Toxic Masculinity Manosphere Study Male Idenity

Is All Masculinity Toxic? New Study Break Down Five Male Identity Types

A growing online subculture known as the "manosphere" has emerged across forums and social media, promoting a hardline view of masculinity rooted in dominance, misogyny and hostility towards feminism—traits widely described as toxic.

Researchers Flag Lack of Clear Evidence

Amid rising concern over the influence of such movements, researchers noted a striking lack of solid evidence clearly defining or measuring what toxic masculinity actually looks like.

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Large-Scale Study of Masculinity in New Zealand

To address this gap, the team analyzed nationwide data from a representative sample of 15,808 heterosexual men in New Zealand, aged between 18 and 99. They assessed levels of gender identification alongside attitudes including sexism, sexual prejudice, narcissism and support for social dominance, identifying five distinct profiles. The largest group, representing 35.4% of participants, showed largely non-toxic patterns.

Gender Identity Not Strongly Linked to Toxic Behaviour

One of the study's more unexpected conclusions was that a strong sense of gender identity was not closely linked to toxic behaviour. Even among men whose views aligned with patterns associated with toxic masculinity, being male played only a slightly greater role in their self-identity than it did for others.

The researchers stress that identifying strongly as "manly" does not, in itself, make someone toxic. The findings were published in Psychology of Men & Masculinities.

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Is All Masculinity Toxic?

Origins of the Term

The term toxic masculinity was first introduced in 1990 by psychologist Shepherd Bliss as part of the mythopoetic men's movement. He used it to describe behaviours that harm women, children and other men, pointing to a damaging aspect of male psychology. Since the rise of the Metoo movement, the meaning of the term has broadened significantly.

How the Meaning of Toxic Masculinity Has Expanded

Today, it is often used as an umbrella label covering issues ranging from explicit misogyny and rape culture to limits on women's reproductive rights, mansplaining and men's avoidance of domestic labour.

Concerns Over Vague Use of the Term

Despite its widespread use in public debate—and more than 10,000 academic articles published since 2020 —many studies fail to measure toxic masculinity empirically. Instead, the term is frequently employed as a general expression of disapproval.

Researchers warn that treating masculinity as inherently toxic may be counterproductive, particularly at a time when many men face serious challenges around health and wellbeing.

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Traits Used to Measure Problematic Masculinity

To address this gap, the researchers examined how widespread different forms of problematic masculinity are by analyzing eight core traits and beliefs:

• Centrality of gender identity
• Sexual prejudice
• Disagreeableness
• Narcissism
• Hostile sexism
• Benevolent sexism
• Opposition to domestic violence prevention
• Support for social dominance

Data Source and Analytical Approach

The team drew on data from the long-running New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) and applied latent profile analysis, a statistical technique used to identify distinct groups within large datasets. this approach revealed five separate masculinity profiles.

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Five Distinct Masculinity Profiles Identified

The analysis showed:

• 35.4% fell into an atoxic category, showing consistently low levels across all harmful indicators
• 53.8% were grouped into two moderate profiles, with generally low-to-moderate scores that differed mainly in levels of sexual prejudice
• 7.6% fit a benevolent toxic profile, marked by high benevolent sexism alongside elevated sexual prejudice
• 3.2% fell into a hostile toxic category, marked by high levels of sexism, narcissism and opposition to efforts aimed at preventing domestic violence

Masculinity and Harm Are Not the Same

The findings further showed that a strong identification with being "manly" did not automatically signal problematic masculinity.

Researchers stressed the importance of distinguishing harmful expressions of masculinity from healthy and positive ones, noting that future studies using more diverse samples could help shape targeted interventions for different toxic masculinity profiles.

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