Being a teenager is tough.

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I still remember the nights I spent awake as a boy, wondering about the man I might become. It wasn't until I spoke to my older brothers that I realised that, while the confusion I felt was uncomfortable, it was normal.

Today, boys and young men are still asking the same questions I did – but the kinds of difficult conversations I had are much easier to avoid. That's because, shut away in their bedrooms, a couple of clicks can take them straight to someone who offers a simple but harmful answer.

For many, that is how the journey to 'the manosphere' begins. They want to improve their lives, so they look online for help. Soon enough, their search for answers draws them into a much darker world, where the natural confusion they feel starts to seem like the logical outcome of a system designed to keep men like them in their place.

There's nothing wrong with young men wanting to be better, save money, or lift heavier weights. But manosphere influencers are taking advantage of their ambitions and anxieties to peddle pound shop misogyny dressed up as practical........

© LBC