The ‘Manosphere’ Isn’t a Movement. It’s a Multibillion-Dollar Grievance Industry

“男性圈”并非一场运动，而是一个价值数十亿美元的“怨气产业”

For many years now, a dark question has haunted parents, teachers, the internet, and media institutions: What’s wrong with young men? Why, people ask, are boys so politically extreme, spouting misogynist rhetoric, and increasingly drawn into risky crypto schemes and online gambling? How did they become so lonely, with their depression symptoms often overlooked? The male youth vote broke for Trump in the 2024 election following a GOP campaign built on naked appeals to meathead machismo. Yet there are signs that his second term in office has done little to stem the anger of Gen Z men, whose support for the president is now plummeting.

多年来，一个阴暗的问题一直困扰着家长、教师、互联网和媒体机构：年轻男性到底怎么了？人们不禁要问，为什么男孩们变得如此政治极端，大肆宣扬厌女言论，并日益沉迷于高风险的加密货币骗局和网络赌博？他们为何变得如此孤独，而他们的抑郁症状却往往被忽视？在2024年大选中，共和党竞选团队通过赤裸裸地诉诸“肌肉男”式的男子气概来争取选票，最终赢得了年轻男性选民的支持。然而，迹象表明，特朗普的第二个任期并未能平息Z世代男性的愤怒，他们对这位总统的支持率目前正在急剧下降。

The most common explanation of these interrelated phenomena is that younger men have banded together online under the umbrella of something known as the “manosphere,” usually conceived as an organic right-wing rebellion driving the culture wars. A new study, however, suggests that this is entirely backward: The digital ecosystem that produces red-pilled men is less of a movement than it is a pyramid scheme.

对于这些相互关联的现象，最常见的解释是，年轻男性在网上聚集在所谓的“男性圈”（manosphere）旗帜下，这通常被视为一场推动文化战争的自发性右翼反叛。然而，一项新的研究表明，这种看法完全是本末倒置：这个制造“觉醒”（red-pilled）男性的数字生态系统，与其说是一场运动，不如说是一个金字塔骗局。

In “The Grift Economy: How Young Men Are Being Sold Fake Belonging and Fake Wealth Online,” researchers from the digital safety organization Reset Tech and the nonprofit Equimundo map how men are “algorithmically routed into paid communities, unregulated supplements, crypto schemes, and high-ticket ‘coaching’ programs,” which together make up a “multibillion-dollar industry.”

在题为《欺诈经济：年轻男性如何在网上被兜售虚假的归属感与财富》的报告中，来自数字安全组织Reset Tech和非营利组织Equimundo的研究人员描绘了男性是如何“通过算法被引导至付费社区、未经监管的补品、加密货币骗局以及高价‘教练’项目”中的，这些共同构成了一个“价值数十亿美元的产业”。

“‘Masculinity’ has become a commercial category that is constructed, curated, and financially incentivized online,” write the authors of the 153-page report.

这份长达153页的报告作者写道：“‘男子气概’已经成为一种在网上被构建、策划并由经济利益驱动的商业类别。”

First, men encounter aspirational self-help content when looking up advice on dating, fitness, or finance. Bad actors then exploit their areas of vulnerability by offering a misleading, grievance-based narrative to explain their frustrations. The paper cites, for example, a verified “business” account on X that used real economic data to falsely claim that the high rate of youth unemployment is only affecting men.

首先，男性在搜索约会、健身或理财建议时，会接触到那些令人向往的自我提升内容。随后，不法分子利用他们的脆弱点，提供一种误导性的、基于怨气的叙事来解释他们的挫败感。报告举例称，X平台上的一个认证“商业”账号利用真实的经济数据，虚假地声称高青年失业率只影响男性。

“By framing credential competition and labor market dynamics as a coordinated attack on men,” the researchers write, “this operation converts genuine economic anxiety—which is real and documented—into resentment with named targets: women, immigrants, foreign workers.”

研究人员写道：“通过将学历竞争和劳动力市场动态描述为对男性的协同攻击，这种操作将真实的、有据可查的经济焦虑，转化为针对特定目标——女性、移民、外国劳工——的怨恨。”

Once men feel they are in community with one another based on a shared sense of victimhood and betrayal, and hostility toward a mutual enemy, the same predatory characters can then sell them the dubious solution, whether that’s a class, access to an exclusive club, or gray-market pills. In breaking down the sources of the misogynist influencer Andrew Tate’s income, the researchers estimate that he makes $184 million in annual gross revenue just from his subscription-based “Real World” education platform, which costs $99 per month. Reset Tech and Equimundo call these kinds of membership and course systems “fraud at scale,” noting their manipulative character: “Recycled content, affiliate pyramids, deliberate cancellation barriers, and deceptive testimonials characterize the industry’s flagship products.”

一旦男性基于共同的受害者心态、背叛感以及对共同敌人的敌意而感到彼此联结，同样的掠夺者便可以向他们兜售可疑的解决方案，无论是课程、独家俱乐部会员资格，还是灰色市场的药丸。在剖析厌女网红安德鲁·泰特（Andrew Tate）的收入来源时，研究人员估计，仅凭其每月收费99美元的订阅制“真实世界”（Real World）教育平台，他每年的总收入就高达1.84亿美元。Reset Tech和Equimundo将这类会员和课程系统称为“大规模欺诈”，并指出了其操纵性特征：“循环利用的内容、附属金字塔结构、蓄意的退订障碍以及欺骗性的推荐语，是该行业旗舰产品的典型特征。”

Meanwhile, the report pegs the range of hourly streaming revenue for top-tier streamers such as Adin Ross (who also has an equity stake in Kick, the site that hosts his live content) at around $30,000 to $50,000. Figures like Joe Rogan command speaking fees upwards of $200,000. And top creators in the space, the study estimates, can earn anywhere from $1 million to $10 million in annual revenue across income streams including “platform payouts, sponsorships, courses, memberships, and speaking fees.”

与此同时，报告估计，像阿丁·罗斯（Adin Ross，他同时也是其直播平台Kick的股权持有者）这样的顶级主播，其每小时直播收入在3万美元到5万美元之间。像乔·罗根（Joe Rogan）这样的人物，演讲费用高达20万美元以上。研究估计，该领域顶尖创作者通过“平台分成、赞助、课程、会员费和演讲费”等收入来源，年收入可达100万至1000万美元不等。

Gary Barker, founder and CEO of Equimundo, which advocates for gender equality and positive masculinity, says we can better understand the so-called manosphere by looking at how those at the top are cultivating and then monetizing resentment and anger among young men. “They’re being duped,” he says of these consumers. “They deserve to be getting straight information on products that actually do what they say they do, and not [be] swindled out of their money.”

倡导性别平等和积极男子气概的Equimundo创始人兼首席执行官加里·巴克（Gary Barker）表示，我们可以通过观察金字塔顶端的人如何培养并利用年轻男性的怨恨和愤怒，来更好地理解所谓的“男性圈”。谈到这些消费者时，他说：“他们被愚弄了。他们理应获得关于产品的真实信息，确保产品名副其实，而不是被骗走钱财。”

The platforms, of course, take a cut of the profits and reward masculinity influencers for pushing extreme views while generating controversy and conflict. Reset Tech performed a cross-platform analysis of “looksmaxxing” content, heavily amplified this year by the Kick streamer Braden Peters, better known as Clavicular, to capture the scale of trends that drive men to pay exorbitant sums for the supposed means to improve their status. “Across 216 influencers tracked on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, the combined reach of looksmaxxing-related operations exceeded 14.6 billion views during the analysis period,” they concluded. “The reach is not organic—it is a product of recommendation architecture.”

当然，平台会从中抽成，并奖励那些通过散布极端观点、制造争议和冲突来获利的“男子气概”网红。Reset Tech对“颜值最大化”（looksmaxxing）内容进行了跨平台分析，这类内容今年在Kick主播布雷登·彼得斯（Braden Peters，即Clavicular）的推波助澜下被大幅放大。研究旨在捕捉那些驱使男性支付巨额费用以换取所谓“提升地位”手段的趋势规模。他们总结道：“在TikTok、Instagram和Facebook上追踪的216位网红中，与‘颜值最大化’相关的操作在分析期间的总浏览量超过了146亿次。这种传播并非自然发生，而是推荐算法架构的产物。”

The report draws a parallel between this harmful material and the kind of pro-eating-disorder content that targets women. It notes that while platforms were eventually pressured to take action against the latter—though not always with success—they have not pursued the same kind of enforcement against users reinforcing men’s negative body image to promote unhealthy behaviors.

该报告将这种有害内容与针对女性的“鼓励进食障碍”内容进行了类比。报告指出，尽管平台最终在压力下对后者采取了行动（尽管并不总是成功），但对于那些通过强化男性负面身体形象来推广不健康行为的用户，平台却并未采取同样的执法力度。