Sherdil Singh is quite annoyed these days. The 18-year-old바카라s best friend has started dating a woman and he feels like a third wheel around the couple. 바카라What could be worse?바카라 rues the teenager, who is about to graduate from a school in his city Delhi and has never been in a romantic relationship. Influenced by the woman, Sherdil believes, his friend seems to be turning into something like a 바카라feminist바카라. Why else would his friend overreact now to the kind of jokes they didn바카라t mind cracking earlier or appear to be extra-sensitive about the sort of comments they would have easily passed otherwise, Sherdil wonders. What바카라s more, he even lectures him sometimes about how to behave with the opposite gender.
As his father is too busy with work and he doesn바카라t speak of 바카라these kinds of things바카라 with his mother, Sherdil turns to the Internet for advice. He has seen male content creators on his YouTube and Instagram feed talking about dating, grooming, body building and even how to start a successful business. He has browsed some of the content in boredom but never paid attention. They may not be completely right, but they aren바카라t entirely wrong either, he thinks. There is all this focus on Beti Bachao and women바카라s rights, after all, while no one is talking about how hard it is to be a young man in this world. Isn바카라t there a lot of pressure on men to provide and to be strong, he wonders. Coming from a middle-class family with strict parents and little attention from the opposite gender, Sherdil hates it when the girls in his school talk about male privilege. He doesn바카라t feel privileged.
He starts following some of these creators, watches their reels and videos, and even engages with a few comments underneath this content. 바카라Feminism is all well and good in theory, but women forget it when it바카라s time to do the dirty jobs,바카라 he writes on one such forum. The comment gets 100 likes in less than a minute with other men agreeing empathically and sending him follow requests. This is more attention than he has ever got online.
Sherdil expected no more than to watch these reels and perhaps take on one of the courses they sell바카라perhaps the one on how to change your face to increase your sexual market value, or that other one on how to dress to attract more girls. But he gets much more in the process바카라he finds a community of men and boys who are going through the same issues as him. They want to engage with him, speak about his problems, offer advice and acceptance.
I know how Sherdil feels because I made him up. Under this assumed identity, I browsed what is called the 바카라manosphere바카라 for a week바카라on Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and Discord바카라and spoke with several of its digital denizens, including content creators. There are thousands of real boys like Sherdil online. In an August 2024 report, the Equimundo Centre for Masculinities and Social Justice defines the manosphere as 바카라a broad collection of websites, forums and other online spaces characterised by their misogynistic and anti-feminist content바카라.
According to the report, boys often go online with 바카라common search terms and topic areas바카라 such as 바카라dating advice, financial guidance and fitness content바카라, but many 바카라end up funnelled바카라 into the manosphere, 바카라which swoops in with clear messages to help men make sense of a changing world, particularly around gender and gender roles바카라. 바카라Many of these spaces exist on platforms like YouTube, Reddit, notably aboveground바카라increasingly permeating mainstream media,바카라 the report notes.
Within the manosphere, there are groups such as incels, Men Going Their Own Way and Pick-up Artists. There are also men바카라s grooming 바카라experts바카라 and dating gurus.
Within the manosphere, there are groups such as incels (involuntary celibates), Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) and Pick-up Artists (PUAs). There are also men바카라s grooming 바카라experts바카라 and dating gurus. While not every aspect of this network is overtly toxic or misogynist, most of it aligns more or less with The Red Pill (TRP)바카라a neoconservative perspective based on essentialist notions of gender and sexuality that selectively deploys evolutionary psychology as proof of male dominance being part of the natural order of things allegedly disrupted by feminist narratives. The term comes from the movie The Matrix (1999), whose protagonist must choose between taking the Blue Pill to stay in a reassuring world of illusions and swallowing the Red Pill that will make him realise his enslaved reality. The main online community of 바카라red-pillers바카라 was created in 2012 on Reddit.
Mohan Dhawan, a 20-year-old who works in the media, came across TRP content when he was in his teens. 바카라I don바카라t follow it now, but back then it was attractive because some of what they say is true. For instance, men are indeed under a lot of pressure. If a man doesn바카라t earn for his family, then he will not be respected even in his own house,바카라 he says. Red pillers essentially ignore that criticism of such gender-constrained roles is implicit in the critique of patriarchy. Yet Dhawan immediately follows up his statement on how the system puts men in a tight spot with a dig at feminism바카라바카라sometimes it is fake, right?바카라바카라and faithfully regurgitates the same widely shared TRP trope Sherdil had deployed to find others like 바카라him바카라: 바카라Women forget feminism when it바카라s time to clean the gutters, for example.바카라
Most popular creators in the Indian manosphere include dating coaches such as Sarthak Goel and Kshitij Sehrawat, who have over 300,000 and 700,000 followers, respectively, on YouTube and over 200,000 each on Instagram. A lot of anti-women sentiment is easily couched under the guise of 바카라teaching men how to talk to women바카라. In one video, Goel explains to his followers how to not pay attention to a girl if she says no when he asks her out. She is only 바카라testing바카라 the man바카라s feelings, he tells them. In another, he claims 바카라women cheat on nice guys바카라. Requests for an interview with Goel and Sehrawat went unanswered.
The comments show the range of men who follow such content. 바카라I바카라m 40 bro, but what you say resonates with me too,바카라 says one. When a boy talks about how he바카라s 바카라16, so lonely and no girl will ever look at me바카라, men ask him to share his picture so they can 바카라see for themselves바카라. Only some of the comments after the photograph was presumably shared are supportive.
Many boys and men seem desperate to change their looks바카라바카라looksmaxxing바카라 in incel lingo바카라in order to be more attractive to women. While many unleash their frustration with comments on the 바카라dark side바카라 of women, some go as far as saying 바카라women who tease men deserve to be raped바카라.
In one Instagram video, Kshitij, who goes by the username IronManLifestyle, sits on a low couch, hand placed firmly on the thighs of a woman in a micro-dress sitting next to him. In such videos he imparts 바카라dating advice바카라, including how to make a woman comfortable enough so she shares her number with you after refusing. 바카라You have to make her realise how important and unique you are; make her realise the fear of value loss,바카라 he teaches.
The crux of such videos of the PUA category is that men should attract women by being 바카라classically masculine바카라바카라big, strong providers바카라and seeing themselves as products whose 바카라demand바카라 will go up if they don바카라t 바카라chase바카라 women. A steady stream of proto-masculine content encourages followers to not just objectify women but also themselves. 바카라Everyone is a product,바카라 says Mayank Bhattacharya, 33, who runs a popular men바카라s looksmaxxing channel on YouTube and Instagram. 바카라As any marketplace, like these dating apps, is a commercialised process, a man who wants a chance to break the algorithm and stand out will work on himself.바카라 His followers are largely boys 바카라in the 12th standard or just going into college바카라. He got into making content after watching TRP creators on YouTube and says 바카라incel culture has gotten worse바카라 in the past decade. His own content has become 바카라more positive바카라 over the past four years, he claims, adding dismally that it has 바카라affected바카라 his views and his income, which used to be around Rs 3 lakh per month just from YouTube. While his old videos on Andrew Tate바카라s 바카라marketing secrets바카라 got 100K views, his recent ones on clothes and style to attract women get only 3-4K. The 바카라violent misogyny promoted바카라 by Tate had been blamed by the prosecution for inciting Kyle Clifford, 26, to rape a woman and murder three바카라Carol, Louise and Hannah Hunt바카라at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, in July 2024.
Ayush Sharma (ChadTag) runs a facial reformer programme for their YouTube audience, teaching boys how to change their looks and attitude to attract more women. 바카라I am the least toxic one out there. Other creators call me gay,바카라 he says. 바카라That바카라s the ultimate insult, next only to Cuck (for Cuckold), a man whose chick cheats on him.바카라
In fact, masculinity in its most rigid form is a strong predictor of intimate partner violence (IPV), suggests a 2014 UNFPA study on 바카라Masculinity, Son Preference and Intimate Partner Violence in India바카라, which found men who demonstrated such masculinity to be 1.35 times more likely to be perpetrators than others more equitable in their attitudes and behaviour. Moreover, 44 per cent of men who had regularly witnessed or experienced discrimination and violence in their childhood admitted to violence against their partners, compared to only 14 per cent among the other men.
In 2020, Delhi police busted an Instagram group called BoisLockerRoom that shared images of underage girls and hosted chats with abusive comments about them. In 2019, a teenager in Panvel was arrested for raping his sister after watching 바카라lewd content바카라, according to the FIR. More recently, after a 17-year-old in Gujarat raped and blackmailed a minor girl, he told the police that he got the idea from YouTube and WhatsApp channels.
On Discord and Reddit forums such as the Chad University, there are instructions for boys about the 바카라Inner Game바카라: how to get over their self-doubt and get the 바카라target (the girl)바카라, to never leave her alone, and to never forget they are 바카라the buyer바카라, not the 바카라seller바카라. Like much of manosphere culture, this phrase is borrowed from elsewhere바카라sports terminology, in this case. As Sherdil, I 바카라attended바카라 this university for a few days and befriended a 17-year-old boy. Aadish* (name changed on request) had also found this side of the Internet while searching for dating advice. He spoke to me several times and we exchanged our troubles.
바카라Bhai, whenever a girl comes into the picture, there is kalesh (trouble),바카라 he comforted Sherdil when I said my best friend had distanced himself after falling for a 바카라feminist-type chick바카라. But he also encouraged me to talk to the girl I was interested in, telling me her 바카라no바카라 was 바카라where the fun began바카라. Aadish has two sisters and 바카라many girlfriends바카라, he told me. Will he let his sisters date someone on the forum? 바카라No!바카라 Aadish says and sounds quite sure.
Avantika Mehta is a senior associate editor based in New Delhi
This article is part of Outlook바카라s April 21, 2025 issue 'Adolescence' which looks at the forces shaping teenage boys today바카라online misogyny, incel forums, bullying, and the chaos of the manosphere. It appeared in print as 'The Rabbit Hole.'
