15/03/2026
If we don’t raise showing our boys what healthy masculinity looks like,the internet will gladly do it for us.
Watching Louis Theroux 'Inside the Manosphere' tonight made me think about the conversations families need to be having right NOW with their teens.
The documentary shows how the influencers shaping young boys online were themselves shaped by unstable homes,fractured identities and unresolved pain. Instead of healing those wounds,some have built identities around controlling others particularly women while monetising the vulnerability of younger men searching for direction with similar childhood history.
It brings us back to family because
the strongest protection against these ideologies is love,connection and guidance at home. Boys need parents who talk openly about responsibility,emotional discipline,respect for women,purpose beyond 'status' and how to handle rejection and failure.
They need to see men around them who are calm, grounded and accountable not performative.
This conversation isn’t only for boys.
It’s for girls too as they would benefit from recognising unhealthy dynamics early before arrogance is mistaken for confidence,or control for leadership.
When influence is built on money, fame and dominance,it is not a foundation for healthy relationships or strong families.
For the many single mothers and fathers raising children often heroically this isn’t about finger pointing either.
It’s about balance.
Nurture your children deeply so they feel loved and secure.
Don’t mollycoddle them into entitlement.
Teach responsibility.
Teach boundaries.
Teach discipline.
Children learn far more from what we model than what we say.
No parent should feel they must do this alone.
Uncles.
Grandfathers.
Coaches.
Teachers.
Mentors.
Community matters..because the real danger of the manosphere isn’t just misogyny.
It’s that it pretends to be mentorship while exploiting boys who are searching for it.
Strong families raise strong children.
Independent thinkers.
Men who don’t need to degrade women to feel powerful, who don’t exploit boys' insecurities to build status.
As Frederick Douglass said:
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
