Candace Owens speaking at the 2024 Young Women's Leadership Summit in San Antonio, Texas on June 7, 2024 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
Candace Owens speaking at the 2024 Young Women's Leadership Summit in San Antonio, Texas on June 7, 2024 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
During the Barack Obama years, journalist Amanda Marcotte (best known for her work for Salon) cited examples of women she considered 21st Century equivalents of the late Phyllis Schlafly — an influential Religious Right figure remembered for her intense disdain for feminism. Many of the women Marcotte pointed to were Gen-Xers, including Canadian Janet Bloomfield, but were carrying on the anti-feminist ideology that Schlafly championed back in the 1970s and 1980s.
Since then, many new faces have appeared in the anti-feminist movement, which now has a much stronger Millennial and Generation Z presence. Journalist Anna Silman takes a look at some of them in an article published by The Guardian on April 24.
Silman describes them as the "Womansphere," an obvious play on the term "Manosphere" — which refers to a range of anti-feminist groups and ideologies. According to Silman, Brett Cooper (an ally of right-wing radio host Ben Shapiro) and Candace Owen are now among the anti-feminist movement's most prominent female voices.
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"There is a sizable audience for Cooper's brand of disarming anti-feminist content," Silman observes. "She had the second-fastest growing political YouTube channel in the first quarter of 2025 with over 900,000 new subscribers, according to data analyzed by researcher Kyle Tharp. Her Spotify audience is about 60 percent female, a spokesperson told Semafor…. This new 'Womanosphere' includes Cooper's channel as well as lifestyle magazines like the Conservateur and Evie, Candace Owens' Club Candace, Alex Clark's MAGA ("Make America Healthy Again") talk show 'Culture Apothecary,' conservative Christian influencer Allie Beth Stuckey's Relatable, and swimmer turned anti-transgender activist Riley Gaines' podcast 'Gaines For Girls.'"
Silman adds, "Draw the circle a bit wider and you get the 'tradwives' posting homemaking content on Instagram, the edgelord It Girls of Red Scare, and 'femcel' influencers positioning themselves as the female answer to (Andrew) Tate."
One of the anti-feminists not mentioned in Silman's article is YouTuber Hannah Pearl Davis, who is often described as "the female Andrew Tate." Davis has close to 2 million followers on her YouTube channel.
Silman describes the connection between the Manosphere and the "Womansphere."
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"Analyses of the 2024 election widely heralded the Manosphere, the coalition of bro podcasters and YouTubers popular with male audiences, as key to delivering Donald Trump's victory," Silman observes. "According to an AP poll, 56 percent of men under age 30 went for Trump compared with 41 percent four years prior. By meeting young men where they were at, Trump and his surrogates were able to reach voters who are typically among the least politically engaged segments of society."
Silman adds, "Now, there are the beginnings of an organized effort to create a similar alternative rightwing media ecosystem targeting young female U.S. audiences — one of the few demographics that has, until now, leaned substantially Democratic."
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Read The Guardian's full article at this link.
