Men are angry.
They’re beyond angry. They’re seething with a boiling, unstoppable rage, lurking in nearly every corner of the internet just waiting to explode on an unsuspecting (and usually female) user.
But why? What’s causing all the male rage?
Why Are Men So Angry?
Men’s anger goes hand in hand with a worsening society.
As things get worse, men get angrier, and the cycle continues in a downward spiral that’s bad for everyone (including the raging men).
We’re an unabashedly feminist publication, but we care about men too. Men make up half of society. When men thrive, women thrive, and society thrives.
But it’s not just that. We want everyone to be happy and live the life they deserve, including men.
And that’s difficult when you’re bursting with an uncontrollable rage.
To help, we’ve decided to dive into the deepest corners of the internet to discover the causes of men’s rising fury.
It’s a complex issue, and there’s no one reason that applies to all men. There are likely tons of reasons we didn’t even consider. But we tried, because the first step to solving a problem is identifying the problem.
So here are the top reasons why men are so angry.
The Growing Echo Chamber
The internet brought us together, the best and worst of us.
Angry young men, who, in the past, would be forced to come to terms with their shortcomings, now congregate in growing internet echo chambers where people stoke their rage rather than help them overcome it.
These online spaces provide a sense of community where men tell each other that their anger is righteous and justified.
And what’s worse – any man who questions the status quo gets kicked out. They lose their entire community if they don’t “give into the hate.”
Rage Bait
The worst part is these online echo chambers don’t make men angry by accident. It’s all intentional.
Rage sells.
The leaders rake in massive profits by keeping these men seething.
But it’s not just the echo chambers. The mainstream media does it too.
Powerful corporations learned that anger keeps people scrolling. They intentionally designed algorithms to serve people content that makes them boil, all in the never-ending quest for increased profits.
These companies want men to be angry, because it makes them more money.
Loneliness
The tool that was supposed to bring us together brought us further apart.
Instead of getting together in real life, we congregate online. But that’s not the same. In fact, it’s destroying our sense of community.
Men seem to have it worse than women. They flock to online spaces, hiding themselves away from real life. And because they lack real-life connections, they’re growing lonelier by the day.
The loneliness leads to anger and despair.
Debt
Even men who seemingly have good lives look like they’re about ready to burst at the seams.
Why are these men so angry?
Debt might be a hidden culprit.
Consumer debt is rising, and some men who seem fine on the outside may be so stressed about their financial situation they can’t think straight.
They Can’t Provide
Society loves telling men they must be providers, but then it strips them of their ability to provide. It’s nearly impossible for a family to survive on a single income these days.
Men feel lost, unable to fulfill the role society thrusts upon them.
And it’s not just that they can’t provide. It’s also the fact that society pushes this stupid script in the first place.
Men who don’t want to be providers may be angry that they’re expected to fill this role.
Lack of Opportunity
There are plenty of jobs, but most aren’t “good jobs.” Of course, people stuck in dead-end, low-wage service positions will feel frustrated with their lives.
Everyone wants their life to have purpose. Everyone wants fulfilling work.
Millions of men can’t find a job that meets those needs.
The lack of opportunity harkens back to the inability to provide. Society allows women to find meaning outside of work, in motherhood, friendship, or caregiving roles.
Men’s meaning is usually tied to their job, and when you strip that away, what do they have left?
Appearances
It’s hard to break away from society’s expectations.
When culture tells you that you need a pickup truck, a house, and a yard to “be successful,” you’ll strive for those things to keep up appearances whether you can afford it or not, and sometimes whether you even want it or not.
We’re social animals, after all, and going along with culture and expectations keeps us “in the group.”
But keeping up with appearances is stressful, especially when it’s not something you really want.
Helplessness
Men are doers. They want to take action and change the world!
In today’s current environment, many feel helpless.
Their one vote does little to change their station in life, and they can’t do anything to alleviate the suffering in their communities.
The helplessness turns to rage.
Living for Everyone Else
A lot of us fall into the trap of living life for everyone but ourselves.
We pursue the careers our parents wanted for us. We give in to cultural expectations like getting married and having kids. We get trapped living the life someone else wanted for us.
And once you have kids, it’s too late to change course. You have mouths to feed.
We accept our responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean we’re living the life we want. And that does make a lot of people angry.
Hard Work Doesn’t Pay
Men bought into the lie that if they worked hard, they’d live life on easy mode.
They worked hard for years, toiling at demanding jobs, destroying their bodies, and they still can’t stay afloat.
They’re mad that the system failed them. I am too.
Hard work shouldn’t necessarily bring riches, but anyone who works hard should be able to survive and enjoy life a bit.
Hopeless
The social contract is broken beyond repair.
Men are angry because they give and give but get nothing in return. They give their lives to a country that doesn’t care about them, their time to a company that will fire them in an instant, and their money to a family they never get to see.
It gets disheartening.
Entitlement
Let’s be real. A subset of men are raging because they were told that if they did X, they’d be gifted a loving wife who would provide everything from children to domestic labor.
Some didn’t even think they’d have to do anything to get a willing servant handed to them. They long for the relationships their parents and grandparents had, not realizing (or caring) that their mothers and grandmothers had no choice.
With advances in women’s rights, women no longer needed to marry men for survival and thus became more selective.
Men haven’t caught up. They feel entitled to women’s time, attention, bodies, and labor, and now they’re raging because they aren’t getting any of it.
We see this in the massive backlash to women’s rights and the rise of the “trad-wife” movement, which seeks to thrust women back into the domestic sphere.
Toxic Masculinity
Men are angry because the patriarchy defined a standard for “maleness” that tells them anger is the only justifiable emotion.
Toxic masculinity teaches that real men can’t be sad, depressed, or scared. It tells men they must be stoic predators constantly on the hunt for women. It creates ridiculous beauty standards for men (that women actually don’t even care about that much) and tells men if they aren’t rich, greedy bastards, they’re living life wrong.
No wonder men are so angry when the ideal “man” society pushes is an angry, self-centered asshole.
In addition, toxic masculinity preaches that anything feminine (read: anything women do or like) is unmanly and thus bad. So when women enter anything, from certain careers to higher education, men run away.
Fewer and fewer men are entering university, celebrating education, or trying to improve themselves, because women are doing it and therefore it’s “unmanly.”
The State of the World
A lot of male anger is justified. Just look around at the state of the world.
The rich are getting richer off everyone else’s backs while the world burns. It’s a dark time.
Unfortunately, the rich and powerful (AKA, mostly men) have tricked men into pointing their anger toward everyone else. It’s not the giant corporations screwing us at every turn who are to blame; no, it’s the fact that women and minorities have rights.
We’re all angry at what’s happening, but the mass influx of online propaganda is making it harder to see who’s responsible.
We point fingers at each other rather than the true culprits.
Angry at Themselves
Many men are angry with themselves.
Society failed them, but they blame themselves.
Their self-loathing turns to hatred of anyone who can make something of themselves in this ridiculous world.
What Can We Do?
Men have a lot of reasons to be angry. Life isn’t working out the way they were promised. Society is getting worse for everyone, and men feel left behind.
So what can we do?
Unfortunately, a lot of men point their fingers at the wrong people. Many blame women for all their woes. Others blame minorities. These guys vote for fascist leaders in the hopes that they’ll come out on top.
It’s bad for everyone, even the men.
So how can we fix it?
Make Society Work for Everyone
The biggest reason why men are so angry is that society isn’t working for them. And they are 100% justified in this rage.
To ease their anger, we need to fix society. We need to raise the minimum wage, lower the cost of living, and make healthcare affordable. We need to prevent giant companies from using and abusing people.
When men feel like they have purpose, which a lot of men find in a good job that allows them to provide, their anger will subside.
Dismantle the Patriarchy
Bring on the hate comments.
Men celebrate the patriarchy, not realizing how harmful it is to them. Sure, they’re on top, but would you rather be on top of a giant pile of shit, or be equal in a bountiful field?
If you picked the shit, I can’t help you.
But the patriarchy leads to bad outcomes for the very men it pretends to serve. It’s the reason for toxic masculinity, stereotypical gender roles, and a society that only works for the top 1%.
A more egalitarian society would be better for everyone.
Regulate Social Media Companies
The internet is a huge cause of men’s rising rage. We need to regulate the companies that profit off of it.
We shouldn’t allow social media algorithms to serve a cesspool of greed, hatred, and despair.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t allow that content (free speech and all), but I am saying we shouldn’t allow companies to elevate that content for profit.
Take YouTube, for example. If a man watches an innocuous video on a traditionally “male” hobby, like let’s say fishing, YouTube will start serving him a platter of right-wing rage bait designed to spark his fury. The madder he gets, the more he watches, and the angrier he becomes, all while YouTube rakes in massive profits.
That shouldn’t be legal. The algorithms should be regulated. Users should be able to choose the content they see and design their own algorithms.
Men’s Anger Everyone’s Problem
I don’t have all the answers, but I know we need to solve the problem of men’s rising rage.
No good can come from a society where 50% of the population is seething. And it’s not just men – these problems impact women too.
Men are angry because society sucks. And it sucks for everyone. If we fix it, we will alleviate men’s anger and make a society that works for everyone.