Adolescence and Inside the Manosphere: The Young Incel and the Manosphere Fan

Two Netflix productions released within a year of each other reveal how incel ideology has moved from the fringes of the internet into the everyday social media feeds of teenage boys.

Words by Ella Cancara, Digital Youth Ambassador of Finland

The British series Adolescence shook audiences and sparked urgent discussion about the spread of incel ideology among increasingly younger people. The hugely popular Netflix series depicts events following the arrest of a 13-year-old boy, Jamie, for the murder of his classmate Katie. The show quickly became the most streamed series in the UK and gained attention for the way each episode was filmed in a single continuous take — without a single cut from start to finish. That technical achievement was what first made me watch it. What stayed with me afterwards was not the skillful camera movement, but fear about young men's use of social media and the safety of the girls around them.

Almost a year later, Louis Theroux's Netflix documentary Inside the Manosphere created more specific conversation around a group of male content creators who lurk in the background of Adolescence's story. The documentary follows Theroux as he spends time with a handful of creators often classified as being part of the manosphere. While the focus is on the male creators, a few followers and supporters also appear, and Theroux talks with them about what draws them to such content.

Production	Format	Central focus
Adolescence (Netflix, 2025)	Drama series, 4 episodes, each filmed in a single continuous take	A 13-year-old boy arrested for murdering his classmate; his radicalization by incel ideology online
Inside the Manosphere (Netflix, 2026)	Documentary, Louis Theroux	Male content creators in the manosphere and the teenage and adult fans who follow them

The discussion about social media and the dangers of its algorithms is not new. Their impact on children's self-confidence, susceptibility to eating disorders and other mental health issues, and the increased risk of encountering violence, has been recognised for a long time. Yet efforts to regulate social media platforms have not succeeded. Adolescence brought a new and equally dangerous dimension into this discussion: the spread of incel ideology — which Theroux's documentary then explores head-on.

What is incel ideology — and what is the manosphere?

Key terms

Incel — from "involuntarily celibate." A man who wants to be sexually active but has not found a partner, and who blames women for this. Misogyny is a core component: incel ideology holds that it is women's responsibility to have sex with men.

The manosphere — a looser, more mainstream ecosystem of online content centered on the belief that its community sees the world "as it truly is." Often called "red pill" content (inspired by The Matrix). Less explicitly violent than incel ideology, but shares its misogynistic worldview.

	Incel ideology	The manosphere
Mainstream?	Fringe; rooted in 4chan and deep Reddit	Increasingly mainstream; YouTube, TikTok, podcasts
View of women	Women owe men sex; celibacy is women's fault	Women are materialistic, choose men on status; "sexual marketplace"
"High value" man	Physically dominant	Physically fit, wealthy, dominant
"High value" woman	One who is sexually available to incels	Young, few past partners, homemaker, mother
Key overlap	Misogyny and traditional gender roles as the lens for all social problems

How algorithms spread these ideas to younger audiences

Incel culture simmered for a long time on less popular platforms such as 4chan and in the depths of Reddit. As newer algorithm-driven social media systems began feeding users content from accounts they don't follow, various ideologies — including incel ideology — spread far more widely. When a broader audience comes into contact with incel thinking, its radical foundations may not be immediately visible. Instead, ideas such as the notion that a man must be physically strong and wealthy to attract any romantic interest can sound like a frightening truth — especially to young people whose brains are not yet fully capable of critical media literacy.

Once a person accepts one claim as true, it becomes easier to accept the next — such as the "80/20 rule" referenced in Adolescence and often cited by manosphere creators, or the idea that women's self-confidence can be deliberately undermined to make them more likely to date a man.

In the series' final episode, Jamie's father — Eddie Miller, played by the show's creator Stephen Graham — mentions that he himself came across a video promoting incel ideology while searching for weight-loss tips. Unlike his teenage son, the father recognises it as harmful. In Inside the Manosphere, the age of viewers comes up too. While following Sneako, one of the most prominent manosphere creators, a group of teenage fans approach him and Theroux to take photos and describe how they find his content useful.

To a teenage brain still learning media literacy, this sort of advice feels credible — especially when it's paired with apparent proof: expensive cars and attractive women.

Who watches — and why

The manosphere is not followed only by teenagers. Inside the Manosphere also highlights another type of fan: adult men who describe finding inspiration in the content, openly admitting their own struggles. The problems that manosphere creators identify are real ones — capitalist greed that benefits only the already wealthy, and the loneliness caused by the disappearance of community. These are the same issues that feminists and the left identify. But the solutions offered by the manosphere ignore the structures that cause them, focusing instead on hyper-individualistic self-improvement — and, of course, blaming women.

Part of the appeal of incel ideology lies in how it channels men's real insecurities. In Adolescence, Jamie repeatedly expresses his belief that he is ugly — a self-image that leads him to believe only desperate women would want him. The men Theroux interviews, both creators and followers, repeat the same belief: that only physically strong, high-earning men attract women's interest. This belief is almost always tied to the desire to dominate one's romantic partner.

Women in manosphere content — the central dissonance

In Inside the Manosphere, Theroux identifies how women are actually featured in the content. Cameras follow creators as they livestream themselves approaching women on the streets of a Spanish beach city, asking for phone numbers. The sequence feels like an assembly line — the woman's personhood becomes secondary to how many numbers the streamer can collect while his fans watch online. Whether the women involved know they've ended up on a livestream is unclear.

Theroux also points out a symbiotic relationship between manosphere creators and social media sex workers who post on platforms like OnlyFans and agree to be featured in manosphere content. These women often face verbal abuse from audiences — and sometimes from the creators themselves. But the arrangement is financially attractive because they are trying to reach the same lonely male demographic that the manosphere targets.

Women are the centre of manosphere content — their desires are constantly scrutinised and attacked — while at the same time being featured as social capital for the creators who claim to oppose them.

This reveals the fundamental dissonance: manosphere and incel ideology are built on misogyny and traditional gender roles, while simultaneously depending on the open female sexuality that became possible precisely because of sexual liberation. Controlling women is the stated goal, while the ideology insists that women control the "sexual marketplace."

Jamie as a case study in radicalisation

In Adolescence, Jamie's self-esteem is strongly tied to women's opinions of him. In the third episode — where a psychologist assesses him before trial — he repeatedly asks young female psychologist Briony what she thinks of him. When she declines to answer, citing professional boundaries, Jamie becomes angry and throws furniture. This may not only be about not knowing what she thinks, but about his inability to control her — just as he could not control Katie.

Jamie and his friends are bullied both at school and online. The viewer also learns that Katie herself had used incel ideology as a tool to bully Jamie. Incel ideology surrounds the young characters from every direction. This is most evident in the second episode, set at school — depicted as a place of chaos where teachers cannot maintain order and do not know how to address bullying. When Katie's best friend physically assaults one of Jamie's friends, he is mocked as weak; being beaten by a girl is treated as shameful. It was this same friend who gave Jamie the murder weapon, having been similarly radicalized.

Social media's role — and whose responsibility it is

While social media alone does not explain the radicalisation of young men, it plays a significant role. As a primary form of social interaction for young people, it allows individuals to reach huge audiences from a distance, with no obligation to take responsibility for content or its consequences. Platform design choices and recommendation algorithms amplify harmful content — raising the question of whether companies are merely neutral hosts or active participants in shaping demand.

Social media is present from the very first episode of Adolescence. Jamie is both a victim of bullying and exposed to radicalising content online — but he also shares his own violent sexual fantasies in comment sections, and admits to posting photos on Instagram for attention. By refusing to meaningfully moderate content, social media companies increase their profits while effectively abandoning their users. Women suffer from the violence of radicalised young men. But by allowing radicalisation to occur, men too suffer from corporate indifference.

Jamie is not happy. He is insecure, lonely, and constantly angry. Jamie and Katie are fictional — but they represent dozens of real-life stabbings in Britain and countless young people suffering from the greed and negligence of the platforms they use.

Adolescence offers a powerful depiction of the mind of a young boy radicalised by incel ideology. Its creator, Stephen Graham, has said he wanted to spark discussion about why violence by young men against women is so common and increasing. Inside the Manosphere delves deeper into the social media ecosystem that has made incel ideology — or at least a watered-down version of it — less socially radical. It arrives at a moment when this content is no longer on the fringes of social media, shared only among the most radicalised. Even within the year since Adolescence was released, awareness has grown — but the problem has only become more mainstream.