Louis Theroux—Inside the Manosphere is on Netflix now
When clips were leaked of Louis Theroux—Inside the Manosphere, many of us held our breathes for this long-awaited documentary. However, the potential of this piece was far from met.
The documentary completely misses the mark on calling out misogyny and the increase in violence against women and girls.
I’d go as far as saying these manosphere influencers have been elevated by this documentary.
Louis Theroux is known for challenging the people and networks that perpetuate toxic behaviours in society.
However, here he appeared uncomfortable to challenge these misogynists in the face of their confident criticisms of women.
At no point did he openly call out the sexism effectively. Instead, he allowed the influencers to control the narrative.
Every time an influencer or “fan” claimed women’s oppression didn’t exist, Theroux made little attempt to challenge this.
The most compelling example of this is when Theroux failed to confront an influencer when he said “I dictate when I put my dick in” a woman. And that “women love guys like this”.
Women’s voices were ignored throughout the documentary. And when he did speak to women, it wasn’t to platform the wider impact of the toxicity of the manosphere.
Instead, interviews with women were with the permission of the influencers and in their presence. These women were a mother, partner and OnlyFans model, all of whom have good reason not to call these men out so publicly.
At one point, an influencer’s partner responded to Theroux in a way which showed she wasn’t happy with the life the influencer insisted on. She was quickly sent away and ordered to clean.
Rather than Theroux challenging the control of a woman that he just witnessed, he coyly asked the influencer, “Was that okay?”. This further elevated the self‑importance and sexism of such men.
If a well-known figure like Theroux is seen allowing this behaviour, how can we expect young boys to learn to challenge sexism when it presents?
Theroux fed into the egotistical nature of this network of influencers, broadcasting their popularity without balanced criticism.
He provided them a platform to spew their misogyny, homophobia and sexism to a new audience.
He even played to the toxic masculinity at the end of the documentary, filming himself proving his strength on an arcade punch machine after being mocked by an influencer.
The potential for this documentary could have reached great heights. It could have been a tool to educate people on the epidemic of incel culture and the damage this can do to young minds and women.
But this opportunity was sorely missed.
I’d expect a documentary of this level 20 years ago when few people knew about the extreme online misogynistic community.
But not in 2026 when incel culture is widely understood and requires being called out.
- Louis Theroux—Inside the Manosphere is on Netflix now
