The mainstream media is deeply alarmed by the growing awareness of the Sigma Male, as well as the desire of young men to become Sigma Males, as evidenced by this GQ article lamenting the alarming appeal of the Sigma.
Sigma males share much with incels in generally believing themselves to be too intelligent for this world and that the rest of us live in ignorance. But, instead of succumbing to this depressing reality, sigmas lean into outdated gender expectations of men around fitness and wealth and they not only reject attractive women, but treat them with contempt.
You can already see where the critics are going off the rails. But what are they actually criticizing? And on what planet do Sigmas “reject attractive women”?
On the surface, sigma grindset is perhaps an unsurprising amalgamation of TikTok's most popular trends, packaging together self-care and self-help for men with buzzy pop-culture references. Part of the appeal of sigma grindset, like the revolving TikTok personalities that gain traction every few months, is how fun it is to ascribe a label to yourself and feel validated – like an online personality quiz allows people to identify as part of a club. Sigma grindset offers men the chance to change the narrative on their feelings of loneliness and alienation, as well as the illusion that a fulfilling life is just a push-up or paycheque away.
Sigma grindset is simply the replication of pick-up artist training, but applied toward Sigmas instead of Alphas. It’s the attempt to methodically synthesize the behavior of the natural in order to allow men to modify their behavioral patterns in imitation of more successful, higher-status men. But while the synthetic Alpha male can be successful in attracting the sort of women he had previously been unable to attract, what is the objective of the synthetic Sigma, assuming such a thing is possible?
One can certainly feign indifference to the hierarchy, but it is unlikely to accomplish anything except to contribute to a delusion bubble. And if one is unsuccessful operating within the hierarchy, how likely is someone who has only ever known a social environment to be successful operating in the social vacuum of the Sigma space?
It has proven to be very, very difficult to convince anyone but Alphas and the occasional Bravo that the Sigma isn’t lonely, isn’t in pain, and isn’t missing anything. Unlike the Gamma and the Omega, he isn’t fueled by inner rage at an unjust world. The problem for the grifters, and the real reason for their inevitable failure in the end, is that there is no grindset capable of excising the need for the approval of others from those who seek to improve their social status; at times, one almost feels rather like a buddha attempting to explain nirvana to those caught up in the mara of the samsara.
I got to this part of the referenced article, and had to immediately re-check the URL to see if I was accidentally at The Babylon Bee?
"Tim Squirrell works at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue combating online extremism and disinformation. He says the links between 2010s manosphere content and sigma TikTok is clear."
Squirrell! Disinformation!
Who says God doesn't have an exquisite sense of humorous irony?
One silver lining of the overuse of "Sigma Grindset" (and eventual "Sigma Male Affirmations" infestation), I suspect it in some way led to the (surprisingly inspiring) YT channel "Balkan Gains"
https://youtube.com/@balkangains