The Rise of the Femosphere: Who Are the Women Giving Up on Men? (Dr Jilly Kay)
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 920 Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
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Summary
Are young men and women being pushed further apart? Recent polling by Merlin Strategies for the New Statesman suggests a growing divide: Gen Z women are less likely than their male peers to describe themselves as “happy”, “ambitious”, “excited” or “fulfilled, and only 35% of women under 25 say they have a positive view of men. Professor of Media and Communications at Loughborough University, Dr Jilly Kay argues that digital platforms are accelerating a new era of gender polarisation. In this special edition of Radical, guest hosted by historian and academic Dr Eliza Filby, Jilly explains why she coined the term “femosphere” to describe online communities in which women are encouraged to see men as inherently problematic, avoid casual dating, and exploit male attention for financial gain. Jilly and Eliza explore why a generation raised online feels increasingly powerless amid economic insecurity and social fragmentation, and ask what solutions might exist for a culture shaped by pessimism, alienation and division.
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Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Rufus Gray with Oscar Pearson and Bella Saltiel. Digital production was by Jem Westgate. Technical production was by Jonathan Greer. The Senior News Editor is Sam Bonham.
Transcript
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| 0:24.2 | Hello there, Radical listeners. John Byrne Murdoch here. I'm a columnist and chief data reporter at the Financial Times, but I'm delighted to say that next week I'll be guest hosting Radical. |
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| 1:09.8 | So, on to this week's episode. |
| 1:11.9 | Hello, it's Eliza Filby here and welcome to Radical. Conversations about the global trends |
| 1:24.7 | changing our world and radical ideas for the future. |
| 1:32.7 | A miles away for a few weeks, yes, doing traitors. So there will be a few of us sitting in for him in the meantime. I'm an author and historian who specialises in generational change. And as some |
| 1:38.8 | of you may remember, I've also been a previous guest on radical. And speaking of generational change, that brings us |
| 1:45.9 | onto our topic this week. Because something I'm fascinated by is the radical change that's |
| 1:51.8 | happening amongst young women. Recent surveys indicate that young women's perspectives on |
| 1:57.3 | politics, economics, work, and especially sex, dating and relationships differ |
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