Red pill, normies and soyboys. The world of ‘masculinity influencers’ comes with its own jargon and those consuming the social media content become well-versed in speaking it.

For the uninitiated, to be red pilled is an appropriated term from the film The Matrix, where the main character suddenly becomes alert to the world’s “truth”, while us normies and soyboys (the ignorant and emasculated) wander through life like sheeple.

While absurd and almost comedic to many, there is a growing body of young men who internalise the message that feminism has disempowered them, men must be stoic, virile and violent- and that staying in school is a waste of time when they could pay for an online course of [insert “hustler” of choice here] and become a “high value male.”

A new resource has been created to provide guidance to schools, teachers and parents on how to address the impact of online masculinity influencers on children and young people, particularly teenage boys, across Ireland.

The 39-page guide has been created by Dr Darragh McCashin, Dr Catherine Baker, alongside Dr Fiona O’Rourke at The Observatory on Cyberbullying, Cyberhate & Online Harassment in the Anti-Bullying Centre at Dublin City University.

It sets out how much of the social media content of the so-called “manosphere” promotes harmful ideologies that are not just damaging to women but also boys and young men, and crucially, how to counter the message.

Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by John Casey.

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