The alarm over men has intensified in recent years: They’re in crisis — disconnected, dejected and drawn to manosphere influencers peddling antifeminist and far-right ideologies.  

“The State of American Men 2025,” a new report published this month by Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice, underscores how societal pressures, particularly the expectation to be a “provider,” are taking a heavy toll. It reveals that men are suffering primarily because of what they lack — meaningful relationships, economic stability and healthy gender norms. But social change could forge a healthier path forward, according to Equimundo, a research-first international nonprofit focused on the well-being of boys and men. 

The State of American Men 2025 builds on Equimundo’s previous research. It found that the vast majority of men (86 percent) and women (77 percent) continue to define manhood as being a “provider.” But in an uncertain economy, where financial security remains out of reach for many, men who can’t meet this standard face devastating consequences: They are 16.3 times more likely to contemplate suicide. Even men who are financially successful often pay a price, namely sacrificing close relationships with their families due to their dedication to work.

Social isolation is also hurting men — and women. Just over half of both groups say, “No one really knows me.” But men who feel unknown are 2.2 times more likely to have pondered suicide in the past two weeks, the analysis revealed. 

More economically unstable than older men, Gen Z men are especially vulnerable to mental health problems when they’re detached from others. And for susceptible men of all ages, the manosphere fills a void, albeit with a catch. It offers a warped sense of community built on misogyny while influencing followers to be 2.2 times more likely to support authoritarian figures like President Donald Trump and to lean into gun culture. In fact, 30 percent of male gun owners now own AR-15s, Equimundo found. 

The 19th spoke with Taveeshi Gupta, senior director of research, evaluation and learning at Equimundo and lead researcher for the State of American Men 2025, about the report’s most sobering findings and potential solutions — from prioritizing men as caregivers to directing young people to manosphere alternatives. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Nadra Nittle: Your report found that men view financial success as a core component of their identity. Is it surprising that perceptions of masculinity continue to be wrapped up in economic potential?

Taveeshi Gupta: This is not a new concept by any means, but what was really surprising to us was the extent to which that is a core driver of so many of the things that we are seeing as outcomes in our findings —  everything from mental health to the extent to which they believe in “the man box” [stereotypical beliefs about manhood] to the extent to which they are voting in certain ways. It was just such an important piece of evidence that we can put out into the world around what is happening when you feel like this linear path towards financial success is no longer linear, and everything around you is sort of shifting in multiple ways. 

The report references “the man box” multiple times. Can you explain this concept?

We are very grateful that we get to partner and work alongside thoughtful scholars who have created that term. It is simply the idea that there are these unsaid rules and expectations out there that come to you as messages through media, parents and peers around what it means to be a man. Young boys start picking it up at a very early age. 

Many of these norms are things like being really physically tough, not having to depend on anybody else and feeling like you can manage and do everything on your own. It can be the extent to which you are attractive to women, the extent to which you say, “Violence is great, men should be aggressive.” It’s how you show dominance in the world. It’s also promoting a lot of homophobic attitudes. 

How do men in the man box feel about their peers who aren’t cisgender or heterosexual?

They often try to say a gay guy is not a real man. It breaks my heart to tell you that the number of men who feel that way has gone up. In 2017, we had 29 percent of our sample agree that a gay guy is not a real man. In 2023, that went up to 36 percent. That was a big jump from 29 to 36 percent; it’s a significant difference statistically. And then between 2023 and 2025, it remained a little bit stable but rose to 38 percent. Between 2017 and 25, there’s almost a nine percentage-point difference.

Do you think the manosphere factored into this increase, given its hyperfocus on masculinity and alpha males? 

It’s a really good point, but the caveat that I want to put out there is that, yes, absolutely, there is a manosphere, and yes, absolutely, we are hearing very harmful misogynist rhetoric there, but manosphere influences are the loud voices on the internet. They’re not the majority. But, of course, without a doubt, it’s a factor. It’s the combined messaging that’s coming from the media and TV shows they’re watching. We really have made little progress in how we portray homosexual men, how they’re almost always overtly dramatized and made comical. So, it’s this kind of compounded impact and effect from so many sources that promote hypermasculinity or heterosexuality more than anything else. In addition, we’re seeing this backlash against gender equality, democracy and the LGBTQIA+ rights movement. 

But, in fact, there are some healthy online spaces. Equimundo has been working with something called the Link Up Lab, and we’re thinking of innovative ways to redirect men away from these unhealthy online spaces into healthy online and also offline spaces. What kind of content can we give them that can help do that? We are looking to target the men in the middle because our belief is that if we shift those men, we have a fighting chance of swinging the pendulum.

Your report revealed that many fathers feel more like “wallet dads” than engaged caregivers. What does that mean?

One of the most throughline findings that we have, both in the U.S. and internationally, is how much men want to be caregivers. There are some men who don’t want to be in that role, and by the way, that’s the same for women. Not all women want to be mothers, but for the most part, when we speak to fathers, they’re like, “I really want to be there for my child. I really want to have a relationship with my child.” 

So, we asked, “What are the biggest challenges right now around being a father in the U.S. today?” That’s where we heard about “the wallet dad” and essentially this idea that men are feeling this kind pressure to be a provider, so economic precarity for fathers is a big challenge. It’s this sense of, like, “What am I supposed to do if I can’t provide for my child?” And those dads who were economically stable felt a sense of loss, like, “All I did was work. All I did was be a provider. I didn’t really spend time with my child and see their experiences.” 

Most men of all ages, but particularly young men (69 percent), agree that “no one cares if men are okay.” Why is this?

Men are very worried about being called out. They’re sort of feeling like, “I can’t actually be myself. I can’t be who I am. I don’t have the friendships that I want.” There are other studies that talk about how men feel that their female partners or friends actually have much deeper connections and relationships than they do. So there is a larger kind of discourse that there’s something going on where men are not being listened to or not being seen, and it’s a really difficult and uncomfortable feeling to have to say this out loud because we are used to, particularly as gender researchers, saying, “Well, what about the women?” But we can’t make progress in the world when we don’t have humanity progressing and sort of worrying about everyone at the same time. There is such a crisis of connection that we are seeing.

Over a third of young people (ages 18 to 24) feel that no one will ever fall in love with them. For young men, is incel culture a factor, given its belief that 80 percent of women desire just 20 percent of men?

Yeah, it was so sad. And I can tell you a little bit of the reasoning for why we even asked this question in the first place. We did some qualitative research in Kansas City with graduating high school seniors and young college boys, and it was remarkable how what was coming out from those interviews was just such a sense of, “I don’t think I’m ever going to find somebody who loves me.” And when we sort of probed that a little bit more, we said, “Well, why not? What’s happening?” And they said, “People can compare me to somebody on social media and say, ‘Well, why would I want this guy?’”

This kind of really low self-esteem came out from so many young men, and it kind of tracks with the other research that says that dating among high school students has fallen tremendously. So there is something happening with this younger population where their self-esteem is low and they don’t have those relationships and connections. 

How is the manosphere shaping young men’s attitudes about feminism? They are less likely than older men to view feminism as beneficial, according to Equimundo’s research. 

There’s this one piece of research that says that you can ask men, “Do you think men and women deserve the same opportunities?” And they say “yes,” but then you ask them, “Do you think feminism is a good thing?” And they say “no.” So the word feminism has become deeply loaded, and I definitely think that the manosphere has played a role. It shows how much we need positive male role models like coaches and teachers because there is a lot to learn from older men, though I wouldn’t want to say that all older men believe in these more gender equitable attitudes. 

What are some possible interventions for the issues that men face?

Let’s start promoting care from an early age. Our other studies have found that men who get to be the kind of fathers they want to be report better mental health. Their partners report better mental health, and then their children report better mental health. Men who take paternity leave, whatever is offered to them, report better relationships with their kids. And this idea of care shouldn’t be just when men have children. At Equimundo, we are promoting care as an innate human ability. It’s when men are caring for their partners, friends, parents, community and the planet.

For many, many years, care has been devalued and feminized as something women do. So we need to kind of flip that narrative and say, “No, actually, that’s what humans do.” Evolutionary biologists have found that the reason Homo sapiens survived is because of our ability to care. So those kinds of messages need to become normalized. 

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