‘I know what it is to go down the rabbit hole’: the male coaches pulling young men back from the edge

Life coaches help men deal with the emotional pain and dissatisfaction the manosphere has successfully identified and exploited to monetise an anti-feminist message. Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Ben Bidwell

“Dead inside. Those were the words that were thrown at me in my 20s … It wasn’t even an insult. It was just who I was.”

The man speaking has a handsome, sensitive face. His eyes look soulful – not like those of someone dead inside. But then, Ben Bidwell has broken free from his past, and now helps other men do the same.