manosphere Archives - TPR: The Public's Radio

Are men ashamed of their porn habits?

The majority of men consume porn, and most use it for masturbation, but two thirds of men under 25 think porn should be harder to access, according to research from the Survey Center on American Life. There’s a broader discussion now among some men about the role of porn and masturbation in their lives – and manosphere figures like Andrew Tate and Hamza Ahmed are urging their listeners to stop watching it. Some men are cutting it out entirely: they congregate on Reddit pages like r/pornfree or use porn addiction alleviation apps like Quittr and Fortify. But what do men think watching porn says about them? And is this just “purity culture for boys”?

Brittany is joined by Rebecca Jennings, features writer at New York Magazine who wrote a piece about anti-porn men, and Scott Burnett, assistant professor of African Studies and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University, who has published research about men’s anti-masturbation trends.

For more episodes about gender, sexuality, and internet culture, check out:
The price women pay for being online
The joy of breaking up with dating apps
Gen Z is afraid of sex — and for good reason

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Pilates is great. Why are people being weird about it?

Pilates is an exercise that has been around for a long time – around a hundred years – but it’s just now coming into vogue in a big way. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association report from 2025, Pilates is the fastest growing form of individual exercise in the United States: participation jumped by nearly 40% since 2019. And it’s gotten pretty big on social media.

But there’s something interesting happening with that social media content – sometimes, it seems less about the actual exercise and way more about what doing Pilates says about who you are as a woman. And of course, anyone can do Pilates, but on social media, there is a strong emphasis on it being for “girls” (and being for specific kinds of girls). So why is some questionable baggage getting attached to Pilates? And why can’t we be normal about exercise in general?

Brittany is joined by Madeline Leung Coleman, features writer at New York Magazine, who wrote a piece about why Pilates keeps getting people up in arms.

For more episodes about health, exercise and culture, check out:
Is tech making us too obsessed with our bodies?
The Swoletariat: a history of leftist fitness
Exercise is more important than ever

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Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluse

For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.

manosphere

The guys behind the men’s purity movement

The strange politics of Pilates