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Van Badham for The Guardian: “The ‘womanosphere’ is the latest cultural propaganda assault on young womanhood. Will it work?”
Carl Benjamin: “How Women Nag Their Way Into Men’s Spaces.”
FA will BAN trans women from women’s football next season after ‘win for common sense’ Supreme Court ruling
Oh no! Women’s football will become even MORE embarrassing and boring!!! In short, even more financially dependent on the men’s game. Why would anyone want to watch a women’s football game if it wasn’t for the entertainment (and playing ability) provided by the transwomen players?
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Nigel comments on a Movember report, relevant to ‘Adolescence’
Yesterday we posted a blog piece, Women and Equalities Committee hear from ‘Adolescence’ producers about misogyny among young men and boys. The indefatigable Nigel – our #1 commenter – picked up on a Movember report, and sent these comments, which take up the remainder of this blog piece:
Perhaps unsurprisingly Movember have done a survey of the use of “manosphere” “influencers” on young men, the resulting report is Young men’s health in a digital world. I expected a feminist analysis because way back Movember was set up by gay men {J4MB: They do love their moustaches…]. So I expect a “diversity” narrative. But it’s interesting how unlike the age profile, social class and moral panic stuff being pushed by Adolescence the data actually shows. Far from ‘incels” it seems the manosphere is a source of inspiring self-help advice men in their 20s. The stuff about attitudes to women made me laugh because, far from worrying, it seems the issues are pretty mundane things inevitable in modern dating if one simply regards women as flawed people rather than total saints. Men, as much as women, find the opposite sex frustrating and difficult to fathom …. a theme probably as old as time.
Movember’s associated webpage is here, video (12:56) here. Given the rarity of any surveys of actual young men, rather than watching TV dramas I read the full report. In contradiction to the narrative the proportion “engaged” increases with age and measures of wealth, an important finding glossed over. Also interestingly both the “engaged” and “unengaged” generally have traditional views of gender roles (of concern to the Movember surveyers given its roots in the gay community ). Also interestingly the main findings are that the engaged find the influencers entertaining and useful and promote self-improvement, emotional self-control, increased self-worth. Again given the link with age it is perhaps not surprising that young men in their early- and mid-twenties are seeking to become more established. They write:
“Our research has shown that men and masculinity influencers can reinforce rigid and limiting views about gender roles and masculinity, but that there are also positive outcomes for young men from engaging in this content. These positive outcomes are likely related to the more motivating messages that are part of a broader mix of themes discussed by influencers, and the range of influencers who are part of this ecosystem.”
Again unsurprisingly one of the areas of interest is dating and forming relationships. And here the “engaged” have a more sceptical view of the dating scene and process, but the unengaged are almost as sceptical. This is presented as being negative about women, but of course another interpretation is it simply reflects the young men’s experiences, particularly given the “engaged” are in the older cohorts and can be assumed to have more experience of dating and relationships than the 16/17 year olds. They continue:
“When it came to young men’s views of gender roles and beliefs about women and romantic relationships, we found that regularly engaging with this content was associated with more negative and limiting attitudes towards women, their roles in relationships, and more frustrations with dating. These findings align with narratives promoted in the content depicting gender-equality as a zero-sum game disadvantaging men. [J4MB emphasis. Movember appear depressingly feminist-compliant. “Gender-equality” is of course feminist-speak for female privileging, which of course disadvantages men. How could it not?] However, it’s important to note many young men still held limiting beliefs about women even if they weren’t actively engaging with men and masculinity content.”
So, to sum up. Like surveys of young women, generally young men think in terms of traditional gender roles, we know the same is true for young women because each time the Social Attitudes surveys find young women aspire to find a man and form a family the Fawcett Society says young women need to be educated out of these aspirations. Young men find dating difficult and frustrating and as they grow up a bit, seek advice and information from “engaging” with influencers. This results in a lot of self-help, to get fit, to get a good job, to be stoical and resilient. Oddly enough precisely the qualities young women say they want in a husband/partner. And this advice is more sought as the young men get older and probably get a bit more serious about finding a partner.
No massive number of teens worshipping Andrew Tate, no hatred of women, just disappointment and caution and confusion (should you pay for the date? etc.) And the obvious observation that if you discriminate in favour of one group, the other group you discriminate against will not see it as a “zero sum” policy. Oh and no young incels plotting to stab teenage girls.
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Fears death of Jade Damarell, 32, ‘highly-experienced’ skydiver, during jump at farm was ‘deliberate act to end her own life’
Matt Goodwin: “Join me tomorrow: exclusive analysis and reaction to the 2025 crunch elections.”
Interesting. An extract:
“Which is why, tomorrow, I’m inviting you to join me, at 4pm BST, on the Substack App, to analyse the key results, reflect on their implications and make sense of what all this means for things we discuss and care about in our community.
The future of Starmer’s Labour. The big issues facing the country, from mass immigration and the spiralling small boats crisis to the cost-of-living crisis. And the rise of Nigel Farage and Reform —including the key areas we’ve identified and what these results really mean for the next stage of this political insurgency.
This event is exclusively for our paid subscribers who make our work possible and who are part of our thriving community. So, if you want to join us then upgrade and you will be invited via e-mail to join the conversation shortly before 4pm tomorrow.
You can either sit back and listen or join the discussion and ask questions, it’s entirely up to you. And don’t worry —if you cannot make the 4pm slot we will send it out exclusively to our paid subscribers afterwards so you are kept ahead of the curve.”
I’m a paid subscriber and hope to make it to this discussion.
We should have “Dirty Harry” interview all potential DEI hires
Our thanks to Tom for this gem (video, 1:42) from Dirty Harry (1971).
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A tale of female incompetence, unaccountability, poor work ethic…
A piece in the Guardian, Miscarriage of justice watchdog had ‘hole at its heart’, committee chair says. The organisation is the Criminal Cases Review Commission, led by Karen Kneller. The start of the piece:
“Senior management at the miscarriage of justice watchdog were told there was a “hole at the heart” of the organisation as MPs criticised its working from home policy and asked executives if they felt they were the right people to continue leading it.
In an evidence session on Tuesday, the chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), Karen Kneller, was questioned by the cross-party Commons’ justice committee over its failings in the Andrew Malkinson case, her expensive French business courses, and the organisation’s remote working policy, under which, she told them, she worked just one to two days in its Birmingham head office each month.” [J4MB emphasis. An organisation led by a woman with a “working policy” designed to minimise the hours worked by (mainly) women.]
The most notorious recent long-term failing of the CCRC was the Andrew Malkinson case. From the Wikipedia page on the CCRC, it takes up the remainder of this blog piece:
“The CCRC has been criticised for its handling of the wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson. [J4MB: He spent 17 in prison years after his wrongful convicion for rape.] The Commission was warned in 2013, as a result of a review in another case, that it should check DNA evidence, but failed to do so. As a result of the failure, Malkinson’s conviction was not quashed until 2023.[31] In July 2024, an independent review of the case concluded that the Commission had failed in the Malkinson case. The Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said she was seeking the removal of Helen Pitcher from her position as chair of the Commission.[32] In January 2025, Pitcher resigned. She said she had been made a scapegoat. Malkinson described this comment as “shameless”, and said “I know what it truly is like to be a scapegoat.”[33] After Pitcher’s resignation, Malkinson said action was needed on the Commission to “refresh the whole thing, call it something else, completely dissolve it”.
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Justice for Men & Boys 