This paper examines how male adolescents in Germany become entangled in hegemonic orders of masculinity through social media use and how this shapes their processes of subjectivation. From a postdigital perspective, social media are understood as key spaces of socialisation in which gender is produced through algorithmically structured practices. The analysis draws on Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity, the notion of education as productive entanglement (Allert & Asmussen), and postdigital theory (Jandrić et al.). Drawing on recent studies of social media use, digital masculinities and the German manosphere, the paper shows that young men are drawn into hegemonic masculinity narratives even without active participation in extremist communities. Platform logics and everyday practices such as liking, sharing and browsing stabilise ideals of dominance, performance, emotional control and misogyny. The paper concludes by discussing implications for a critically reflective, postdigital approach to media education that engages with these entanglements and opens up alternative spaces of action.
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- Daniela Haindl (Author), 2026, Teenagers and the “Manosphere” in Germany, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1697632
