The Semi-Ironic Rise of the Sigma Male

Image Courtesy: Strike Magazine Tallahassee

If you scroll through TikTok long enough, or even any site on the Internet for that matter, you will likely come across short clips and images of the murderous protagonist of American Psycho, Patrick Bateman walking down the hallway of his office, listening to music through his headphones with a stone-cold smolder that only the facial structure of Christian Bale could pull off. These clips are often captioned with cryptic or even ridiculous advice on finance and how to treat women or situations that are meant to be relatable to awkward, shy guys accompanied by photos or clips of Bateman, Robert Pattinson’s Batman, or Ryan Gosling’s characters from both Drive and Blade Runner 2049. This advice is supposedly how “sigma males” are supposed to act, but what does that even mean?

Image Courtesy: Universal Pictures

The term is largely credited to “Christian nationalist”, writer Vox Day, who is 2010, when discussing the (largely scientifically debunked) hierarchy of males that includes the alpha (the strong, social, dominant male) and the beta (the shy, insecure, submissive male) and categorizes them using letters of the Greek alphabet introduced a new rank in the hierarchy, the sigma. Day describes the sigma as “The outsiders who don't play the social game and manage to win at it anyhow.” Also clarifying that they were on the same level as alphas as well as citing characters in popular films as examples of sigmas. 

For the next decade or so, the term sigma lived in obscurity, only living in the deep cuts of articles and videos of Internet influencers advocating for the return of “real men” and warning males of becoming betas and/or “feminized” by social justice politics and soy for some reason. The term “soyboy” became popularized as a result and became an Internet phenomenon of its own; still being used to describe men who are perceived as cowardly or weak. 

You may have seen the image below being used as a template for memes making fun of those excited for something most would consider small, trivial, and/or nerdy things, now completely removed from its origin of making fun of a picture of animal activist John Oberg posted on his Twitter showing his excitement about popular food chain KFC introducing vegan chicken. The now infamous image has become known as “two soyjaks pointing”.

Images Courtesy: John Oberg/Twitter & Know Your Meme

It wasn’t until January 25, 2021, when Twitter user @LilySimpson1312 posted a tweet with images from the aforementioned articles/video thumbnails about sigmas with the caption “what the f*ck is going on with men?” that the term “sigma” started to become a part of the cultural consciousness on the Internet. This tweet skyrocketed to virality and is currently sitting at over 226 thousand likes and over 23 thousand retweets less than two years later. Most responded with the mocking of the idea, with new, satirical classifications of men but what they didn’t realize was that, like the concept of alphas and betas, outside of its unintentionally funny concept, it had a certain type of allure to the insecure males of the internet. 

Image Courtesy: The Mind’s Journal

Insecure males tend to be the target audience for these types of influencers who often ask for money or just attention for more advice on how to be a “real man” and how to avoid being a “beta”. These types of men are often single and tend to struggle with social situations or are self-conscious about their body image and look to these influencers as mentors on how to become the ideal female-attracting, body-building hunk they have always dreamed of being. But there was only one problem, no matter how many articles you read or videos you watch, they still exhibited “beta” qualities whenever they felt anxious in a social environment, or a girl rejected them and was upset about it. And unless they went to therapy (more “beta” behavior) that wasn’t going to change.

The adoption of the “sigma male” into the hierarchy of males was a genius tactic by these influencers to keep their viewer base and the general public engaged with them by creating a space for them on the hierarchy categorizing their target audience as the independent lone wolf that essentially tells them “You’re not shy, you’re quiet because you’re assessing your surroundings” or “You don’t have trouble talking to people, they just don’t understand you.” 

Image Courtesy: Paper Magazine

Fortunately, the people who take the concept seriously are in the minority. Most of the discourse around it is humorous and satirical; giving fake, ridiculous financial advice and bragging about non-sensical, strangely specific qualities that only a deeply insecure person who is desperate to find a positive quality about themselves would think of. The memes themselves took on new meaning as a satire on wannabe online stockbrokers and financial gurus as well as humorous rationalizations for social anxieties that most of us suffer from. 

The use of the characters in the films is part of the humor, a twist of irony in Day’s original writings. Patrick Bateman is a stockbroker (finance) but also a serial killer (maybe) and a misogynist. Ryan Gosling’s characters from Drive and Blade Runner 2049 are sad, quiet loners who are in love with someone they can’t have.

The “sigma male” phenomenon has been around for almost two years now and it shows no signs of going away. It seems especially relevant now with the rise of British-American kickboxer Andrew Tate in late 2022, who like the influencers mentioned earlier, advocates for going back to the “traditional way” of men treating women (misogyny) and gives financial advice in his paid subscription program called “Hustler’s University”. Part of Tate’s rhetoric involves the concept of the “high-value male” who earns the money in the household and is the “dominant one” in the relationship (sound familiar?).

So, in a sense, the idea of the “sigma male” ended up being a comfort blanket for not just naïve, insecure, and sometimes misogynistic men, but a much wider variety of people than originally intended. It has essentially become a manner for everyone of all races, gender identities, and sexualities to make fun of the most arrogant and selfish of us in a healthy, generally non-toxic way. 

Strike Out,

Writer: Matias Civita

Editor: Racquel Gluckstern

Graphic Designer: Lindsay Merrill

Tallahassee