Why does Professor Sarah Hawkes say the manosphere should be treated as a public health problem?

Professor Sarah Hawkes, co-author of a report in The Lancet, argues the manosphere should be handled like tobacco control, with finance, health and education ministries and frontline services all involved, rather than as a regulatory issue alone. She stresses that people make a lot of money from its messaging, through social media platforms, financial schemes and unregulated supplements and hormones, which is why the report calls it a commercial determinant of health.

• The report links the manosphere to misogyny and poor mental health among young men.
• Hawkes says terms like toxic masculinity are unhelpful and that the response should look at root causes.

▸In their words

“So that's why we've called it a commercial determinant of health.” Sarah Hawkes · at 27:28 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Global News Podcast (2026-10-30). Read the whole episode summary →

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