private messaging apps like Telegram, sharing nauseating tips, “success” stories and images. 

The report highlighted a disturbing trend of technological and drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) following the trial of Dominique Pelicot, who was charged with facilitating the mass rape of his wife, Gisele. Pelicot used similar online forums to the group uncovered by CNN to connect with the 70 men who raped his wife more than 200 times. 

Men’s violence towards and subjugation of women is nothing new. It has deep historical roots in systems of oppression, rigid gender stereotypes, and a normalisation of controlling and mistreating women. Significant progress has been made towards freeing ourselves from limiting and dangerous gender roles and social constructs. Yet alongside this, a sinister and dangerous subculture has grown, using propaganda and radicalisation to push us backwards in our fight for equality. 

The rise of red-pill, ‘manosphere’ communities fuelled by toxic masculinity and misogyny has flourished in an increasingly online world, where people can connect over the most niche values and desires. Cowering in the darkest corners of encrypted internet forums, disenfranchised men who feel threatened by women’s liberty converge to plot their ‘revenge’ against their supposed ‘oppressors’. 

Red-pill and incel culture: What’s driving the rise of modern misogyny?

It’s hard to fathom how someone could commit such heinous crimes against their wife or intimate partner. Yet, of the 1.3 million women who experienced sexual assault in 2021-22 alone, the vast majority were not at the hands of sinister strangers, but men they knew and trusted. These trends beg the question: what drives men to such hateful, dehumanising acts of control and violence towards the women closest to them? 

We hear a lot about the male ‘loneliness’ epidemic, where lack of connection and belonging are framed as uniquely masculine experiences. On one hand, I understand the rhetoric. My anecdotal experience supports the idea that women enjoy deep, emotionally supportive, loving friendships, while one study found that about 25 per cent of Australian men report having no close friends. We know that many men feel left behind and unsure of their place in our modern world, but it fails to explain why so many direct this frustration towards women in the form of coercion, disrespect, and horrific acts of violence.

We also need to fact-check the idea that men are ‘lonelier’ than women. Some research shows that both men and women are spending more time alone, experiencing a friendship recession and increased loneliness and isolation. 

Isn’t seeking connection and overcoming loneliness a universal human experience? Why then are women taking this energy and directing it into joining or building communities to meet people with common interests, while far too many men are instead directing rejection-fuelled rage into violent crimes against innocent women?

Most women I know are deeply empathetic and concerned about the state of men’s emotional wellbeing, yet as is too often the case, they continue to bear the brunt of men’s sadness, insecurities and anger. 

We know that traditional relationship and marriage structures were created to serve men; they receive unpaid household labour, someone to bear and raise their offspring, a provider of sex and intimacy, and a built-in friend and unpaid therapist. Today, these gender norms and expectations persist. 

Even in couples where both work and earn similar amounts, women take on the majority of household labour and childcare responsibilities. Alongside a resurgence of toxic masculinity online, we have also seen a concerning trend of romanticising the past, fondly (and inaccurately) recalling ‘simpler’ times when women had fewer decisions to make… because we weren’t allowed.

The rise of modern conservatism and romanticisation of ‘trad-wives’ promotes a conveniently simplified notion that ignores the real physical, financial and emotional dangers of losing financial independence and your identity to a man. 

When we’re shown glossy images of serene women in pristine kitchens, dressed like a perfect 1950s housewife, it’s easy to forget what those ‘traditional’ arrangements actually were. 

Women were subservient because they were economically dependent. Men were ‘in charge’, but they also had equally unrealistic gender expectations to be hard, cold and unfeeling; a ‘pillar of strength’ without emotions or needs.

The sad irony is that being kind, gentle, and emotionally intelligent is far from a sign of weakness; they are qualities that most women say they want in a partner.

Yet too often, instead of developing the skills they need to have meaningful relationships, men feed into the cycles that keep them feeling scared, and therefore angry, lonely, and convinced of their inadequacy. 

If they only understood that they don’t need more money, a bigger six-pack, or to be taller to be worthy of love and belonging, perhaps we would see less terrifying displays of attempts to dominate and control women to prove their ‘manliness’.

Is technology exposing existing views or radicalising vulnerable men?

The separation between our online lives and the digital world is shrinking rapidly. Online communities are a central part of most of our lives, bridging physical divides and allowing us to connect with people over shared values and interests. But it is also being harnessed to spread hatred, misogyny and violence in the dark corners of the web, including the terrifying manosphere.

The internet proliferates dangerous misinformation about the root causes of genuine social issues like mental health, the housing crisis, isolation and a lack of belonging. Rather than tackling the complex, multifaceted root causes of these matters, incel culture convinces vulnerable and disenfranchised men that their woes are the fault of women in general, and the feminist movement specifically.

The speed, ease and anonymity of online communication embolden those who may not have dared to voice their opinions in real life for fear of public scrutiny by their community – a form of social ‘lawkeeping’ that has long helped to deter and create natural consequences to antisocial behaviour. 

Technology often exposes existing trends and values in our society, but it’s also contributing to their proliferation. Men aren’t typically pulled into the manosphere by searching for it; they’re delivered to it, often while looking for something else entirely. 

A study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Reset Australia set up 10 experimental YouTube accounts, including profiles of teenage Australian boys, and tracked what the algorithm fed them. Within a short window, all of the accounts received misogynistic, anti-feminist and manosphere content, without ever searching for it.  

This is the fitness-to-misogyny pipeline in action. It begins innocently: a workout video, a productivity tip, or dating advice. While you scroll, the algorithm tracks engagement, delivering more of what holds your attention, even if it’s shock or outrage. 

Relatively harmless gym content can quickly lead the consumer to ‘discipline’ content, then content about returning to traditional masculine roles. Before you know it, Andrew Tate is lecturing a young man about the threat of feminism to their masculinity and power.

By the time this happens, the journey feels seamless — not like radicalisation, but like a natural process of realising an undeniable ‘truth’. Men don’t set out looking to become hateful misogynists. Usually, they stumble into it by desperately seeking support and belonging. 

The radicalisation pipeline targets men who are already vulnerable: those experiencing isolation, mental ill-health, financial troubles, and low self-esteem. It promises them what every cult promises — community, purpose, certainty, a name for their uncomfortable feelings, and an enemy to blame for it.

Combatting digital and drug-facilitated sexual violence

The manosphere isn’t going to dismantle itself, nor is the resurgence of modern misogyny we’ve watched unfold over the past few years. The platforms profiting from this content have shown either complacency or incompetence in fighting the spread of hateful content. The men engaging in this content won’t find their way out of forums designed to keep them inside on their own. That leaves us all with work to do.

Some of it is structural. Platforms have to be made accountable for what their algorithms amplify. They need sustained public and political pressure to translate currently meaningless moderation strategies into enforceable law. 

There is also crucial work to be done closer to home. Men are drawn to misogynistic communities because they lack suitable or accessible alternatives to what they truly need: help, community, safety. 

Organisations that are fighting to build support for the real issues men face, like interpersonal violence, self-harm and suicide, mental health and isolation, poverty and homelessness, need support and funding. Individuals, organisations, and governments need to explicitly prioritise modelling a version of masculinity built on connection rather than dominance. 

Earlier this year, the CNN Rape Academy report exposed millions of men who felt entitled to the highest form of betrayal and abuse. The Pelicot trial exposed 70. These numbers, while horrific, only paint a tiny portion of the bigger issue. 

Behind each forum, each verdict, each headline, is a culture that produced them — and a generation of boys still being delivered into it, one algorithm, one influencer, one unanswered cry for help at a time. 

The greater number was never mentioned – the number of women in these men’s lives who didn’t know what was happening to them, and those who knew but weren’t believed.

The infrastructure of violence is multifaceted, sophisticated, historical, and complex. But none of it is inevitable. The Pelicot trial showed us what happens when we look away. The CNN report showed us how far it goes when we keep looking away. 

We can no longer pretend we don’t know the extent of the harm done by toxic masculinity culture. The question now is: what are we going to do about it?

Do you need support?

This article discusses sexual violence, family violence, and online misogyny. If any of it has surfaced something difficult for you, please reach out.

If you’ve experienced sexual assault, family or domestic violence:

• 1800RESPECT: Call 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au — 24/7 confidential support
• Lifeline: Call 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au — 24/7 crisis support

If you’re a man concerned about your own behaviour, anger, or use of violence:

• Men’s Referral Service: Call 1300 766 491 or visit ntv.org.au/mrs — 24/7 anonymous, confidential counselling, run by No to Violence
• MensLine Australia: Call 1300 78 99 78 or visit mensline.org.au — 24/7 free counselling on relationships and mental health