Polls have shown that President Donald Trump’s election victory was aided partly by increased support from young men. Some reports point to the influence of podcasters as an important reason for the shift from the Democratic Party, particularly among African Americans.

While European Americans host most of podcasts, so do some African Americans and many deal with a variety of topics. However, some exploit widespread socio-economic dissatisfaction among some men by blaming women for their grievances.

Listeners of such podcasts believe they have been grossly undervalued as “feminism” took hold after passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibiting wage discriminating against women; Roe v. Wade upholding the right to an abortion (which was overturned only last year); and Title 1X in the Education Amendments Act barring discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities receiving federal funds, including athletics.

More women began entering college, receiving degrees, joining the workforce and earning more money than men. Family life was also impacted as an increasing number of fathers started living away from their children. More men began dying from alcohol and drug abuse and suicide in what economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton called “deaths of despair.” And then there is loneliness: Andrew Marantz, in a March story in The New Yorker, cited a survey which found that one in four males in their teens and 20s reported having no close friends.

Some men have come to believe that “everything they’ve been told about gender, race and politics is a lie – that their reality is the true one,” CNN reported in 2017.

The changed circumstances for men have included loss of manufacturing jobs and that has affected African American men “especially hard,” journalist Eamon Whalen reported in The Nation last month. Such jobs “were much more likely to be the gateway to the middle class. The loss of stable employment and the simultaneous rise of the prison system combined to alienate Black men from family life and to create the racial stereotype of the ‘deadbeat’ dad. Before ‘toxic masculinity’ became a ubiquitous term to describe rich, powerful white men like Donald Trump, it was attached to-outof-work Black men.” They too become vulnerable to the spread of “toxic masculinity.”

It has all been happening in the “manosphere,” which a National Public Radio “Code Switch” program that aired last October described as “a sprawling ecosystem of podcasts, YouTubers, message boards, and more aimed at disgruntled men.”

Steven Dashell, an African American sociologist and researcher of “male-dominated spaces,” wanted to learn more about podcasts hosted by African Americans. He reported listening to several episodes of “Fresh & Fit” and its companion “Fresh & Fit After Hours,” hosted by 34-year-old Myron Gaines (“Fit”) and 32-year-old Walter Weekes (“Fresh”). Gaines wrote the book “Why Women Deserve Less,” in which he declared, “Women are benefiting unfairly at nearly every man’s expense.” Weekes is a businessman who, Dashell said, “firmly believes in meritocracy; he credits his success to his own hard work, a point he eagerly reiterates on a number of episodes.”

Dashell reported his findings in The Conversation last May: “As I listened to their episodes, I started noticing something interesting – the two hosts regularly used language to appeal to Black men. They spoke in the parlance of social justice movements but applied it, in a twisted way, to justify misogyny and male superiority. Each episode is replete with misogyny.”

On one show, Gaines discouraged listeners from visiting Miami – “not because it’s too expensive or it’s too hot but because the women in South Beach think they’re ‘better than you.” On another episode, when talking about what men are looking for in a partner, Gaines said, “When we look for security, y’all, it’s security in making sure the kid is ours. And a woman that has a promiscuous past might continue that trend in the future.”

Dashell pointed out that “while Black men are highly susceptible to being seen as a collective group, they aren’t a monolith. Many Black men hold conservative views.” But, he added, “Instances of homophobia, misogyny and transphobia are as common among Black Americans as they are among white Americans. In other words, there isn’t any sort of cultural insulation that would protect Black men from negative messages in the manosphere and the hosts subtly use language and imagery common to Black culture to inculcate Black listeners to their views. Gaines and Weekes invariably slip in and out of African American Vernacular English, which conveys not only authenticity but also forges a connection with Black listeners.”

That could appeal to those who believe they are victims of disenfranchisement and discrimination against men. “If they listen to Gaines and Weekes, they’ll come away from the episodes thinking that it isn’t just racism keeping them down: It’s women, too,” Dashell wrote.

That point was made in a 2022 story by Tomas Kassahun in Blavity, a social media company and website based in Los Angeles that Morgan DeBaun, an African American woman, founded. Its mission is to “economically and creatively support Black millennials across the African scape, so they can pursue the work they love, and change the world in the process.” Kassahun referred to the Dashell’s “Fresh & Fit” report and provided additional quotes from the podcast:

Gaines/Fit: "Hey bro, if you want to date a bunch of Shaniquas, go for it, man."

Weekes/Fresh: "Laquisha."

Gaines: "Me and Fresh aren’t really down with the Brown like that. We ain’t night riders. Sometimes, if they’re redbone. But like, in general, me and Fresh don’t dabble in the dark, if you know what I’m saying."

Such comments could lead to “Black femicide” – the killing of African American women, Alexandria Onuoha warned in a 2022 story for the Global Network on Extremism and Technology. Onuoha, who drew attention to the Blavity story, has been doing research on what she terms “the messages of fascist groups and their impact on the psychological development of Black girls.”

Like Dashell, she reported, “Some argue that the Black manosphere is an online space where Black men can discuss various topics from finances to dating, which may be true, but isn’t as mundane as we think. The Black manosphere emerged to encourage Black men but at the expense of perpetuating misogynoir and aligning with white supremacist ideologies of gender and race.

“The Black manosphere has become one such assemblage of digital spaces where users may proliferate spurious anti-Black misogynist views about Black women, which can lead to violence against Black women and girls. The Black manosphere is one of many spaces that impeded the agency and structural well-being of Black women, which intersects with other misogynistic and racist spaces.”

There are programs that seek to respond to the needs of vulnerable young. A Call to Men, based in New York and founded by Ted Bunch, an African American author, educator, activist and lecturer, says it partners with schools, companies and professional sports organizations to promote “healthy masculinity.” It focuses on topics such as “kindness, respect for others and an understanding that, in a patriarchal society, men have an opportunity to use their power to protect.”

The California-based Black Manosphere, founded by Mumia Obsidian Ali, who wrote "The Book of Obsidian: A Manual for the 21st Century Black American Gentleman," sponsors annual “conclaves” as part of a mission “to encourage Black Men to be the best in their respective industry and set their minds to doing so by openly and proudly celebrating male achievements and speaking on issues often considered taboo in public spaces.” The organization has set as its goal “helping no less than two million Black Men live longer, happier and healthier lives.”

The next conclave will be held in Miami in September, when “a range of speakers and discussion groups will illustrate, discuss & teach how the 21st century Black gentleman navigates life, in style!” Topics will include image, business, technology, fitness, investment and social media.

For more more information A Call to Men: acalltomen.org Black Manosphere: blackmanosphere.org Blavity: blavity.com

Global Network on Extremism and Technology: gnet.org