Humanists UK held the 2025 Holyoake Lecture in Manchester on 4 December, delivered by journalist and author James Bloodworth. The lecture, titled Lost Boys, explored the dark corners of the online ‘manosphere’ – an ecosystem of male-focused online subcultures that range from lifestyle advice and self-help to misogynistic grievance communities and hard-right political movements.
James opened by recounting his own brief foray into online forums in the early 2000s, contrasting those early, text-based communities with today’s aggressive, algorithmic landscape. He described the modern manosphere – a constellation of misogynistic subcultures including pick-up artists and male supremacists – not merely as a social movement, but as a commercial ‘sales funnel’.
Influencers, he argued, operate like predatory marketing gurus: first manufacturing insecurity and paranoia about women and society, then selling the ‘cure’ in the form of expensive mentorships, supplements, and courses. He noted that these figures offer ‘the promise of clarity and control in a world that feels overwhelmingly complex,’ while actually exploiting male loneliness – an extremely serious problem – for profit.
A crisis of purpose and connection
Moving beyond Internet culture, James argued that we must look at the material conditions of men’s lives to understand their anger. He pointed to the decline of ‘meaningful, dignified work’ and the erosion of ‘third spaces’ arising out of deindustrialisation – such as youth centres, trade unions, and social clubs – where men once found community.
He suggested that the manosphere fills the vacuum left by these lost institutions, providing a twisted sense of belonging to men who feel ‘surplus’ in the modern economy. The solution, he proposed, is not to pathologise young men, but to rebuild a society that offers them genuine purpose, connection, and positive role models, rather than leaving them to be raised by algorithms.
Building a better alternative
In a wide-ranging Q&A chaired by broadcaster and Humanists UK patron Felicity Hannah, James discussed the normalisation of toxic behaviour by political figures like Donald Trump and the difficulty of regulating social media giants. Despite the gloomy subject matter, he concluded on an optimistic note, suggesting that the story of modern men is one of transition rather than inevitable decline:
‘The lost boys are not lost forever. They are waiting for us to build a world that they can participate in fully.’
Following the discussion, James was presented with the 2025 Holyoake Lecture Medal. The award recognised his work in ‘illuminating the crisis of modern masculinity by exposing the profound alienation affecting the lives of men,’ and for championing a fearless journalism that prioritises ‘human understanding over tribalism.’
Notes
About James Bloodworth
James Bloodworth is a journalist and author whose work focuses on politics and social affairs. His writing has appeared in publications including The Times, the Guardian, the New Statesman, and the Wall Street Journal. He is known for his compelling brand of undercover reportage, which formed the basis of his 2018 book, Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain. The book, which was longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, saw him working in an Amazon warehouse and as an Uber driver to expose the realities of the gig economy.
His first book, The Myth of Meritocracy, was published in 2016. His latest, Lost Boys: A Personal Journey Through the Manosphere, is the result of a five-year investigation into the subcultures of toxic masculinity and is the basis for this 2025 Holyoake Lecture.
About Felicity Hannah
Felicity Hannah is a freelance print and broadcast journalist, specialising in consumer affairs and personal finance. She regularly presents BBC Radio 5 Live’s Wake Up To Money and R4’s Money Box Live, as well as appearing as a commentator across TV and radio. Hannah regularly writes for The Times, Independent, Mirror, and many other publications. In 2020 Hannah was named Broadcast Journalist of the Year at the Headlinemoney Awards. She is a patron of Humanists UK.
About the Holyoake Lecture
The Holyoake Lecture explores an aspect of politics or contemporary social or political issues, especially as it relates to secularist and humanist issues, including liberalism, democracy, social justice, feminism, anti-racism, LGBT rights, or equality. The Holyoake medallist has made a significant contribution in one of these fields.
The lecture and medal are named for the 19th-century humanist George Jacob Holyoake, who, among many other achievements, coined the word ‘secularism’ and was a lifelong progressive political activist.