The Interview – Kristina Wilfore: Male anxieties being weaponised

Available for over a year

“It’s a distortion of real pressures. When I’m analysing trends around men…they are wanting to lean into what being a man means. In many cases strength, loyalty, protection. Those are not bad values. Those are being exploited, weaponised, and redirected in order to either sell a product or sell an idea.”

Marianna Spring and Matt Shea speak to Kristina Wilfore, Director at Reset Tech, about their new report into the so-called ‘Male Grievance Industry’, which Kristina says is capitalising on the loneliness, economic anxiety, and identity of men. She argues it’s a growing business on social media which defrauds men by targeting them with content that distorts the real pressures they face.

She also reveals new data about looksmaxxing, the extreme cosmetic social media trend, which shows how just 216 accounts drove 14.6 billion views on this type of content within the last two years.

Thank you to the Top Comment team for its help in making this programme.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Hunter Biden, son of former US President Joe Biden, head of the World Meteorological Organisation Celeste Saulo, and independent Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Marianna Spring and Matt Shea
Producer: Cordelia Hemming
Editor: Damon Rose

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Kristina Wilfore. Credit: Photo by Rachel Hofer)

Programme WebsiteShow less