This PERIL report explains how online male supremacist ideas and the broader manosphere can affect college campuses. It is written for higher education leaders, faculty and staff who want to understand how misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ+ narratives move from online spaces into student culture, harassment, discrimination and campus safety concerns.
The report describes male supremacy as an ideology that treats women and LGBTQ+ people as inferior and often wraps those views in false claims about biology, dating, fitness or self-improvement. It explains how influencers and online communities can make extreme ideas feel normal, especially for young men, by mixing advice, humor, anger and grievance. The report connects these messages to rigid gender norms and to risks such as sexual harassment, intimate partner violence and other forms of targeted harm.
A key takeaway is that colleges should not treat this only as an online culture issue or only as a discipline issue after harm occurs. The report argues that campuses can reduce risk by helping students recognize manipulative narratives, supporting healthy models of masculinity and belonging, responding clearly to harassment and discrimination, and building trust across student communities.
The report is important because it gives higher education staff a practical way to talk about a difficult subject without sensationalizing it. It shows why campus safety, student wellbeing, gender equity and inclusive learning environments are connected, and why colleges need strategies before online harms become offline harms.