Concerns Regarding Ofcom's 'Manosphere' Study
FiLiA have written to Ofcom and the Guardian after the Guardian reported on Ofcom’s so-called research into the ‘manosphere’ and misogyny. FiLiA have significant concerns about the impact this research could have on women and girls, and are asking Ofcom to recall it.
To: Ofcom Communication Services Regulator
Sent by email to: ChiefExecutive@ofcom.org.uk
Date: 18th June 2025
Re: Concerns Regarding Ofcom's 'Manosphere' Study (Guardian reporting, 13th June 2025)
Dear Ms Dawes,
I am writing on behalf of FiLiA, a women’s rights organisation, whose purpose is to defend women’s human rights, amplify the voices of women, particularly those who are seldom heard, and to build sisterhood and solidarity. We wish to express our profound concerns about your recent study examining the ‘manosphere’. We are particularly alarmed by the methodological shortcomings of the research and the conclusions derived from it – as reported in The Guardian on 13th June 2025 – which described men in online misogynist circles as ‘discriminating and value-driven’.
This characterisation is not only misleading, it is also dangerous. It risks giving legitimacy to online spaces that are known to breed misogyny, by framing users as thoughtful or morally discerning, rather than fully recognising how these environments often encourage harmful beliefs about women. Suggesting that many men involved in the manosphere are simply ‘value-driven’ overlooks the growing body of evidence showing that these values frequently include entitlement, hostility and dominance over women. By downplaying the seriousness of this, the report could weaken public understanding of how online radicalisation works. And worse, it may undermine efforts to protect women and girls from the very real violence and abuse that stems from these ideologies.
We are further concerned that the report tones down the risks of exposure to misogynistic content. It seems to accept participants’ self-descriptions, as thoughtful or resistant to harmful messages, without much scrutiny. But saying you can spot harmful content isn’t the same as being unaffected by it, and research shows otherwise.
For example:
Researchers at the University of Portsmouth found that incel content on TikTok often disguises misogynistic and violent ideas under a veneer of ‘relatable’ or emotional storytelling, thereby making it easier to absorb without noticing. New research highlights the role of TikTok in spreading videos that encourage violence against women | University of Portsmouth
A 2025 study from Monash University looked at over 166,000 words from Andrew Tate’s online posts. It found that nearly 90% of his longer content promoted strict gender roles and male dominance, even when it didn’t mention women explicitly. Beyond the Clickbait: Analysing the Masculinist Ideology in Andrew Tate’s Online Written Discourses - Steven Roberts, Callum Jones, Lucy Nicholas, Stephanie Wescott, Marcus Maloney, 2025
This kind of material doesn’t need to be blatantly aggressive to do harm. It gradually shapes beliefs, especially in younger users, by normalising misogyny and cynicism about equality and it even links to more extreme ideologies.
We are critical that the report seems to take participants’ words at face value, without examining whether their actual behaviour online aligns with those claims. With so much algorithmic reinforcement of harmful content and evidence of how often that turns into harassment, it is not enough to rely on what users say about their values. We need to look at what they do, what content they consume and what they share.
We strongly urge you to recognise how dangerous it is to give legitimacy to this report and ask that you recall it.
We value Ofcom’s role as a media regulator and the important work you do to keep audiences safe. However, we believe this study lets down women and girls, who continue to face real-world consequences from the kinds of misogyny now being excused as acceptable. Women and girls need to have confidence that you, as the regulator, recognise and will act on the harm caused by misogynistic content. We would welcome the chance to work with you to improve future research on this topic and to make sure women’s voices are properly heard and respected in the process.
Yours sincerely,
Kruti Walsh, Director of Policy, and Sally Jackson, Global Lead for MVAWG,
FiLiA
guardian.letters@theguardian.com
Dear Letters Editor
We were appalled to read about the Ofcom research into the ‘manosphere’ and misogyny as reported in The Guardian on 13th June 2025. That a study involving a mere 38 men and (as your piece rightly points out) not a representative sample, can be taken as evidence of anything is ridiculous.
We find it hard to believe that the researcher (De Ionno) can be so naïve as to believe that the men in the study were uninfluenced by the attitudes of their peers. The notion that their ‘sensitivity’ to ‘unjust or discriminatory’ situations extended to sensitivity to women’s experience is laughable. The assertion that constant exposure to material which portrays women as purely for men’s sexual exploitation will not radicalise men, on the basis that they are ‘discriminating and value-driven’, is absurd. Such statements indicate total ignorance of the experience of women and girls harassed, abused and assaulted by such men and boys.
FiLiA is a women-led charity promoting women’s rights, and we are deeply concerned that a national regulator can commission and publish such ‘research’ in their own name, apparently with no questioning of its methodology or conclusions. If only women’s experiences were taken as seriously as the unquestioned statements of 38 men.
Yours faithfully,
Sally Jackson,
Global Lead for MVAWG
FiLiA