Imagine sitting around the dinner table with your kids when the name ‘Andrew Tate’ comes out of your 10-year-old son’s mouth.
What do you do as a parent or carer to navigate what comes next? For a growing number of families, this isn’t a hypothetical scenario. It might just be a regular Tuesday evening, and there’s no manual to navigate it.
In 2026, boys are growing up in a world bombarded by manosphere influencers, social media algorithms that reward outrage, AI companions, deepfakes, sextortion and increasing exposure to porn.
It’s why Women’s Agenda has partnered with The Man Cave, Movember and the Foundation for Positive Masculinity with a goal to empower young men and boys with safe ways to open up about their aspirations, challenges and wellbeing. And this won’t be possible without the adults in their life. That’s why we need you.
If you are a mother, father, carer, coach, mentor, teacher or someone with any kind of responsibility over boys, we’d love you to share your insights in our new survey.
It will just take five minutes of your time and will go a long way to helping us chart a path forward.
Boys and young men are talked about constantly. But who is talking to them?
If we constantly ask what’s wrong with boys we will continue to miss a key part of the puzzle in solving the gender-based issues society is grappling with at large.
The Adolescent Man Box report, an Australian-first survey of 1,400 adolescents aged 14 to 18 released last year, found that the overwhelming majority of young people actually reject rigid, restrictive ideas about masculinity.
It’s the smaller cohort of boys who personally endorse those beliefs who are more likely to get into fights, sexually harass others and engage in risk-taking behaviours.
Our job is to reach the ones drifting while continuing to empower those who are growing into wonderful men.
The authors of a study funded by the eSafety Commissioner, which looked into attitudes of Australian men aged 16 to 21, found the manosphere is a symptom of deeper challenges young men are facing.
At the time, Deakin University’s Professor Amanda Keddie, one of the research leads, said she was ‘heartened’ by the critical awareness many of the young men expressed.
“Some of the young men were very critical of [Andrew] Tate’s misogynistic messages,” she said.
“Many of the young men were also highly critical of online pornography – its ease of access and its negative representations of intimate relationships and women.”
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said young men were struggling to understand what manhood means in this changing world.
“There was also a feeling of being powerless as individuals, even though some participants recognised men hold a lot of structural power,” Grant said.
“And when a small number of harmful online influencers dominate the discussion of what it means to be a man, it’s no wonder young men feel uncertain about how to express their identity and place in the world.”
It’s been more than two years since that report came out and we are still searching for answers.
Meanwhile, a survey released by Monash University last week found teachers are dealing with a significant rise in sexist and misogynistic behaviour in classrooms and the broader school community.
A future generation of men is being shaped right now by forces we haven’t seen before.
Movember researchers analysing what young men and boys consume on TikTok found that manosphere ideologies are being spread through popular topics like gaming, fashion, sports and music.
A separate Media Landscaping study of thousands of boys aged 12 to 17 found more than 50 per cent want more control over the content they see and nearly 60 per cent don’t understand how the platforms they use decide what to show them.
As The Man Cave’s Josh Glover puts it: it’s not a question if boys will be exposed to the manosphere. They will. The real question is who they talk to about it afterwards.
By completing this survey, you could help unlock invaluable insights that provide clear, practical answers on how we can do better to influence boys in the right direction.
We want to hear what is working, what boys need to feel safe, healthy and connected in this world. What is it that inspires and moves them? What worries them and you as their role model? What erodes their sense of self? And what they ultimately need to grow into the people they were meant to be.
Our research is designed with the goal of uncovering strengths and good ideas: how time is spent in the car on the way home, the school programs making a positive difference, the small rituals behind closed doors that more families should know.
This is why we are ensuring both parents as well as boys and young men have a voice through this work.
Later this year, we will speak directly with young men and boys through The Man Cave workshops to draw deeper insights for this study.
But for now, five minutes of your time could help thousands of parents, carers and other adults who are helping to raise the next generation of men.
You can complete the survey here.