How neoliberal science commodifies gender hierarchies: The manosphere’s weaponization of evolutionary biology as ideological infrastructure
Original framing: “How evolutionary biology became an unwilling ally of the manosphere” — The Conversation - Global
The manosphere’s co-optation of evolutionary biology mirrors historical patterns like 19th-century social Darwinism, which used pseudo-scientific racial hierarchies to justify imperialism and slavery. Similarly, the eugenics movement of the early 20th century repackaged biology to enforce gender and class norms, leading to forced sterilizations and immigration restrictions. The current iteration is no accident but a continuation of capitalism’s need to naturalize exploitation. For example, the 1972 *Sexual Politics* by Kate Millett traced how biological determinism has long been weaponized to police women’s bodies, a precedent ignored in mainstream discussions of the manosphere.
The manosphere’s weaponization of evolutionary biology is not an isolated aberration but a symptom of deeper crises in science, capitalism, and power.
Institutional biology, desperate for relevance in a neoliberal era, has become a battleground where fringe ideologies exploit gaps left by underfunded feminist and Indigenous critiques. The solution lies not in policing bad actors but in restructuring science itself—decolonizing curricula, regulating algorithmic harm, and centering marginalized voices like those of Dr. Ruha Benjamin or the *Indigenous Peoples’ Biocultural Climate Change Assessment Initiative*. Historical precedents, from eugenics to social Darwinism, show that biological determinism is a recurring tool for enforcing hierarchies, but it is always met with resistance from those who see life as relational, not hierarchical. The Trickster’s lesson here is clear: the manosphere’s posturing reveals the absurdity of treating power as natural, while Indigenous and feminist science offer the blueprints for a more just future.