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By Erica Capecchi* In March 2026, an 18-year-old man was arrested in Rio de Janeiro in relation to a brutal case of group sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl earlier that year. The culprit was photographed wearing a t-shirt with the provocative slogan “regret nothing” at his police hearing, sparking public outrage around the diffusion of Red Pill ideology among young males in Brazil. The motto refers to the British American online influencer, Andrew Tate, who for years has been fostering extreme misogynistic opinions from his social media channels, where he counts millions of followers, many of whom are youngsters. Other prominent influencers are actively disseminating this type of hateful culture and discourse online. In Brazil, for example, personalities such as Thiago Schutz promote and disseminate Red Pill ideas from their YouTube profiles, namely “Manual RedPill”. The main problem is that while Brazilian politicians and civil society are just beginning to engage more thoroughly with the concerns raised by Red Pill ideology and radicalization, this online movement has been quietly growing and operating in the background for years, recruiting, educating, and mobilizing young men globally. The Red-Pill community emerged online in the early 2000s. However, it was through the establishment of an online chat forum on the platform Reddit in 2012 that it became a global movement capable of gathering large numbers of male users, contributing to debates driven by resentment and hate toward women. Today, it is considered a subgroup of the ‘manosphere’, an online galaxy that brings together multiple communities focused on advocating for men’s rights and reaffirming male dominance in a society where women are portrayed as opportunistic manipulators. The name Red Pill takes inspiration from the famous cyber-punk film The Matrix (1999), which depicts a dystopian scenario where a few, select characters fight against a tyrannical dictatorship led by machines, which took over humanity in the aftermath of the internet and technological revolution. The ‘pill’ reference draws from a scene in which one of the protagonists, Morpheus, recruits the main character and hero, Neo, by offering him two possibilities: swallow the blue pill and go back to the simulated and artificial world he has been living in for his entire life; or take the red pill and wake up to reality, where everything is being exploited and controlled by machines. Red Pill activists appropriated The Matrix’s iconography and adapted it around a conspiracy belief according to which women, and especially feminists, would be plotting to subvert the current social order to oppress men and gain total power over them. The combination of misogyny, anti-feminism, self-victimization, and conspiracy thinking imbued in Red Pill and manosphere culture resonates closely with far-right ideology. Researchers, including myself, have outlined how these communities have successfully tapped into the far right by interweaving dehumanization and objectification of women with racial supremacism and ethnic replacement discourse online. It is still not clear, however, whether the Red Pill online forum was started by far-right activists or whether it has simply attracted them opportunistically to recruit followers. Either way, it would be limiting to treat the problem of misogynistic violence as a predominantly Red Pill and far-right issue. If, on the one hand, it is important to call out those responsible for actively spreading and normalizing this hateful culture, on the other hand, the hyper-politicization of gender-based violence may shift the focus from the structural causes at the heart of this phenomenon. In this context, the international community must cooperate to address the problem thoroughly by considering its root cause, which lies in established systems of patriarchal domination, and challenging the power dynamics at the basis of such phenomena. In Brazil, the debate that has emerged around the Red Pill provides a good opportunity to think about the structural and widespread misogynistic violence that afflicts the country. Brazil already has some effective regulations in force that suggest a commitment to address the causes and consequences of gender abuse and discrimination throughout the country. For example, in 2011, the Maria da Penha Law introduced important measures to tackle domestic violence, including the establishment of special courts and stricter sentences for offenders. Furthermore, an important bill to criminalize misogyny was approved by the Senate in March 2026 and is now awaiting final approval from the House of Deputies. The proposal, which has been framed as a pioneering measure in Latin America, encountered opposition from some MPs concerned about the risks of limiting freedom of speech, especially among men. For this reason, the far-right-leaning deputy Nikolas Ferreira has referred to the proposal as an “aberration” and promised to fight against its final approval. In the meantime, women across Brazil, and the world, continue to be killed by men’s hatred and violence. An average of six women every day in Brazil, according to recent data. This is the only aberration that should preoccupy all of us. The question is, then, what can be done to counteract Red Pill culture within the broader struggle to tackle misogyny and violence against women at both national and international levels? Can Brazil’s example inspire the international community to elaborate and enforce effective strategies across national borders? What is still missing at both the policy and cultural levels that we have not addressed yet? Unfortunately, there is no unique, definitive response to these questions. Initiatives such as the Maria da Penha law and the criminalization of misogyny enforced by Brazil are extremely important in this direction. However, these should be enhanced through investments in social reforms that support and protect women on the ground, as well as through widespread socio-educational programs, especially for youngsters. National and international communities must come to terms with misogynistic violence as a structural societal problem and work cohesively towards a cultural shift to free women and girls from gender-based hate and violence. Today, more than ever, it is necessary to collectively interrogate why personalities such as Andrew Tate manage to inspire and mobilize millions of young men online. While doing so, it is our responsibility, both as individuals and society, to be firm in demanding accountability for offenders and everyone complicit for legitimising misogynistic culture and practices in public discourse, online and offline.
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