It’s no new phenomena that gender disparity has affected the lives of women throughout different cultures and centuries.

Though, the modern day form of gender inequality isn’t much like it was in the past.

There has been a rise of hateful and harmful ideologies about women on the rise, and not only has it been affecting women, it’s been affecting men as well. 

US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, released a study in 2023 that warns the public about an epidemic of loneliness creeping through the young minds of America.

The study shows how the amount of people who experience loneliness has risen a concerning amount.

The study shows that in 2021, 15% of men feel they have no close friends, which is a stark contrast to the 3% that said they felt this way in 1990.

After Murthy’s study gained traction on the internet, the public response to it was the term, ‘the male loneliness epidemic.’

The term refers to the growing rate of feelings of isolation and loneliness among the male population in the USA, the term found its way onto online forums in the 2010’s, and regained popularity after Murthy’s study was released.

Though, Murthy’s study never explicitly states that this epidemic of loneliness only affects men.

The only thing mentioned in regards to how men experience this epidemic differently, is how the rate of suicide is higher in men than it is among women.

Junior Sarah Ocampo, an activist in her local community, shared her thoughts  on this rise.

“Men think that society is becoming more sexist towards them rather than women.” Ocampo said.

Ocampo believes this may be a cause for the epidemic, Murthy’s study shows that both men and women in the US are growing more lonely, though that study’s popularity resulted in a term that victimizes men.

Having the opinion that men face more injustices in society than women do could be considered controversial if one were to talk about it in person, but because of the existence of anonymous online forums the situation changes.

Websites like 4chan, and Reddit that have a forum or ‘Q&A’ format allows for users online to interact, and bounce ideas off of each other, with little to no moderation anonymously on any topic they wish.

Although some websites in this genre make the user confirm they are over the age of eighteen, there’s no real way to prevent minors from coming onto these sites.

This concept that men face more inequality in modern society than women do has been promoted heavily online in the past by what users on the internet will come to call ‘red pill’ content.

The term originates from a metaphor derived from The Matrix, the red pill being ‘truth,’ the blue pill being ignorance.

The core ideologies found in red pill content consist of antisemitism, white supremacy, misogyny, toxic masculinity, conspiratorial thinking, and lastly, the belief that men are victims in society more than women are.

The irony in the idea that red pill ideologies are the truth, lies in the fact that women as a whole have faced more violence and oppression throughout history than men.

Women weren’t legally allowed to control their own finances in the US until 1974 when the Equal Credit Opportunity was passed through congress.

In 2023, over 51,100 women and young girls, were murdered by their domestic partners or family members.

60% of all female homicides, are committed by their significant others or family members, while only 12% of all male homicides do.

Rates of sexual assault, homicide, violence, and trafficking are generally higher among women than it is among men.

Men whose values align with the extremist ‘red pill,’ are referred to under the umbrella term as ‘incels,’ which can be generally defined as someone who is ‘involuntarily celibate.’ Many incels desire ‘traditional’ women, though incel culture tends to repel the majority of women, this only heightens the frustration and hatred that incels feel towards women, and themselves.

It’s highly speculated that the reason incels are so resentful towards women, is because they’re celibate, or insecure.

“One of my closests friends is extremely insecure, and he combats that by shi**ing on the women in his life constantly, and viewing women as nothing but hot little prizes.” Jocelyn Macdonald said.

Incels.is is a forum made with the intention for incels to connect with each other, and it has many active users.

On the website, the word ‘foid’ pops up on almost every single page. This word is an abbreviation of ‘female humanoid.’ The term gained popularity on this forum, as well as many others that are similar.

This term is intended to be derogatory towards women.

‘Devoteecel’ posted to the forum, “Even right-wing foids are wh*res.”

‘Rapistcel’ posted, “​​Foids shouldn’t be allowed to vote.”

‘Madcatgamer’ asks, “Could AI bots replace real foids?”

These users are anonymous, as are the majority of men and boys who promote and post such content; There is no way to tell who these people truly are.

Junior Olivia Jackson was in a relationship with a man who consumed ‘red pill’ content on a daily basis. 

Everything was normal between the two, until he began to say things along the lines of ‘all women cheat,’ or ‘all women want is male validation,’ according to Jackson.

This man would constantly accuse Jackson of cheating on her, though she did nothing to indicate that she was.

He told Jackson that he had an Andrew Tate fan account on TikTok with thirty thousand followers. 

Andrew Tate runs an extremely popular self help podcast for men, with the intention of supposedly guiding young men into a better life. Though the vast majority of his content consists of harmful and derogatory rhetoric towards women, that promotes the idea that men are inherently ‘better’ than men.

Andrew Tate has been charged with human trafficking and rape in Romania.

“I was just so surprised because he was kinda hiding in plain sight.” Jackson said.

Red Pill content and incel forums can be attributed as one of the many reasons extremist beliefs found in the ‘red pill’ have become more common.

The harm caused by the spread of these ideologies has been around since the invention of the computer, though, there’s been a resurgence in the term ‘foid,’ and incel ideology on TikTok in the recent years.

Many users on TikTok glamourize the early 2000’s era of prolific online forums such as 4chan and Reddit. 

‘@Xqvao’ on TikTok makes videos frequently referencing 4chan, and making incel culture seem to the viewer as if it were something that wasn’t harmful to the way that women are viewed and treated by men, by using trending audios, and making their videos aesthetic.

The glamourization of extremist ideologies on TikTok has caused many women the burden of having to watch as sexist history repeats itself, and having to experience it themselves.

Jackson had posted a TikTok speaking to the ironies in Donald Trump’s ideologies about gun control, and the fact that he got shot.

“Instead of disagreeing, they were saying that they were going to kill me and do terrible things to me, that they hope I die and get raped…I had people messaging me to kill myself,” Jackson said.

Incel beliefs have left the forums and the digital world, and begun to affect the lives of women in the real world, and not just on 4chan or Tiktok.

“Society is not progressing as much as we like to say it is,” Ocampo said,

The recent collective shift towards right leaning extremist and traditional beliefs has caused even more insecurities, degradation, and demise to the way women are treated, and viewed as a whole.