The manosphere has become one of the most discussed and controversial corners of the internet. Millions of people consume content from creators who describe themselves as part of the “red pill,” men’s rights, pickup artist, incel, or traditional masculinity communities. While these groups differ significantly in their beliefs, they are often discussed together because they share...
What the Evidence Actually Shows Public conversations about affirmative action often produce more certainty than clarity. Some people argue that affirmative action unfairly discriminated against White Americans and created a new form of racism. Others argue that it barely scratched the surface of centuries of inequality. Between these opposing views lies a more interesting question—one that can...
Racism often presents itself as certainty, but beneath that certainty lies one of the oldest psychological strategies for making a complicated world feel controllable. Few subjects generate stronger emotions than racism. Discussions about race often become polarized before they truly begin, with one side emphasizing historical systems of inequality and another insisting that racism is simply...
The answer depends on whether we’re asking a historical question, a political question, or a scientific one. It has become increasingly common to hear the claim that capitalism, patriarchy, and white nationalism are inseparable. For some people, they are described as three parts of the same system. Others reject the idea entirely, arguing that free markets have nothing to do with gender or...
The system often described as benefiting men may also be quietly limiting what many men believe they’re allowed to become. The word patriarchy has become one of the most polarizing terms in modern culture. For some people, it describes the historical and ongoing ways that social, political, economic, and legal institutions have disproportionately concentrated authority and power in the...
The evidence suggests a more complicated story than the one often shared online. In recent years, a growing narrative has spread across social media claiming that feminism is responsible for the struggles facing young men. Rising loneliness, declining mental health, educational challenges, and uncertainty about identity are frequently presented as evidence that expanding women’s rights has...
Sometimes the harder we try to relax, the more impossible it becomes. Stress has a way of narrowing our attention. The mind begins scanning for problems to solve, conversations to replay, bills to pay, decisions to make, and futures to prepare for. One concern quickly gives rise to another until it feels as though life has become one continuous attempt to prevent the next thing from going wrong...
We spend much of our lives trying to gain control over something that may never have been ours to possess. Few ideas feel more reassuring than the belief that we are in control of our lives. We make plans, set goals, build routines, buy insurance, save money, exercise, study, and carefully consider our decisions. These are all meaningful activities, and they often improve our lives. They...
We spend so much time thinking about life that we often forget to experience it. Have you ever reached the end of a week and wondered where it went? Or looked back at an entire year and realized you remember only a handful of moments clearly? Life has a strange way of slipping past us. Not because we’re careless. Not because we don’t value it. But because the mind is almost always...
We don’t just forget once. Somehow, we keep forgetting the same lesson over and over again. Almost everyone has experienced a moment that changed the way they saw life. A serious illness. The death of someone they loved. A near accident. The end of a relationship. The birth of a child. For a while, everything feels different. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. A simple conversation feels...
