The main reason I make the namesake assertion is the damaging messages about women and what they find attractive; e.g. you're worthless unless you fit x, y, z, women want to sleep with an 'alpa' and enslave a 'beta', all women are heartless reptiles, not to be trusted etc. For guys who're younger and perhaps haven't had much experience, those cynical messages can be downright depressing and discouraging, and can also encourage frustrated men to blame women for their problems. Younger men may not have the wisdom, critical thinking skills and experience to challenge the cynical and depressing lies that are spouted.
Who posts on MGTOW?
- Guys who've gotten out of bad relationships
- Guys who've experienced unrequited love
- Guy's who're frustrated because of only being seen as 'friends' by women they've found attractive
- Sex addicts
For any younger guys who're inexperienced, I'm telling you, don't listen to the MGTOW community's views on what women want, it won't help you. Look, people who are in happy relationships and people who have more balanced views of women don't go posting on MGTOW and PUA sites. The opinions you see are completely biased and not gospel truth. Dear young single men, the opinions that you see of women on those communities are biased, that's why they seem so cynical, dark and depressing.
Why do people turn to MGTOW?
The short answer is simple, a listening ear. The root of the problem is that mens loneliness largely goes un-acknowledged. Things like feeling invisible to women, losing hopw of finding love etc. are things that are not widely-related to. Men need a platform to be listened to and vent their frustrations but without any of the toxic depressing messages that 'all women are this'.
Most the opinions that you see of women, what they find attractive etc. are largely people's negative spins and projections as to why their own relationships didn't work out.
Now, it's true that there are lots of inequities in our society and many ways that men are treated unfairly (e.g. the ever lowering bar on what's considered sexual harrassment, discrimination against men) that do need open discussion without labelling and ad-hominem attacks. There also needs to be platforms to discuss these issues that don't have the toxic messages of the manosphere (I'd even argue that many manosphere sites perpetuate negative stereotypes about mens rights activists but that's a separate topic).
What manipulation tactics are employed?
Some people like to defend the cynical views of women, what they find attractive in a man etc. on the grounds that they're trying to help younger men not be naiive. Whilst it's true that there are plenty of bad eggs out there who will take advantage and who cannot be trusted, what's not acceptable is to attempt to brainwash young men into believing that ALL women are like that, that all women should be treated with suspicion. If you want to become wiser and discerning about manipulative women, there are better more balanced sources out there.
Another way the MGTOW community manipulates people is relying on what I call 'inverse political-correctness'; resorting to name-calling and labelling of people who's opinions they don't agree with, such as labelling them mangina. They claim to be against feminism and pro free speech but are guilty of exactly the same suppression of free speech that they accuse feminist communities of, they're hypocrites.
Another thing is that they try to claim that ALL opinions from women of what women find attractive are not to be trusted, that women tell you what youn want to hear. They also try to claim that anything that sounds remotely palatable (balanced) is lies. Why is this? They're banking on the fact that you don't have the critical thinking skills or evidence to contradict anything they're saying.
To wrap up
Manosphere communities like MGTOW, ROK and others can be potentially damaging to younger men for the reasons I've stated above; for the biased views of women. If you're young and single, some of the things you might hear about women on those sites are pretty bleak and depressing. If you're young and have little evidence to the contrary or undeveloped critical thinking skills, some of what you see there could depress you and destroy your motivation to look for love, meet people and live your life. What's even more toxic is that they claim to be experts, they claim to have knowledge that is safely guarded. No they don't, they're a bunch of bitter and biased opinions. I see through the bias behind many of the opinions and I encourage you to do too.