The Other Side of the Algorithm
Last week we posted a statistic on social media about Gen Z women outpacing their male counterparts in home ownership. It should have been a simple celebration. Instead, within minutes, comments flowed in from the manosphere dismissing, demeaning and downplaying the fact.
It was a miniature case study on just how quickly that world shows up, and how ready it is to turn a woman’s success into something to attack.
It’s loud, it’s fast, and lately it feels like it’s everywhere.
But there is an organization that is working to create a different kind of world. An organization that gives men permission to embrace their emotions, ask for and accept help, and value and respect women and girls.
A Call To Men is working to transform society by promoting healthy, respectful manhood. And the organization’s State of Masculinity 2025 report gives us hope. The report uncovers the patterns of how masculinity is expressed, experienced and evolving.
Two things in the report stood out. The first is that most boys don’t go online looking for misogyny. They go to get answers to ordinary, human questions. How to talk to girls, how to be confident, how to stop feeling awkward. But when there’s no man in the room to answer, the algorithm steps in. And the loneliness, uncertainty and desire to belong that these boys feel makes them easy targets.
A clip about confidence becomes one about dominance. With every view, the algorithm narrows the focus. Soon the boy who just wanted to know what to say to the girl who sits next to him in history class is being fed a chest-pounding theme of toxic masculinity. That is the manosphere. We talk about it a lot, and we should.
What we talk about far less is what’s happening on the other side of the spectrum.
That is the second thing that stood out. Though misogyny is pervasive in the corners of the internet where boys and young men congregate, alongside those voices, a growing movement is redefining masculinity to include compassion, emotional honesty, and accountability.
The State of Masculinity 2025 reveals that our understanding of masculinity is undergoing a significant cultural shift. Fathers, coaches, mentors are stepping up and challenging the traditional expectations as new models of manhood emerge.
One father interviewed for the report said,” My dad passed down anger like it was the family name. I’m trying to pass down calm.”
He was not alone. A key finding of the report is that the next generation is stretching the boundaries of masculinity, making room for honesty, empathy, vulnerability, and care.
A Call To Men is an invitation to men, not an indictment of manhood.
Those comments under our social media post last week weren’t really about Gen Z women owning homes. They were about discomfort with a world that’s shifting, and a refusal to make room for it.
Do One Small Thing
Listen — Download the Smart, Amazing Conversation With Dr. Nancy featuring Tony Porter and Kimya Motley of A Call to Men.
Read — Check out our blog article highlighting the findings of the State of Masculinity 2025.
Download — Read the full State of Masculinity 2025 report.
Engage — Compliment a young man for his kindness or compassion, not just his achievements.
Creating a Culture of Healthy Masculinity Benefits Everyone
In a recent episode of Smart, Amazing Conversations With Dr. Nancy, Tony Porter described discovering what he calls “The Man Box,” the narrow set of cultural expectations that confines men’s identity within a rigid, often distorted, idea of what it means to be a man. That structure, he argues, contributes to an epidemic of violence, particularly against women, who are too often viewed as weaker or even as property. But the damage doesn’t stop there. Men are harmed as well. Denied the freedom to express real feelings for fear of ridicule, many retreat into silence and stoicism. For some, that suppression erupts into anger and violence. For others, it turns inward toward despair. When The Man Box limits healthy, mutually supportive relationships between men and women, everyone pays the price.
Standing With Alicia Keys — and the ERA
When Alicia Keys used her platform to remind the world that women still don’t have an explicit guarantee of equal rights in the U.S. Constitution, the ERA Coalition refused to stay quiet. They recorded a video response with a simple message for her and everyone watching: she’s right, and we’re with her.
The backlash came fast. Conservative commentators flooded in with misinformation aimed at discrediting both Alicia and the Equal Rights Amendment itself. And they aren’t alone — those in power are holding the same line, even though 78% of people in the U.S. support the ERA.
Meanwhile, the rights women do have are under attack: voting access restricted, reproductive healthcare blocked, protections for survivors of gender-based violence rolled back, and a wage gap that keeps widening instead of closing.
The ERA Coalition is fighting back, and here’s how you can join them:
Watch and Share — Help their video response reach Alicia Keys and everyone who saw hers.
Sign — Share the pledge to cement sex equality in the Constitution.
Give — Chip in to fund the next wave of videos, pledges, and pressure campaigns.
In Closing
The manosphere will keep being loud. That’s what it’s built to do. But loud isn’t the same as winning, and it isn’t the same as true. Every father who chooses calm over anger, every mentor who tells a boy it’s ok to feel his feelings, is proof that a different story is already being written. Our job is to keep telling it.
We’re in this together.