From WIRED · Maysaa Ajjan · · 2m
The Muslim manosphere policing women online
Religious misogyny dressed as faith is harassing women across social media, from the UAE to the UK.
In brief
Religious misogyny dressed as faith is harassing women across social media, from the UAE to the UK. Influencers in the Muslim manosphere use religious authority to legitimize harassment and surveillance of women online, with algorithms amplifying their content into women's inboxes and comment sections. Originally…
A Facebook admin drowning in harassment
Mariam runs a Facebook group for women in the United Arab Emirates with close to four hundred thousand members.
“Being the admin of this group has subjected me to all kinds of harassment.”
The manosphere rebranded in faith
The manosphere is built around male grievance and antifeminist ideology. The Muslim manosphere has adopted those ideas and rebranded them in the language of faith, claiming feminism has destabilized society and women have acquired too…
Relationship coaches packaging misogyny
Jordanian relationship coach Kareem Atta'i, who posts online as Coach Kareem or Red Pill Arabic, packages his ideas as relationship advice.His videos describe violence as a means of disciplining women or retaliating against sexual rejection.
Exploiting insecurity to build audiences
Influencers use financial insecurity, political instability, religious identity, and fears about declining morality to build their audiences. Misogyny becomes an explanation for a wider sense of frustration, and women become its most visible target.
The Dawah Bros and street confrontations
UK-based creator Ali Dawah runs a channel featuring street debates about relationships, gender roles, religion, and Western culture.He approaches women in public and challenges them over clothing he describes as immodest.
“the most”
From television preachers to algorithm enforcers
During the nineteen nineties, Islamic television programs in Egypt and Saudi Arabia featured sheikhs answering callers' questions about relationships and clothing.
Seventy-two percent of hate speech targets women
A two thousand twenty-six report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue analyzed nearly fourteen thousand comments on Instagram in Jordan over twelve months.Among hate speech and harassment, seventy-two percent targeted women.
Algorithms amplify the contradiction
As soon as users create accounts on TikTok, YouTube, X, and Instagram as males, algorithms start recommending misogynistic content.
Opinion presented as religious instruction
Relationship coaches and men preaching religion online often present personal opinions as religious instruction.This makes disagreement appear immoral, and criticism can be presented as evidence that the creator is defending the faith against hostile forces.
The invisible path to visible harm
A creator publishes a video.Recommendation systems carry it into other users' feeds.Users then repeat its message in women's comment sections and inboxes.
The key point
Influencers in the Muslim manosphere use religious authority to legitimize harassment and surveillance of women online, with algorithms amplifying their content into women's inboxes and comment sections.
