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Contact: Henry Herrera

Telephone: +1-301-801-0608

Email: davia@endtodv.org

UN Propaganda Campaigns Can be Traced Back to Media Biases from 15 Years Ago

April 13, 2026 – For years, the mental health crisis among young females has been widely acknowledged, but its causes have remained a mystery. But last week the Manhattan Institute issued a stunning report that details the links among cell phone use, media disinformation, liberalism, and the mental health crisis of young women (1).

These are the key developments, in chronological order:

1. Smartphones: The beginning of the crisis can be traced to the widespread use of smartphones, which has grown exponentially in recent years. The Apple iPhone, which allows internet access, was first introduced in 2007. A mere eight years later, 85% of all 18-29 year olds owned a smartphone (2).

2. Media: Beginning in 2011, media attention to social issues like feminism began to surge. Analyses of articles in the New York Times and other media outlets revealed dramatic increases in the use of feminist-framed terms such as “sexist,” “misogynist,” and “patriarchy.” (3) Within a few years, a similar pattern could be detected on Twitter. (4)

3. Liberalism: Research has shown that liberal, “woke” beliefs have a strong association with anxiety, depression, and general unhappiness. (5) As a result, by 2021–22, liberal students were 13–17 percentage points more likely than conservatives to seek mental-health support. (6)

4. Mental Illness in Females: Beginning in 2011, the mental health trend lines for males and females began to diverge, revealing a dramatic worsening among females ages 18-21. By 2021, the Mental Health Index among young females was nearly twice as high as young males: 37 vs. 20. (7)

5. Feminist Propaganda: In November, UN Women launched a Twitter campaign to curb online harassment, with all the posts concluding with the misleading tagline, “#ForAllWomenAndGirls.” Research shows that men are equally, or even more likely to be targets of online harassment (8) — a fact that was never mentioned during the UN’s two-month campaign.

A recent analysis of Twitter posts from UN Women concludes the “UN Women’s X account is replete with feminist propaganda….UN Women’s tweets are often inaccurate, biased, contradictory, unprofessional, overly emotional, and lacking in common decency and empathy for boys and men.” (9)

In summary, the 15-year confluence of cell phone availability and media bias led to the “Great Awokening,” a mental health crisis among young females, and dishonest UN campaigns that seek to stereotype and vilify men.

Email UN Women: unwomen.geneva@unwomen.org; washingtondclo@unwomen.org

The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance – DAVIA — unites 231 member organizations from 42 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. DAVIA seeks to ensure that domestic violence and abuse policies are science-based, family-affirming, and gender-inclusive. https://endtodv.org/coalitions/davia/

Links:

  1. https://manhattan.institute/article/mental-health-trends-and-the-great-awokening
  2. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/04/01/chapter-one-a-portrait-of-smartphone-ownership/
  3. Manhattan Institute report, Figure 29.
  4. Manhattan Institute report, Figure 30.
  5. Validation of a Scale for Assessing Critical Social Justice Attitudes,” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 65, No. 4 (August 2024): 693–705.
  6. Manhattan Institute report, Figure 9.
  7. Manhattan Institute report, Figure 2.
  8. Online Harassment Victimization – The Nuzzo Letter
  9. https://jameslnuzzo.substack.com/p/un-womens-feminist-propaganda-on