You might have noticed the jaded air wafting through your favorite sites recently. Prominent bloggers and personalities in the manosphere have been repeating themselves, confessing to dissatisfaction with their conquests, or just folding up tents and moving on. Are the lifestyles they preached really so unsatisfying? Maybe the red pill was just a fad, or these men are burning out and quietly returning to the mainstream, like hippies in 1973. However, I believe there is another explanation.
These pioneers are simply casting off for further shores, and they’re going alone, or with a small group of companions, not a large audience. They are building the next stage of the men’s awakening, in the form of a myriad of smaller, focused groups of men realizing their dreams both on-line and off. It will be more positive and creative, focused on achieving dreams and goals rather than simply Game (‘sphere 1.0) or diagnosing the ills of modern culture (2.0).
Manosphere 1.0 and 2.0
I use the term manosphere unapologetically, because despite its faintly silly ring, it accurately delineates the core of blogs and sites that have shaped the thinking of a loose tribe of men since around 2008. This could be also called the Roissy-sphere, as the pseudonymous DC blogger was perhaps the main catalyst.
Roosh then added his uniquely simple insight, namely that Anglosphere women sucked in comparison to those of the rest of the world, kicking off what is probably the best broad online community we have right now. Other figures have been almost equally important, so mentally add in your favorites, and then there is the legion of worthy second-tier blogs.
But the Roissy-sphere is in fact manosphere 2.0, as it couldn’t have existed without the legion of PUA/seduction sites as far back as the late 90s. As a participant in the early days of fastseduction.com, a time of Ross Jeffries vs Tyler Durden flamewars and a succession of now-forgotten gurus. Let me tell you that this manosphere 1.0 was exciting, empowering and necessary, but also incomplete and primitive. Beaten down by the rampant feminism of the 1990s—all Oprah, date-rape scaremongering and Ritalin—men regrouped by creating checklists of body language to emulate, IOIs to look for, and techniques to open mixed 5-sets.
But those men got a little older, had some success with women, and found themselves facing a slightly different set of problems. They could get laid. But they were increasingly aware of the gynocentric expectations of society, and the deteriorating quality of Western women as long-term partners. Finally came awareness of the emasculating power of the state, taxing and regulating obedient males beyond the point of tolerance, and then removing the traditional incentive of a role as head of the family. The ranks of the MRAs and MGTOWs swelled, but for confident, adventurous men of the world these are not satisfactory responses—MRAs were shrill and focused on elusive legal reforms, while MGTOWs merely raised a white flag as they were squeezed out of the sexual marketplace.
I believe that the current manosphere is in transition, as there are now significant numbers of men who have been educated in its ideas for several years, and not only that, have taken action and succeeded in changing their lives. We have learned game, we have lifted heavy, we have traveled and experienced relations with women from other hemispheres, and we might have even fired our boss. Or perhaps we haven’t done all these things yet, but we are nevertheless on the path.
So just as there came a point when you no longer needed to read constantly about new openers or how to neg effectively, it’s no longer so important to read about the evils of feminism, the obesity epidemic, or female hypergamy. And a lot of the bloggers who opened our eyes are moving on, too, to the next stage of their lives.
The Future
What then is that next stage? I believe that there will no longer be a central online hub for men who have fully realized the red pill and are living out their lives boldly, adventurously, and without regard to the precepts of a decadent and gynocentric society. These are truly the men going their own way. Not MGTOWs playing video games and giving up on sex for fear of false rape charges, but men scattered all over the earth, creating and shaping their environments in their own image. Though not necessarily immediately visible, their impact will be great, most of all in their own lives and the lives of those around them.
Although I call the next stage manosphere 3.0, that’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek. We won’t need to latch on to a label, or to bookmark the same sites. We will just be doing our own thing, each in his own way. And the happier and more successful we get, the less we need to rail against the evils of society. We already know that many folks are fat and lazy, that women are following their own imperatives, and that there is no point in pinning hope on any political movement. Check, check and check. We move on and and pursue our goals, more centered in ourselves, more specialized in our tasks, and happily ignoring the play-by-play of the mainstream.
But although I see the next stage as very individualistic, it won’t be done alone. It’s only natural to form solid, real-world bonds of friendship with like-minded people. Manosphere 3.0 will be a multitude of clans and communities pursuing their own goals, of business, lifestyle, or whatever they choose. This will happen naturally and organically.
What then of manosphere 2.0? Some of the names may change, but there will continue to be discussion along the lines of what we have shared for the last several years. And in fact there will be increasing numbers of places, online and off, where men will be newly exposed to red pill thinking, with all the accompanying stages of denial, anger and adjustment. Places like the Red Pill subreddit will play an important role here, as masculine conservatism goes mainstream in a similar way to game going mainstream after 2005. (Of course, I don’t mean mainstream in the sense of a celebratory Time magazine article, but in the sense that most young men will be exposed to the key ideas, whether they agree with them or not.)
And so the world will continue to change, one person at a time. It’s an exciting time to watch the big-picture of the cultural landscape, but manosphere 3.0 will not be a social movement or a network of blogs. It will be your own journey, as you embark on a voyage of exploration and conquest of your own making, leaving behind the restrictions of the homeland to sail into the wind, no certain landfall ahead, but confident in your sea legs, your steel and your choice of trusted companions.