SIMON JAMES COPLAND The Male Complaint: The manosphere and misogyny online. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck

Why are lonely men drawn to online misogyny? Australian sociologist Simon James Copland explores this disturbing phenomenon.

This book seeks to understand lonely and alienated men and their use of social media, as well as their impact on broader society, especially their hatred of and violence towards women. Such men ‘believe that feminism, and women more broadly, have destroyed not just their lives, but politics, the economy and society’. They congregate in a social media space known as ‘the manosphere’. Copland cites the following definition: 

a neologism used to describe a loose network of blogs, forums and online communities on the English-speaking web that are devoted to a wide range of men’s interests, from life philosophies and gender relations to self-improvement tips and strategies for success in life, relationships and sex.

Simon James Copland is a sociologist, and The Male Complaint is based on a PhD he completed at the Australian National University in 2022. In the book he sets himself the task of trying to understand what is happening in the manosphere.

This book … studies real men, who are undertaking real violence in our community. I study ‘bad men’ who reside, chat and organise in ‘bad places’ online. I aim … to do a careful reading of these men, to complexify them, to show both the good and the bad, and even to empathize with them. I do so, however, without taking the approach of these men themselves – that is to blame women and feminism for all their complaints.

This is writing and scholarship of the highest order. Copland provides a comprehensive and insightful account of various notions of masculinity, how the manosphere operates, its inability to solve the loneliness of men, as well as exploring policy options for dealing with this problem. Major strengths of Copland’s account are the clarity of his writing, the organisation of material and how he explains sociological terms in undertaking his analysis. This will be the standard work on the male complaint for many years to come.

Copland begins his analysis by trying to understand the alienation of men through the lens of an idealised notion of masculinity, which dominates thinking in the manosphere. Drawing on the work of Susan Faludi, he says that men see themselves as having four missions: to claim a frontier, to crush an evil enemy, to institute a brotherhood in which anonymous members can share a greater institutional glory, and to provide for and protect a family. If the ‘evil enemy to be crushed’ is that of other men, it is easy to see how this notion of masculinity provides the seeds of its own destruction. 

Copland maintains that neoliberalism, under hyper-capitalism, is the major reason for men’s loneliness and alienation. Being unable to compete, to have a good job, a regular income and associated status and feelings of self-worth all lead to loneliness and alienation. Rather than seeing neoliberalism, or inherent inequalities in society as the source of the problem, the manosphere preaches hatred of feminism and women as the reason for their malaise.

The manosphere holds out the prospect of a form of community for men. It provides a space where they can vent and share stories, pass on observations of their sorry situations and the state of the world. Copland identifies two problems with the manosphere actually being able to provide a community for men. 

The first is what he calls the ‘cruel optimism’ that pervades the manosphere. The major solution offered to feelings of despair is ‘self-improvement’. It says to men, you can’t change society and you can’t change women, but you can at least change yourself. Recommendations are made to give up smoking, alcohol, drugs, porn, masturbating; to go to the gym, get fit, change your appearance, get a haircut (long hair being gay), buy some decent clothes, and reward yourself with a ‘man cave’ of superior consumer goods. Copland points out that such advice – if in fact men have the time and resources to go the gym, buy gym equipment and superior consumer goods, which all fit in with the individualistic consumer nostrums of neoliberalism – doesn’t attack the problems of loneliness experienced by men. Self-improvement is about the ‘self’, it is not about community or developing relationships or friendships with others.

The second problem relates to the use of algorithms on social media platforms.

While all the content on social media platforms is created by individual users, none of us have control over how that content is used or spread. Instead our content is channeled towards company profitability and functionality … Social media companies have no real incentive to create community, despite everything they say. Social media profits are driven by ‘attention’ … algorithms drive [users] to jump from post to post. You’ve encouraged to provide a quick reply and move on, not to stay in one space and form deep bonds. Deep bonds can lead to engagement in real life, which means individuals are online less.

Copland sees masculinity and the manosphere as being deeply connected with a growing sense of nihilism in the twenty-first century. He defines nihilism as ‘a crisis in faith’; a symptom of cultural malaise; a feeling that nothing really matters and pushing to better yourself is just not worth the effort. Examples of nihilism are rejection of religion or a realisation that notions such as ‘the American dream’ are meaningless. Nihilism can have dramatic implications for society.

A distinction is drawn between radical and passive nihilism. Radical nihilists perform misogynist terrorist acts. Copland describes one such example that occurred in California in 2014, which makes for chilling reading. He also refers to the 2024 terrorist act that occurred at Westfield Bondi Junction when five women, and one security officer who tried to protect them, were murdered. Passive nihilism refers to situations where individuals have just given up and commit suicide. Copland came across many suicide notes in his research, which he found deeply disturbing.

Alienated and lonely men have turned to the manosphere for solutions. Copland’s overall conclusion is that it is making the situation worse. This is not only a problem for society, especially the women who are victimised, but also for the men trapped within its net. Copland wants to dispel the notion that the manosphere is some form of aberration, ‘as an example of a group of “bad” individuals, hanging out on the dark corners of the web, doing and saying things that would be considered unconscionable in the rest of polite society’.

No, this hatred of women and feminism is deep-seated and long-standing. It is a difficult problem that needs to be confronted.

The manosphere, and the violence that comes from it, is us. It is deeply embedded in our society and the ideologies and ideas that underpin it … I … found none of the misogyny in the manosphere to be particularly surprising or unique. Everything that is written builds off centuries of misogynist thought, with the manosphere maintaining a tradition that has existed well before the arrival of social media … To consider the manosphere as an aberration … excuses mainstream ideologies and institutions from the role they play in the rise of the community … we need to tackle the root causes of the misogyny that underpins the movement.

It is Copland’s hope that The Male Complaint will cast light on this dark site of the human soul. Besides the need for parents to keep a closer eye on the wellbeing of their children, and the role of teachers and role models to provide good examples, Copland also recommends exploring ‘alternative narratives’ to induce ‘fence sitters’ to move away from the manosphere. 

This is a classic study of a problem that continues to confront humanity, and should be celebrated for the importance of the issues it examines and the clarity of its exposition.

Simon James Copland The Male Complaint: The manosphere and misogyny online Polity Press 2025 PB 208pp $32.95

Braham Dabscheck is a Senior Fellow at the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne who writes on industrial relations, sport and other things.

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Tags: Australian writers, current affairs, failure of neoliberalism, gender relations, hate speech, male loneliness and alienation, manosphere, misogyny, Simon James | Copland, sociology, violence against women