![\"Cara](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2eac2150a6ec06998d97d1d31f89fa5d196e1074.png\")
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April 25, 2026 \u2014 2:31pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is increasingly worried about the rise of the manosphere, warning of its growing influence on young men.<\/p>\n Perched on a bright red couch shaped like a giant pair of lips in Mecca\u2019s Bourke Street store in Melbourne, Trudeau was discussing leadership, power and gender equality with journalist Leigh Sales and his former chief of staff Katie Telford on Friday night, but it was on the topic of men that he really fired up.<\/p>\n \u201cThese losers who are pushing the manosphere mindset<\/a> are just such douche bags, just so evil and so insecure,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is something that so frustrates me because this idea that they are saying that there\u2019s some sort of code that men have to become the top type of man.\u201d<\/p>\n In his 10 years as prime minister<\/a>, Trudeau established Canada\u2019s first gender-balanced cabinet and introduced childcare for $10 a day, but his feminist and progressive policies also made him a target on the extreme edges of online masculinity culture.<\/p>\n Proponents of the manosphere, a loose collection of male podcasters and social media stars who push misogynistic and ultra-conservative views<\/a>, have mocked Trudeau\u2019s feminism as performative and accused his government of fostering a \u201cfeminist hellscape\u201d that alienated young men.<\/p>\n Related Article However, at Friday\u2019s event, Trudeau warned the ideas being paraded by the manosphere were toxic and more people needed to stand up against them.<\/p>\n Trudeau spoke out in response to a question from Ben Vasiliou, chief executive of The Man Cave<\/a>, a Melbourne-based mental health charity for men and boys, about what male leaders could do about the emergence of a \u201cstrong man archetype\u201d dragging men and boys to the right.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all know how much damage the patriarchy has done to women over the past generations,\u201d Trudeau said. \u201cIt is now as astonishingly clear how much damage the patriarchy is doing to young men.\u201d<\/p>\n Trudeau said teenagers and young men were not driving the patriarchy \u2013 instead, they were victims of the system.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a system epitomised by men such as Andrew Tate, and HStikkyTokky and Sneako, who are profiled in Louis Theroux\u2019s Netflix documentary Inside the Manosphere<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so scary,\u201d Trudeau said. \u201cI have two sons and I watch them exposed to that stuff, and I\u2019m trying to run as fast as I can. We have very good conversations. But it\u2019s just so easy to fall into these tropes that are so fragilising.\u201d<\/p>\n Trudeau, who was a school teacher before entering politics, is concerned about the way the manosphere is increasingly trying to turn young men\u2019s mobile phones into an indoctrination tool and using increasingly extreme views<\/a> to extract money.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cThere is this money-making, polarising, attention-grabbing machine that has taken advantage of the algorithms that are designed to divide and polarise and anger,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is something that good people are increasingly being effective at pushing back at.\u201d<\/p>\n The solution, Trudeau said, was for men to be \u201ckind and thoughtful and emotionally available, and helpful and full and complete human beings\u201d, while also recognising that women are also full and complete human beings.<\/p>\n Trudeau is used to criticism. When he implemented Canada\u2019s first gender-balanced cabinet, he said there was \u201ca lot of pearl clutching\u201d by right-wing media saying the cabinet must be a meritocracy.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, f— off,\u201d Trudeau said. \u201cIt was really the average man who lost out. The great men were going to do just fine [and remain in cabinet], but the middle of the pack, who would have been in if it hadn\u2019t been for gender balance, dropped out, and I was OK with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to The Age after the event, Trudeau said the main purpose of his visit to Melbourne was the Women Deliver summit this week, but he was also planning to attend the Collingwood versus Essendon Anzac Day blockbuster at the MCG.<\/p>\n Trudeau said his pop star girlfriend Katy Perry had given him \u201ca little bit\u201d of insight into what to expect at his first Australian rules match after she performed at the AFL grand final in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n From attending the World Economic Forum to music festival Coachella,<\/a> Trudeau said he was still unclear on what life post-politics held for him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve still got lots more to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Related Article There\u2019s no political memoir on the horizon at this stage, instead Trudeau is focused on appearing at events like those on his schedule in Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople read but not political books,\u201d he said. \u201cThey use them as backdrops on shelves. Every politician has to write a book as a legacy \u2013 fine, whatever \u2013 but nobody\u2019s going to read it. There are more powerful ways of shaping conversations and impacting people.\u201d<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/197c7fda846ba76ee63a94394ce2c738407df3f1.jpeg\")
Former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and his long-time chief of staff Katie Telford.Penny Stephens<\/p>\n![\"Jefferson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b95d915573a8edb46a6a7d1c023e6fde9cdee19a.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Mecca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/7aa3705260c9f64330b41e32f4a6bfda59c79fd5.jpeg\")
Mecca founder Jo Horgan with Katie Telford and Justin Trudeau at Mecca. Danielle Castano<\/p>\n![\"Stirling](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e5ab5d86e75e47118f4479cc9a5f98769cd77ee50cb7191f4f0a4b2765f697e0.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Justin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1138182e5c52b89f903964e52ef0961d849b113e.jpeg\")
Justin Trudeau on his way to the interview at Mecca\u2019s Bourke Street store.Penny Stephens<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/74cc5817fcc2e22bcadcb227e53d1a1d36c6a654.jpeg\")
Former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau with his girlfriend, pop star Katy Perry at Coachella.Instagram<\/p>\n![\"Trudeau\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/7c885036f1515f65646cbc188a06ada75d6ba9e2.jpeg\")
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