How a Bold New Project Is Fighting Toxic Masculinity Online

Sometimes, they just hit me—those everyday moments when I completely lose my composure. A comment. A bad joke. One crude question is all it takes, and suddenly, I'm questioning everything. Am I on the right path in life? Am I writing too many texts that no one even reads while my youth slips away? And, for that matter, am I muscular enough, handsome enough, smart enough?

Whenever they strike, these existential crises are devastating. But their existence is normal. After all, I'm 18—an age when identity, values, structures, and safety nets are only just beginning to take shape. Many, if not all, young people feel the same way. Uncertainty is an inherent part of growing up.

Today, I want to write about a system that ruthlessly exploits this very uncertainty. And about the people fighting back against it.

It all starts with a single term: the manosphere. This refers to online content that claims to teach men how to become real men. The formula is simple: Emotions? A woman's domain—real men don't cry. Working out? A way of life, ideally twice a day. Relationships with others are optional; what truly matters is inner strength, rationality, the pressure to succeed, and—above all—wealth. The most infamous figure in this manosphere is the misogynist Andrew Tate, an American entrepreneur who went viral on TikTok and Instagram. Just this Friday, it was revealed that British police have reopened an investigation into him on suspicion of rape. Two of Tate's choice maxims? "Go on, hit your girlfriend!" or "You can program women."

It's young men and boys aged 16 to 25 who are most vulnerable to these ideas. This is where those uncertainties come into play. In such a fragile phase of life, just past puberty, we're desperate to figure out who our role models should be. In this unstable, insecure time, we're searching for identity—and for a strong brother figure to show us what that identity could look like. Of course, this isn't true for everyone. But the influence of influencers like Tate on young men is undeniable, especially in so-called social media, where short, sharp, polarizing messages thrive. That's the problem. One in three Gen Z men—those born between 1995 and 2010—agrees with the statement: "A woman must obey her man." The analysis is clear: like one too many manosphere posts, and soon that's all the algorithm will feed you. So what can be done?

Ironically, the solution to the manosphere's misery was found in theater—specifically, with the collective onlinetheater.live. For three months, Kathi Kraft, Luzia Oppermann, and Caspar Weimann studied how the manosphere operates. Using fake TikTok profiles, they analyzed the tactics of "manfluencers" and created counter-content with three accounts of their own. Their videos followed the same format: direct address, punchy background music, no flowery language. The difference? Instead of misogyny, their short clips carried messages of listening to others and meeting them with empathy. There's @wohin_von_hier, a young man processing a breakup and taking his audience along on an emotional journey. Or @alex.new.mindset, a "big brother" figure who speaks straight to the camera, explaining the power of connection. "Our target audience was young men aged 16 to 25 who were on the verge of radicalization," explains Caspar Weimann. Their goal: to break the endless cycle of withdrawal, woman-hating, and extremism. And it worked. By the end of the three months, their videos had garnered over four million views, nearly 200,000 likes, and 4,000 comments. The project is called MYKE—a blend of the name of a typical, searching young boy and the English word for microphone.

The team behind MYKE sees the project as more of a theatrical performance than pedagogy. "TikTok is a massive stage—a stage with an audience we'd never reach in traditional theater. So we're coming to them," says Luzia. We need more initiatives like this. Because it proves one thing: we can't just demonize the younger generation. We have to engage in the spaces where they actually spend their time.

To learn more about the MYKE project, click here.

Good News of the Week #04

The other day, I was waiting for the bus at Cologne Central Station. I was on my way to the Cologne Congress hosted by Deutschlandfunk radio—where I also discovered the project by Luzia Oppermann and Caspar Weimann. When the bus arrived, a man stepped off—and, without a hint of emotion, tossed a fresh bouquet of flowers into the trash. I froze in shock. For three full seconds. Then I made up my mind: I rescued the bouquet, boarded the bus, and was immediately approached by a kind woman. In the end, I walked away with a lovely conversation about the city—and she walked away with the flowers. It's the little moments that count.

If you're curious about overcoming the toxic world of the manosphere, I'd recommend the audio drama produced by Luzia, Caspar, and their team in collaboration with Deutschlandfunk: Hacking the Manosphere. You can listen to the podcast here.

Next week, I'll share Jürgen Kaube's thoughts on hope. A journalist and one of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's four editors-in-chief, he left me deeply inspired after our interview.

Keep moving forward.

Yours, Hendrik