Gender, identity, and democracy have always been intertwined. Masculinity in particular has long structured everyday social interactions, expectations of leadership, and ideals of authority. Across Europe and beyond, young men are expressing increasingly hostile attitudes toward gender equality and democratic norms. Recent surveys demonstrate growing gender gaps in political attitudes among young people, and the rising visibility of misogynistic online subcultures have drawn attention to how ideas about masculinity, authority, and democracy are evolving among younger generations. 

At the same time, certain expressions of masculinity, often marked by grievance, exclusion, and nostalgia for authority, circulate widely through contemporary media ecosystems, reshaping the cultural and political environments that young people inhabit. Youth encounter exclusionary, and hostile narratives through numerous manosphere creators across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms, where ideas about manhood often blend the language of self-improvement with contempt for feminism, empathy, and pluralism. In this event, we ask ourselves: How are anti-democratic masculinities shaping the experiences, aspirations and democratic engagements of young people across Europe, and how might more democratic masculinities be cultivated?