Musings a decade after r/TheRedPill and what life has in store...

Is there more to life than shallow manosphere platitudes and hyper-masculine twitter gurus?

Many of you likely know me, I’m redpillschool from the subreddit popularized in the mid 2010s as “r/TheRedPill.”

I’ve been pretty hands-off with TRP for a while now—ever since we hit critical mass, realized we had millions of subscribers, and then got shut down by the admins for stepping too far outside the cultural lines. We created a space where men could openly discuss things that weren’t supposed to be said, and that was enough to get us axed. The culture was working overtime to suppress male connection, to keep men from comparing notes, and TRP broke that barrier. That was never going to be allowed to stand.

Many joined in, shared their experiences, and together we built a knowledge base; one that resurrected wisdom long buried in the forgotten lessons of past generations. We created a toolbox that shattered the limits of the Overton window... forcing us to confront a stark reality, one that had been creeping up on us for decades with no real cultural resistance to stop it:

The social contract for men, the balance of responsibilities and rewards, had been stolen. What replaced it was a hollow imitation; a one-sided scam that kept all the obligations intact but stripped away the benefits. Men were still burdened with duty, still met with shaming language, mockery, and even legal consequences; yet the rewards they once looked forward to—family, home, fatherhood, and a say in their own future—were steadily eroded, leaving them with nothing but expectations and no return.

Slowly but surely, the benefits were stripped away... while at the same time, harsher consequences for stepping out of line were put in place. Some came through the legal system; others through relentless social pressure. Men were canceled, arrested, bankrupted, and shamed… all to clear the path for the rising dominance of strategies employed by women.

Suddenly, chivalry was dead; women needed men like a fish needs a bicycle... but if you didn’t pay for the date, you were a deadbeat.

Thus, TRP emerged. As peak femworld reached its height in the '90s, men began making a quiet comeback, fueled by the rise of the internet. The caricature of the bumbling, clueless father in commercials started to crack as men finally found a way to connect… anonymously, beyond the reach of social shaming. And once we could compare notes, the truth became undeniable: the social contract for men was broken. The juice, as they say, just wasn’t worth the squeeze.

Fast forward to today. The phrase “red pill” is now common place. (We didn’t coin it but I think we played a big part in popularizing the term). Most guys are at least tangentially aware that subservience to women is a turn off, and that modern “woke” culture is the antithesis of attracting women or self respect.

The toolbox—a collection of field reports, essays, observations, and insights—can be found in our full historical archive at https://www.forums.red/i/theredpill. It’s still active, with users continuing to share notes; however, the core of our work has already been solidified in what we call the sidebar: a curated collection of writings that lay out the realities of sexual dynamics and strategies tailored for men.

These days, it all seems so simple and obvious that many take it for granted, as if it was always common knowledge. But for those of us who grew up during the height of femworld, the best role models we had were the bumbling losers in chick flicks and the obedient princes in Disney movies.

So what has become of the manosphere in 2025?

The subreddit still exists, but after the admins cracked down with censorship, it’s just a shadow of what it once was. Engagement has dwindled; but a small group of dedicated users keeps the spirit alive.

To preserve male camaraderie and open discussion (without the looming threat of censorship and deplatforming) a group of the old guard and admins (myself at the helm) created offshoot platforms: trp.red and forums.red.

Others have taken the conversation to Twitter (X). There, you’ll find a mix—real guys sharing sharp, insightful takes, throwing their ideas into the ether... and then there are the red pill coach gurus, pushing boot camps and subscription services that mostly repackage what’s already laid out in the original works of our sidebar.

I’m not knocking anyone for making a living; if you’re genuinely helping men and getting paid for it, more power to you. But there’s a certain breed on Twitter that cares more about managing a brand than actually helping men. You know who you are.

Twitter is a useful tool for getting exposure; in fact, I recently rejoined to help bring some attention to our male-focused .red websites. So I can’t complain too much... otherwise, I’d just be guilty of my own hipster grievances. I can’t say I’m in love with Twitter’s interaction model. It feels shallow and tends to reward simple platitudes over anything meaningful. Still, it’s insanely addictive, especially when I’m always right and there are so many wrong people out there who need correcting!

But I digress. The real question I’m trying to answer in this essay is: What’s next for a guy who’s outgrown the endless cycle of hearing the same “she’s not yours, it’s just your turn” advice over and over? What’s next for someone like me now that my message is spread far and wide and I can no longer claim any ownership to it?

What’s next?

TRP has always been, to me, a toolset designed for one purpose: helping men achieve their goals. I’ve always believed that men can have different, even contradictory goals. We’re not all the same, and we don’t all want the same things. TRP was never a prescriptive guide to how to live or what to do. It was a way to understand how things are, if you want to navigate them.

For many, starting families was a key goal, and that’s perfectly fine. Others chose a different path and went their own way. Still, there are those who just want to smoke and fuck all day. I don’t judge any of these choices, and given what we know about today’s society, I can’t blame any guy who wants to step away from the social contract entirely. There’s little left for them here—so why should they bother?

That’s what I plan to talk about in this blog.

In the past decade since TRP became popular, I’ve made a lot of life choices and decisions. Just like in the TRP days, my eyes are opened to new realities every day; these don’t usually come to light until you take a closer look. Parts of life that once seemed like self-evident truths begin to break down as you experience them.

I’ve had kids; I’ve got a woman. Now, I’m seeing the world in an entirely new way through the eyes of the young. And I’m realizing that things aren’t just different from when my parents were kids: they’re not even the same as when I was a kid.

Follow me and subscribe as I talk about all of these things. Raising kids in 2025, navigating the world as a father, a patriarch, and a man. Welcome to TRP 2.0.

As always, you can follow and chat with me on trp.red at https://www.trp.red/follow/redpillschool.