Typing the word ‘feminist’ into YouTube’s search bar, I had expected to be greeted with positive suggestions on feminist history, voting rights or the #MeToo movement. But instead of suffragettes and celebrations, YouTube’s search bar heckled in the face of my optimism with three words that transported me back to the septic sewers of the manosphere forums I’ve spent half a decade investigating. Punched out in its dropdown menu, the first recommendation YouTube served up boldly read “Feminist gets humbled.”
I took a long pause to digest the misogynous tones unashamedly churned out by the algorithm in its search results: “Feminist gets owned”, “Feminist vs anti-feminist”, and the brazen “Feminist gets reality check.”
As a woman who uses my voice and platform online to advocate for women’s rights and raise awareness of image-abuse, I’ve found myself firmly in the firing line of the men who seemingly get off on the thought of humiliating women. When I typed my name on TikTok, a suggestion for “Jess Davies gets owned” immediately appeared, confirming the unnerving reality that there are people on the app purposely seeking out videos of my humiliation.
TikTok content
And I’m not alone, this harmful content has become entertainment for hundreds of thousands of men who cheer with glee and throw virtual tomatoes at the women they place in pixelated pillories.
Search the words “Feminist”, “OnlyFans model” or “Modern woman” on YouTube and you’ll fall down a rabbit hole of viral videos that are often clipped from podcasts or taken from street interviews which follow a similar structure – a woman expressing an opinion often related to politics, dating or gender equality, with a man positioned as the voice of reason who interrupts her with what he believes is a devastating counterpoint which he pairs with patronising chuckles. The woman hesitates, stumbles or simply disagrees, which is then packaged up as a ‘Gotcha’ moment under a title that includes the words “Destroyed”, “Delusional”, “Owned”, or “Exposed.”
A digital reenactment of Cersei’s ‘Walk of Atonement’ in Game of Thrones, the men in the comments gleefully ring the bell of shame at the women who dared step out of line. What is the purpose of these videos? To make an example of us.
Georgia Theodoulou is the lead for Wales and sports at Our Streets Now, a youth-led project working towards a vision of a world free from public sexual harassment. She’s also a teacher who has noticed an increase in the online and offline world of young men and boys relishing in the experience of debating and disagreeing with her as a woman:
“You can tell when I’m debating with them, trying to convince them of a point or educate them that they’re not really listening or hearing what I’m saying, they’re just looking for that golden nugget. That moment where they can jump on something and be like, ‘Ha! I’ve got you.’”
Patsy Stevenson, an award-winning campaigner and equal rights activist, added:
“I think it’s a way for men, especially those on the far-right, to feel better about themselves. It’s all about power, isn't it? It's like, ‘Ha! You got owned’ as if it's some game and not an actual political debate with context and nuance.”
It’s not just political debates which are being repackaged for entertainment in this disturbing trend. A video on X went viral this week from the Soccer Aid tournament, which showed male footballer Leonardo Bonucci slide-tackling ex-England women’s captain, Steph Houghton. The tackle itself is up for debate (some called it ‘brutal’, others said he fairly won the ball), but it was the hundreds of men who gathered in the comments to share their excitement at her pain which ignited my female rage.
One user posted the video alongside the text, “Bonucci absolutely crunching a woman in Soccer Aid is phenomenal viewing,” accompanied by laughing emojis. Users in the comments offered up their poison: “Equality they said”, “Women aren’t built to compete with men”, and “We wait for them at the ER” alongside more laughing yellow faces. The post currently stands at 28,000 likes.
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I decided to do some digging on YouTube to see if similar videos of men being ‘owned’ or ‘humbled’ exist. Considering there’s so much conversation around the ‘male loneliness epidemic’ as of late, which has been blamed on a generation of modern women who reportedly hate all men, it seemed plausible to imagine counter videos made by young women may exist.
But instead of suggestions for men being ‘humbled’ or being served a reality check, typing “man gets” in the search bar resulted in suggestions for a man being eaten by a whale or an anaconda, or being hit by a football. Zero humble pies served here. Even when I searched the term “man gets humbled”, I was shown just eight results. Six of them featured videos of women with similar references to a “delusional woman” or “Karen” being humbled, owned or exposed. One video was a compilation of “Fake Tough Guys” being “put in their place” by other men, which mostly involved violence. Just one video claimed to show a man being humbled by an “older woman”, who told a young man she didn’t like his choice of trousers.
When a user on Reddit posted about the uptick in videos online of men ‘humbling’ women and questioning why no counteract videos of men being humbled by women existed, another user quoted Margaret Atwood:
“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them”
Alongside a link the user posted for a subreddit titled “When women refuse” that featured horrific news stories of women who have been stalked, harassed or murdered by men.
He believes there is a conspiracy against men, that our societies are not patriarchal and never were (because the very concept of patriarchy is a fabrication), and that women should not be allowed to have an abortion without a man's consent.
So, why has watching women be ‘humbled’ or harmed become its own genre of entertainment for thousands of men?
Andrew ‘Bernie’ Bernard is a professional speaker and educator who facilitates workshops with men and boys about masculinity and male violence. When I asked for his thoughts on what was driving the desire for this content, he pointed to Cathy Newman’s infamous Channel 4 interview with Canadian psychologist and manosphere guru Jordan Peterson, which racked up 50 million views:
“It’s the perfect tool, isn't it? There’s this idea that feminism has gone too far, so let's see the manosphere drag them down. Let's invent something that says men are being targeted by feminism, and then let's see the men fight back.”
On the purpose of the humiliating clips that dominate social media platforms, Bernie said:
“That content then goes on to reinforce the message because they chop it up and edit it so that women look really weak, they look screechy, and it looks like we’re in the final death throes of feminism because the men are reasserting themselves.”
Jackson Katz, author of Every Man: Why Violence Against Women is a Men’s Issue believes the gleeful hostility seen in the misogynous content may “Reflect the resentment some men feel about women’s assertions of equality”, adding:
“It might also be an attempt to reassert control: women might be outperforming me in school or the workplace, but I can still control them physically and sexually.”
Katz also points to the similarities in the “Rampant misogynous cruelty” seen in mainstream heterosexual porn targeted to young men.
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These videos aren’t just isolated pieces of clickbait; they’re part of a growing genre of digital content that thrives on the humiliation of women. Any woman is a target, but the particular focus on women who are political, sexually liberated, involved in ‘male-dominated’ areas or perceived as feminist makes their existence feel more sinister when coupled with the men who find satisfaction in silencing them.
Across Reddit forums, TikTok comments and YouTube videos, there’s a recurring narrative: young men feeling dismissed, confused or powerless in a world where gender roles have shifted and male privilege is being openly challenged. In this context, seeing a confident woman ‘get shut down’ becomes more than entertainment for the men, it becomes catharsis.
Jackson Katz believes gender-based violence isn’t just a men’s issue but a leadership one, which is why he thinks we need to reclaim the narrative from the bad characters perpetrating harmful, misogynous beliefs online:
“One way to counteract this behaviour is to identify it as immature and based in insecurity, not as an assertion of strength.”
But in a digital landscape where views become validation for misogynous men, and tech platforms profit from clickbait and controversy, it is women who will inevitably continue to suffer as a result.
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