Memes are an interesting fairly new phenomenon in their current state. The original definition comes from biology and is defined as “an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means“, however with the advent of social media, they have taken a similar form to heuristics, to communicate something which is known within a group through a humorous graphic of some kind.

In the beginning I wasn’t a huge fan of the soy meme, however I’ve grown quite fond of it in the same way I like the constructs of “Alpha“, “Beta” and many others we use within the manosphere. I looked up the definition of the term soy on urban dictionary and it was defined as:

state in which one is emotionally vulnerable, and/or is being overly sensitive. [1]

However, must like the definition of hypergamy in the mainstream is more or less “marrying up“, the definition is not extensive and inclusive enough. Marrying up is a consequence of hypergamy, not what it is, in the same way that being overly sensitive and/or emotionally vulnerable is a consequence of being soy, not exactly what the construct entails.

The meme to my knowledge, comes from the fact that soy products, including tofu and soy milk contain daidzein and genistein two chemicals that act so similar to estrogen that they are referred to as phytoestrogens. In a man, these can have the same effect as taking estrogen, even at a low-level of consumption. Some of the symptoms of high estrogen in men include:

High estrogen levels in men contribute to prostate cancer and heart disease as well as gynecomastia ( enlarged breasts).As the testosterone is transformed into estrogen the low levels of testosterone can cause many unpleasant symptoms including loss of muscle mass, fatigue, low libido, erectile dysfunction. Furthermore, excessive estrogen in men raises body fat and can contribute to diabetes and high lipids. [3]

While physical weakness is often a core characteristic in men that are deemed to be “soy” in the manosphere, a much more common implication refers to their psychology, mindset, frame and inner world functioning more like that of women, and thus their actions and behaviors are more like those of women than of men. Continue reading →

Recently, I’ve been thinking quite a lot about the internal divisiveness in parts of the manosphere, after a conversation on the 21 Convention Podcast where the topic of different groups within the sphere came up. The discussion was regarding Red Pill theory and how various groups within the sphere accept and utilize this theory as part of their belief system.

It was largely prompted by the fact that the manosphere has experienced quite a bit of turmoil recently between these different groupings. This is not an uncommon reaction within a system, and we’ve already seen this happen with the increasingly fragmented nature of communism where the constant striving appeal to increasingly diverse groups has created what can only be described as a potpourri that is stinking up the space.

For the purpose of this essay, I’m not going to analyze each major group in depth, I’m just going to provide a brief outline of the groups, as I view them.

Continue reading →

The self-improvement focus in the red pill community is one of my favorite aspects of the community, and something that I think brings tremendous value to the many men who partake in it. Not only does it serve as a source of inspiration, it also keeps men accountable to themselves. However, the trouble with change is that it brings about a gap between present and future, in addition to creating a larger gap between past and present.

In the most recent Red Man Group podcast, we got a very good text-in question from one of the listeners, about the concept of “fake it until you make it“, the man, by his own description was accomplished in his professional life, had a solid income, a cool job and for the most part appeared to have his life in order. However, in attempting to change his persona in his interactions in general, and with women in particular, he “felt fake”. This guy appears to be a man of moderate to high value by his own description, alas this is not what he feels like.

This made me think of another gentleman with whom I conversed regularly some time ago, who was also attempting to change his life in a rather radical fashion. He found himself trapped in a constant vacillation between his past decisions, present desires and future visions, and in this sense he is a lot like the man who texted us on the podcast. At any moment, we exist in three states, our past, our present and our potential future.

Thus, we are at the same time our past self, our present self and our future self.

Continue reading →