Louis Theroux’s new Netflix documentary Inside the Manosphere gives a glimpse into the hollow reality of influencers, like HSTikkyTokky, whose misogyny is questioned by the women in their lives
“I wouldn’t say that around my Mum” influencer Harrison Sullivan, known online as HSTikkyTokky, confesses about his, as he terms it, misogynistic, homophobic, racist views on Netflix’s documentary Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere.
Here lies the paradox of misogynists: they are all talk for money-making rage bait, until they are squirming on camera as their mother or girlfriend makes it clear that they are a fool.
In the documentary, veteran documentarian Louis Theroux descends to the world of online hatred, spurned by a drive to make quick money by broadcasting on social media their ire for women, Jews, and the LGBTQIA+ community.
“My mum would be disappointed”, Harrison tells Louis, if she knew that he said he would disown a daughter if she were to do OnlyFans or a son if he were gay.
HSTikkyTokky is known by his birthname Harrison Sullivan to his mother and authorities who arrested him for dangerous driving and driving without insurance. He pleaded guilty in November 2024 and was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to undertake 300 hours of unpaid work.
READ MORE: ‘BBC’s The Settlers is Louis Theroux at his best showing humanity at its worst’READ MORE: Who is HSTikkyTokky and inside furious spat with Bonnie Blue
He tells the camera that he is “not living for other people, [he is] living for himself.” Unless, of course, it’s his mother Elaine asking him to mop up a spill in his Marbella villa, then he does as he is told. It is a toe-curling insight.
But before we get to that interaction, let’s set the scene. The Manosphere has been highlighted in recent years by hit-shows like Adolescence and commentators around the world, myself included. Andrew Tate has become a figurehead for this movement of men striving to be what they call ‘Alphas’ and what the rest of the sane world might call ‘A**holes’.
I have written for The Mirror that it is akin to a cult. Though viewing Inside the Manosphere shows a much more desperate capitalist endeavour: this is a pyramid scheme fuelled by the sorrows of men left behind by the very capitalist society they aspire to dominate.
In capitalism, there are winners and losers. The mega-rich few keep the rest down through skimming wealth from their labour. In a nutshell: these influencers, like HSTikkyTokky, need somebody to, metaphorically and literally, punch down on – evident in the live-streamed assault on a man is testament to.
In this subculture, women are both commodities and objects of repulsion. Harrison, aged just 24 years-old, says he owns an agency that manages OnlyFans creators. Yet, he is disgusted by the sex-work that he takes a cut of money from.
Louis Theroux draws a comparison between Harrison and extreme sex worker Bonnie Blue. The pair featured in a viral video clip, where Harrison denigrated Bonnie for her work. Harrison, speaking to her but addressing his audience, said: “What girl is worse to idolize than this?”
In the viral clip, Bonnie snaps back at him. She said: “I genuinely thought you would be much more educated than this,” before adding that he is “actually boring.” Bonnie walks off from their filmed conversation, taking off her mic, and concluding their interaction. All the while, Harrison calls her a “dumb blonde” and a “tart”.
Desperate need for introspection aside, this is a cruel interaction between the two rage-baiters. Harrison, reflecting on his meeting with Bonnie, stated: “I think she is absolutely repulsive as a person.”
Louis challenges Harrison’s self-absorbed and warped work ethic as being “a bit like Bonnie Blue”. He added: “You’re saying: ‘It doesn’t really matter what choices I make, because I am making money and my kids will enjoy a high standard of living. So, my choices are irrelevant.’”
Harrison is revolted by this comparison, but it tracks. The two notorious influencers are cut from the same cloth though: they make money from online content that riles people up. Rage bait pays.
Across the pond in the States, Louis interviews Myron Gaines, an influencer who dreams of having many wives. He terms it one sided monogamy – which is a fancy way of saying ‘no accountability with total control over a relationship’.
There is a deeply unsettling moment where Myron does not identify as a misogynist, instead he thinks that he knows what women want more than they do. If there is a mansplaining instruction manual, this would be right up there with the key tenets.
Then this interaction takes a heart-breaking turn. Myron’s girlfriend Angie arrives. She speaks about their open relationship, that these sexual encounters are just for “a night or so”.
Myron is then asked about his desire for having many wives. Angie’s body language does the talking, as she takes a step from under his arm. Myron speaks on her behalf: “She understands that. She knows that that could potentially come down in the future.”
Angie looks down to the floor, her mouth curling into a downward smile. This is not the face of a happy woman. Louis, speaking with Myron after Angie has left, commented: “I don’t think she is as on board. I saw a little bit of pain in her.” Later in the documentary, Myron said that the pair had made a joint decision for her not to appear on the show again. However, in the final frames, Angie is shown rollerblading happily in the sunshine, with the update that she is no longer in a relationship with Myron.
In clips of Myron’s podcast, he is surrounded by young women, some of which are OnlyFans creators. There is an irony to these male influencers; they desire to be surrounded by bikini-clad women, often with OnlyFans accounts, while also parroting conservative values around heterosexuality, monogamy, and the family unit. Women are placed into two boxes: OnlyFans creator or Trad-wife pro-creator.
In the concluding scene, Louis arrives at Harrison’s villa in Marbella, where a cameraman for HSTikkyTokky hides amongst the curtains to oversee the conversation between Louis, Harrison and his mother, Elaine.
“Of course, there are things I don’t agree with – and he knows that”, Elaine tells Louis. Her eyebrows jump when her son tells the cameras that he would want to marry a virgin.
Elaine challenges him on this sexism. She said: “The way women are stereotyped if they have multiple partners [compared] to the way that men are, I find it extraordinary. But it’s been like that since the beginning of time.”
“Most women are not like my mum. Most are thick,” Harrison claimed, before his Mum shuts him down. She said: “Most women? I’m sorry – but in the handful that you’ve met?’
In a live-streamed pre-game warm-up to the Netflix documentary interview, there is a wonderful glimpse into the backstage of misogynist influencers. Harrison, evidently in need of ginger in juice form, is placated by Elaine, as she offers the solution in a juice bar he has been to before. Toddler-like, he replied: “Mummy, I don’t want a juice bar, all right?”
These men are but young boys trapped inside a desperate need to be something great, at whatever cost. In this glimpse into the behind the scenes, the viewer sees the vulnerability that morphs into a dangerous ideology when it goes unchallenged, when it is grossly rewarded on social platforms.
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