Stoicism, a philosophy that embraces life in accordance with nature and an understanding of one’s limits of control, has entered a new realm: the manosphere. Simply defined, the manosphere is the toxic masculine worldview embraced by figures like Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan that centers men’s experiences, devaluing the voices and humanity of women as a tactic that lures vulnerable, insecure young boys. The peculiar nature of such highly anti-intellectual men embracing philosophy merits an investigation into their motives and misunderstandings of the age-old philosophy.
Stoicism finds its roots circa 300 BCE., thanks to Zeno, setting the stage for philosophers including Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, to revolutionize the school of thought with a philosophy fit for every individual. These founders of Stoicism come from wide-ranging walks of life: Seneca was a politician, Epictetus a slave, and Marcus Aurelius a famous emperor. Stoicism is a philosophy of everyday life that, among many other complex topics, emphasizes temperance, virtue, and control; elements in one’s control should be acted upon wisely, and elements out of one’s control should be embraced as indifferent, something to be understood and embraced, but not worried about. The universal, timeless nature of Stoicism allows it to be adopted by anyone, but also leaves it vulnerable to corruption by anti-intellectualists and the manosphere.
The connection between toxic masculinity and Stoicism lies in a fundamental misunderstanding of the philosophy that the manosphere has manipulated and shaped to form its own beliefs rather than those corresponding to the original philosophy. Upon Stoicism’s introduction to the manosphere, the principle of temperance has been manipulated to the belief that men should not show emotion. This is fundamentally incongruent with Stoicism, as it stresses the importance of coming to terms with one’s emotions. Marcus Aurelius was highly in touch and aware of his emotions, and would be appalled at the idea that manospheric interpretations of Stoicism are arguing the importance of repressing emotion. The original, well-respected and highly educational Stoicism could not be further from the pseudo-philosophy that the manosphere has embraced. Since the corruption of Stoicism into an interpretation of male repression of emotion, the term “Broicism” arose to describe the new pseudo-philosophy.
Given how misaligned Broicism is with Stoicism, one must ask why it has gained such a cult following. Similarly to many other aspects of the manosphere, the Broic beliefs prey on young men’s insecurities to lure them into a false philosophy, giving them a sense of power at a time when their self-identity is turbulent and unknown. So-called “alpha male” media stars such as Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan use their platform to captivate insecure boys and men into Broicism by making them feel a sense of worth and power. The repression of emotion, a common practice emphasized by the manosphere, leads men into believing that showing emotion is weak and feminine. The boys’ insecurities, especially the insecurity of appearing feminine, lead them into the unhealthy and anti-Stoic practice of repressing emotion, which exacerbates their insecurities as well as their hatred towards women. This cycle of repression of emotion and exacerbation of insecurities captivates these men further into the Broic culture, which brainwashes them into thinking they are following philosophy rather than toxic masculinity.
With the rise of AI, Broicism has found newfound success on social media platforms including YouTube, TikTok, etc, with videos of AI-generated visuals of hypermasculine Greek statues accompanied by AI-generated voice overs which instruct the viewer on how to live a better life, although it is doing far from that. These videos falsely claim that they are teaching fundamental principles of Stoicism, while in reality, they are further perpetuating toxic masculinity. Some topics discussed in these videos include how to attract women, gain power over others, and rise to success. Given AI’s ability to churn out content faster than any human, these channels are constantly posting new hateful, toxic rhetoric that amass extreme followings due to the vulnerability of insecure men. These videos perpetuate the aforementioned cycle of repression of emotion and exacerbation of insecurities, and given their ability for mass production of content, the cycle grows exponentially.
As well as the issue of Broicism’s incongruence with actual Stoicism, the pseudo-philosophy perpetuates a hatred against women and anyone who isn’t cisgender, straight, white, and male. The synonymous nature of Broicism with the manosphere leads vulnerable young men into a path of hatred as a form of “self-betterment.” These Broic concepts stress that men should assert dominance and power over others, collect women as commodities rather than forming healthy relationships, and avoid all types of weakness, and therefore femininity. The Broic and manospheric aversion of weakness leads men to hide their true feelings and avoid getting help.
Another incongruence of Broicism and Stoicism is that Broicism often tries to sell products to help better men’s lives. These products are often some sort of Stoic course that guides men deeper into the manosphere, or books that supposedly serve as a guide to a good life, while in reality perpetuating all of the aforementioned harmful rhetoric. Unsurprisingly, the act of commodifying Stoicism is far from Stoic. Given the importance of Stoicism as an everyday philosophy, its commodification stops prospective learners from learning for the simple act of learning. As well as selling Stoicism being anti-stoic, these vendors are selling a fake philosophy. The individuals selling these products are charlatans who hide behind the false pretence that their products will better the lives of the buyer while claiming to sell a real philosophy.
The manosphere is an ever-changing, misogynistic realm that has now plagued the world of philosophy through its manipulations of Stoicism, rote production of AI, and commodification of pseudo-philosophy. The harms of Broicism reach far beyond manipulations of an old philosophy; it serves as a new extension of the exponentially growing manosphere, developing new ways to spew hateful rhetoric and misogynistic behavior justified by a false philosophy that couldn’t be further from Stoicism. Broicism is nothing more than a new method of targeting vulnerable, insecure young men with the tantalizing prospect of an empowering life behind the shroud of manipulation, trickery, and misogyny.