Overview of The women leaving the “New Right”
This NPR It’s Been a Minute episode examines why some young women are drifting away from the “new right” and the online manosphere, and what that departure really means. Host Brittany Luse speaks with Erin Haynes, editor-at-large at The 19th and NABJ president, about the appeal of conservative gender roles, the sexism baked into these spaces, and whether this shift represents a true political change or just disillusionment with a movement that never fully valued women in the first place.
Main Themes
The “new right” is not actually new
Haynes argues that women navigating male-dominated political spaces is an old story, not a recent one. She connects today’s manosphere to a long American history in which democracy was built for white men, and women have repeatedly been asked to define their place within it.
Women were drawn in by belonging and “traditional” values
The episode explores why some women were attracted to the right in the first place:
- a desire for community and identity
- frustration with “woke” language policing and progressive social norms
- attraction to trad-wife ideals and old-school conservatism
- the sense that these spaces offered clarity, status, or protection
But Haynes and Luse emphasize that this belonging often came with a hidden cost.
Sexism is foundational, not incidental
A major point of the conversation is that misogyny is not a side effect of the new right — it is part of its structure. The women featured in the Intelligencer article may have tolerated sexism as “the price of entry,” but many are now realizing:
- they were valued symbolically, not substantively
- the movement wanted their labor and image, not their input
- male dominance and control are more central than family values
The right’s contradictions are becoming harder to ignore
The episode uses examples like Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes and the rise of trad-wife influencer culture to show how sexism, racism, and antisemitism are increasingly explicit. Haynes notes that many of these women are now confronting a “mask off” moment: what had been coded or softened is now plainly visible.
Historical Context
Phyllis Schlafly and the older conservative model
Haynes contrasts today’s influencers with figures like Phyllis Schlafly, who built political power by championing homemakers and presenting conservative domesticity as respectable and politically meaningful. In that older model, women were promised some reciprocity: if they upheld the home, the movement would support them too.
The suffrage lesson America still hasn’t learned
The episode strongly returns to the history of the women’s suffrage movement:
- White women and Black women fought together for voting rights
- When white women gained the vote in 1920, Black women were left behind
- Haynes uses this to argue that white women have repeatedly been invited into power without truly sharing it
This historical lens helps explain both the current disillusionment and the skepticism around whether these women’s departures are politically meaningful.
Why People Are Skeptical
Leaving a movement is not the same as changing your politics
The episode notes that many listeners and commentators doubt these women are making a lasting break. The skepticism centers on questions like:
- Will they actually vote differently?
- Are they simply reacting to Trump’s unpopularity or other current backlash?
- Are they rejecting the movement, or just its most embarrassing version?
In other words, changing one’s online identity does not necessarily mean changing political behavior.
Their regret may be more about discomfort than principle
Luse raises the idea of “buyer’s remorse” after the 2024 election and amid unpopular policies such as ICE enforcement, cuts to benefits, and broader hostility toward women. Haynes responds that some women are realizing the movement no longer offers the safety or belonging they thought it did.
Key Takeaways
- The manosphere and new right did not emerge from nowhere; they are part of a long pattern in U.S. politics.
- Women were often drawn in by community, identity, and backlash against progressive culture.
- Many are now leaving because the sexism they once tolerated is becoming impossible to ignore.
- The movement’s promises of protection and reciprocity appear hollow in practice.
- History suggests that women’s political alignment in America is often shaped by race, power, and access — not just ideology.
- The big unresolved question is whether these women will build a new political home or simply retreat from a movement that exposed itself too clearly.
Notable Insight
“If women are leaving, it’s not because the movement changed. It’s because it finally told the truth about itself.”
Broader Implication
The episode ultimately frames this as less about a temporary internet trend and more about a larger crisis in gender, power, and political belonging. The central question is not just why women are leaving the new right — it’s where they will go next, and whether they can find community without reproducing the same exclusions all over again.