Thank you to Bumble for supporting this episode. Bumble's new safety features aimed at improving dating culture in Australia are now available.

This episode is a deep dive into the origins and rise of the online mansophere and its impact on Gen Z dating culture alongside activist and Bumble's safety advocate Tarang Chawla.

Timestamps:

1:49 Intro

5:51 Defining the manosphere

11:45 Theorising the manosphere: Why men are drawn to this space

21:51 Subcultures within the manosphere

35:02 The mainstream-ification of the manosphere

39:50 Gamergate

41:21 The Trump effect & the rise of alpha male influencers

48:38 Manopshere, alpha male influencers & dating culture

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Ging, D. (2019). Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere. Men and Masculinities, 22(4), 638–657. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X17706401

Barnes, M. J., & Karim, S. M. (2025). The Manosphere and Politics. Comparative Political Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140241312095

Kennedy-Kollar, D. (2024). Extremism and radicalization in the manosphere : beta uprising. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032631080

https://thezoepost.wordpress.com/

Marwick, A. E., & Caplan, R. (2018). Drinking male tears: language, the manosphere, and networked harassment. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4), 543–559. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1450568

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https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-far-right-supporters-violent-memes/

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Solea, A. I., & Sugiura, L. (2023). Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 29(3), 311–336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-023-09559-5

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/05/ashton-hall-influencer-a-benign-perfectly-sculpted-picture-of-health-or-the-palatable-face-of-toxic-masculinity

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