Online "masculinity" content is mainstream and wide-ranging — far broader than the toxic Andrew Tate style manosphere or incel culture touched on in the hit Netflix series Adolescence.
It includes fitness and wellbeing, relationship and career advice, personal discipline and self-improvement.
A new report out on Wednesday shows more than two thirds (68 per cent) of young Australian men engage with masculinity influencers and it's shaping their identity.
The Movember Institute of Men's Health surveyed more than 3,000 men aged 16 to 25 across Australia, the UK and the US to find out what impact such content was having on their lives.
"We came in with a health lens. That is the key here. No one has done that," said Dr Zac Seidler, global director of men's health research at Movember.
He said getting rid of content on social media because it was "dangerous" was unhelpful, as there was no causal evidence to suggest that was the answer.
The influencer 'trap'
The report revealed young men were turning to masculinity influencers for motivation and inspiration, which could be attributed to feelings of "emptiness, isolation" and "shame" for young men, Dr Seidler said.
Twenty-seven per cent of those who follow masculinity influencers experienced feelings of worthlessness, compared to 23 per cent of men who didn't actively engage with them.
Dr Seidler said it was a double-edged sword.
"They tell us that they feel empowered, like they're enjoying and feeling motivated by this content, and yet those who watch more are fundamentally far more distressed than those who don't,"
Dr Seidler said.
Nick Robinson, a 26-year-old who works on a farm in rural WA, has experienced anxiety since he was a young kid, and said he's susceptible to some of the standards set by male influencers.
"Comparison is the biggest thief of joy, and I stand by that forever," he said.
"There's been periods where I've used exercise as a coping mechanism. I'd go to the gym three times a day, before work, after work, and at night. There was a period of my life when I was very unwell doing that."
Masculinity content followers are also twice as likely to engage in risky behaviours like taking steroids or diet pills to achieve the perfect body.
For Mo, 19, it was signing up to an influencer's entrepreneur program, which cost him $1,000 and got him nowhere closer to his dream.
"[Influencers] have this crazy lifestyle: rented-out Lamborghinis, rented-out Rolls Royces and Rolexes. They try to sell you this big dream that you can get rich within a month, within a week. You'll be a millionaire," he said.
Dr Seidler said by not engaging with young men about why they're leaning on this type of content, we're overlooking their "unmet needs" and won't be able to offer an antidote.
The problem with defining masculinity
Almost three-quarters of men who lean on masculinity influencers believed "men need to be stoic to control their emotions" (76 per cent) compared to 57 per cent of those who do not engage with influencers, while 67 per cent of men engaging with influencers believed women should fulfil tradition roles as wives and mothers (compared to 43 per cent of non-engaged men).
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Jack Toohey is the creative and production manager from Teach Us Consent, an organisation focused on consent and sexuality education at schools.
He said masculinity influencer content could be harmful because it limited how men expressed themselves.
"We are bombarded with all these things that are continuing to restrict what masculinity is, but really, when you can take a step outside that, you realise that we can show more emotions than just anger. We can be strong without being domineering. We can be kind and caring without being controlling," he said.
Nathan McCallum, 36, is a content creator from the NSW central coast who started posting on social media back in 2011, focusing on fitness, fashion and heavy metal.
He now has close to one million followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and rails against the idea of masculinity being a "black and white construct".
"It's fluid. The way I try to be a man is by being a kind person that does what I want to do without harming others. I'm unapologetically myself, and I lift heavy weights and I listen to heavy metal, but also paint my nails pretty colours, and I like fashion,"
Nathan said.
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Meanwhile, Nick Robinson has decided to turn his mental health recovery into something positive by sharing his rural life on social media.
Since 2020, he has created his own content to discuss how vulnerability is a part of what it means to be a man.
"I suppose I've tapped into that and made an impact with those young guys that haven't had any other role model to look at, other than drinking and working hard," he said.
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A 'wake-up call' for us all
Dr Seidler said the key antidote to some of the more harmful concepts around masculinity and the way men view women was for honest, open conversations beyond the social media space so that men could reflect on whether this content was helpful or harmful to their identity.
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"Everyone is obsessed with the radical, misogynistic, homophobic tropes of the world. It is a red herring. There is so much that sits beneath this iceberg, and lots of it is innocuous. Lots of it is seemingly an entry point into understanding dating, into understanding finance, into understanding working out that that is in line with men's values and is very useful. The problem is the algorithm," he said.
He said while we must demand more of young men, we also need to regulate social media platforms, as well as improve media literacy.
This report should be a "wake-up call" and we need to start listening to young men, he said.
"Bring back the town hall … we want to discuss the Beauty and the Beast of what's happening for our young guys,"
Dr Seidler said.
"We're coming into these conversations with an air of alarmism, it immediately puts you on the back foot. Believing that you have a desire to understand their lives from a non-judgemental, curious perspective will open many, many doors."
Teach Us Consent has been awarded funding from the Department of Social Services to create and distribute social media content targeting 16 to 25-year-olds and will be rolled out next month.
Mr Toohey said social media was fundamentally a health issue, like consuming junk food.
"We just need to get back to basics and teach the basics about how to be a good human and how to live a fulfilling life. It's as simple as that," he said.
