An Encounter with the Androsphere

By accidental tradition, one of the last posts before the Passage's holiday break which begins on Dec. 18 is a piece of social criticism. Grab your shortbread and settle in! 

My French tutor, Mme Danielle, suggested I watch a Tele-Quebec documentary, "Alphas", by Simon Coutu; I was prepared for a barrage of rapid French, but was even more challenged by the content, even though hyper-masculinity, currently known as the androsphere or manosphere, has been known to me since the skating rink near my house in the late1950s, where the big boys would snap their skate guards on my head should I veer on figure skates into their speed lane. "Boys only!", they would command; I fled, terrified.

These days, the androsphere is both a virtual and physical presence where men from late teens to roughly forties gather to assert their primacy. The documentary shows them as predominantly white, homophobic, anti-feminist, and devoted to physical training. 

The manosphere's superstars promote a lifestyle of fast cars, luxury watches and "hot chicks"— and spawn a legion of wannabes.  There are aspects I respect: the encouragement toward disciplined personal habits—reminiscent of the early Jordan Peterson's exhortations to young males to make their beds daily—and the instruction in entrepreneurship, but these are overshadowed by the power dynamics. 

If married, the man is the provider, the woman labours in the home and is willingly submissive. (He submits to the will of God, she submits to him.) Their justification is that women are biologically programmed to desire dominant, powerful men, so they're restoring the natural order. Emotional labour is devalued. "I used to listen and try to understand a woman; now I don't do that anymore", one leader says. 

I shuddered at an enthusiastic display of automatic firearms in the film, and imagined many viewers in Montréal would, too. A landmark femicide in Canada occurred here on December 6, 1989,  now the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.  As Allison Hanes wrote on December 6 in the Gazette, "The duty of remembrance remains strong in this city."

According to the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, every 2.5 days a woman or girl in this country is killed by violence; firearms are the most common method. (Source.) Correlation is not causation, as the researchers remind us, but the misogyny in the masculinist movement is too blatant to dismiss its danger.  

I'm hoping "Alphas" is soon available with English subtitles, and that you see and discuss the film with friends and family.  

Young adult males have burdens. Several of our sons' friends are in the midst of divorce or separation, and job precarity; they are depressed; their families live far away. However, they are not likely to be drafted as Alphas. Their BS detectors are intact, they are kind and have supportive friends.

When I scan the ads for certain Alpha seminars, the promise to that one becomes "a real man" (for three days and $1, 800) is a powerful lure for the disaffected. The youngest attendees in "Alphas" seem rapt students, but there is no dialog; they are shown only nodding assent. In "Alphas", the sole exchange of  perspectives is a segment filmed in a college classroom, when a faculty member leads a discussion.

I wonder, How do we in the Passage support young men's growth? What are our assumptions about roles and gender? How might they develop as humans, regardless of sex?

During this season, we give gifts to show our love and caring, sing of of joy and connection, give to those in need. Could we also address the struggles that attach to gender—or even just being a human?

Grandmothers and aunts, cousines and copines, what do you think?