What is a Sigma Male?

The latest manosphere obsession is a good one: the Sigma Male. Defined, as many things are now, on various memes, the Sigma Male is introverted, undemonstrative, but highly influential. He is placed either just under the Alpha in the ‘Sexual Hierarchy Pyramid’ or on the same level, but unseen – as one meme put it, ‘The sigma and alpha are equal. The sigma male sits outside of the hierarchy by his own choice.’ Right, so this shadowy but powerful kind of male plays directly to the fantasies of young keyboard warriors who feel – in classic adolescent fashion – alienated and lost, yet also secretly powerful with rampant egomania. People who identify readily with superheroes , and now have the Sigma to look to, which is often billed tantalisingly as ‘the rarest male type’.

What the fuck is going on with men pic.twitter.com/3x1ZI20HCF

— Lily Simpson is putting the T(rans) in YouTube (@LilySimpson1312) January 25, 2021

Keanu Reeves is frequently used in the imagery here, showcased as the primary exponent of Sigma maleness, although the sensitivity the actor clearly possesses doesn’t quite fit with the concept of the Sigma male. No, when they say Keanu, they mean John Wick, where being nice is way less important than a brooding outsider silence, one marked by power, vengeance and being highly desirable to women.

Because as with most obsessions in the manosphere – that shady wounded male spaces behind the bike sheds on forums and social media – sex is at its centre. The Sexual Hierarchy Pyramid – which looks and sounds like it was designed by someone who has never had it – is of course about who is the most successful with women and has the Alpha, all swagger and dominance, at the top, which, according to another chart, descends down through:

Beta – ‘The worker bees of society. Women will tolerate them if they have ample resources, otherwise they are discarded.”

Gamma – “Gammas are bitter or clueless about women. Often they can’t grasp RedPill concepts and check out of the mating game.’

Omega – ‘The hopeless. Omegas are correlated with violent outbursts like shooting sprees because of their total rejection by women.’

No, these don’t seem to be written by qualified experts. As scientists are now clear about,  the idea of the Alpha male ruling wolfpacks and humanpacks is nonsense pop culture pap; humans, like wolves or apes, are most successful when they collaborate, support, and share; brutal rule is a route to exile. At least there is some academic debate here though, whereas the Sigma male is straight bullshit.

The wounded outsider getting shit done by not playing by the rules…we get the allure, it’s the kind of ideal which exists inside the mind of every adolescent boy, and by plenty of grown men too. But it’s the aggression behind these shared manosphere types that’s disturbing, the pseudoscience and the hate fuelling it. Disinformation is spread by the discontented, but it’s that hate which seems to be lapped up like intoxicating bile. Misogyny is its particular ingredient, and is the cement with which the Sexual Hierarchy Pyramid is built. Everything is reflected through this embittered lens of women being shallow, needy, and unfair in their selections. They only want the Alphas, everyone else is a let-down. That kind of self-defeating withering view is of course a self-fulfilling prophecy for these young guys but also a dangerous one – the hatred for the opposite sex shown in the ‘expertise’ out there is not simply the preserve of pick-up artists but waiting there on devices for any teenage boy worried he’ll never get a girlfriend.

Sigmas are the new heroes of this tragic world, the ones who can have it all – sex, and money basically – without having to be a jock. Oh boy, it’s enough to make a young self-identified nerd’s Slayer hoodie perk up in delight. But what about the real world? What about learning from lived experience with real humans? Those who don’t comply with gender types on memes. If you see the world through such filters and limited expectations, then it’s pure dumb prejudicial thinking – in the venting digital avatar world is may be pure escapism for but it may lead others down a warped path of alienated raging desire. Silicon Valley dreams shattered by explosions of pain.

Sigma males: just one more depressing box for men to be trapped in, and absurdly constructed by those who are angry that they don’t fit into the stereotypical male box in the first place. Why bother looking for a box when you  are free to be whatever you want?