Many Good Men

Aim

Give every young person a safe place to talk about the 'manosphere' by funding interactive drama based training: Many Good Men

'Many Good Men' is changing the world.

Many Good Men (MGM) is a project focusing on what it means to be a happy and healthy man in the age of the 'manosphere'.

The manosphere is a collection of online communities, blogs, social media channels, and sites that claim to address men’s struggles – dating, fitness or fatherhood, for example – but more often promote harmful and sometimes extremist advice and attitudes.

MGM tackles the risks of the manosphere by providing teacher training and an interactive theatre experience for young people.

The MGM performance:

…is for 12-14 year olds, their families and teachers;

…is immersive and interactive; 

 …takes place in multiple spaces throughout football clubs;

…was co-written with high-school students.

MGM training:

…is for teachers and youth workers;

…provides tools and confidence for dealing with issues raised by The Manosphere;

..was co-developed with multiple partners working in Education, Youth Work, and Violence Prevention.

£1: If everyone who is concerned about the negative influence of the 'manosphere' on children's lives gave £1, Civic Digits would be able to deliver this experience to every high school in Fife!

£30: Supports one young person to participate.

£47: Pays for one teacher's training.

£1,500: Supports 50 young people!

Many Good Men does three things:

1) It presents a play, a fun and immersive way to develop critical thinking about what makes anyone vulnerable to radicalisation through online misogynistic content.

2) It creates a 'rehearsal for life': At the end of the play the audience take control of the narrative and have the chance to help the main characters escape from 'disappearing down the rabbit hole'. This develops confidence and pride in everyone's right to explore and be happy in their own gender identity. It also develops understanding about the complexity of how and why hateful content online is so influential..

3) It provides training: MGM delivers training for teachers, youth workers and parents about what the 'manosphere' is. It uses the MGM teachers' pack, developed with Education Institute Scotland, (the biggest teacher trade union in Scotland). The pack contains lesson plans, exercises, videos of fictional characters dealing with the online radicalisation of masculinity and a documentary about the making of MGM by young people for young people. The training focuses on how and why algorithms are designed to capture our attention, what 'manosphere' language like 'the red pill' and 'the black pill' means, and how to have non-judgemental, compassionate conversations with young people about difficult, often taboo issues.

"Happy and healthy boys and men don't hurt women, they don't hurt each other or themselves. Incels and other extreme misogynists are't born that way. I hope that the impact of Many Good Men is that everyone can see themselves as a role model. And that no-one is too scared of not being 'man enough' to ask for help if they need it or help someone they see is struggling." Andrew Buchanan Depute Head Dunfermline High

The problem: “Twice as many girls feel unsafe due to sexism in 2024 compared to ten years ago.” Girlguiding (2024). Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2024

“19% of female teachers in Scotland said they have experienced physical abuse or violence from pupils several times a week in the previous 12 months, compared to just 3% of male teachers.” The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) 2023

 “Almost a quarter of 13-15 year old boys have a positive view of Andrew Tate” YouGov. 2023 (Andrew Tate is a misogynistic online ‘influencer’ arrested in Romania for human trafficking, including minors, rape and organised crime. He is also under extradition by British police.)

The Goal: That all young people are resilient to harmful internet influences and are much safer online and in their own communities.

The solution: Schools and communities build better habits and infrastructures for young people to talk about difficult often overwhelming subjects like online misogyny, radicalisation, gender based violence and what healthy gender roles and identities look like.

All young people know where they can go for compassion and to be heard and supported no matter what their problem or worry is.

Many Good Men creates a space for young people to talk with their communities about online radicalisation and the promotion of hatred.

The MGM play was professionally produced and presented by Civic Digits at Dunfermline Athletic Football Club in March 2026.

"This is an excitingly innovative and multi-faceted production, tackling issues that society cannot afford to ignore, and challenging us all to play our part." Reviews Hub 2026

"Essential viewing for our time, not only for young people, but for everyone who cares about their future." ★★★★ THE SCOTSMAN. MGM Hearts FC 2025

What about the play?

Many Good Men is for 12-14 year olds, their families and teachers

It's immersive

It takes place in football clubs

The audience follow the actors through the club.

It's interactive

The audience can change what happens in the play using a safe, purpose built app, on their phones. Audience can vote on what path a character takes, chose what content they watch, send messages to the characters, receive messages, sound and images all through their own devices.

And most importantly the audience can change the outcome for the characters

The story is about two football players who witness an incel stabbing. At first they want to do something to challange incels online. They want to start a campaign to 'take the losers down'. But one of them ends up getting radicalised himself with terrible consequences for himself, his family and community.

But the end of this spiral is not the end of the story.

The audience can change the outcome for the characters.

The audience are invited to think about where the problem started for that young man. Who could have stepped in and helped him? How could that be done? What would we need to change about our school, our community or the world for that young man not to be sucked so far down the rabbit hole that he can't get back out?

Your money

Target: To raise £20,000 to pay for an additional week of performances 

The Home Office counter terrorism fund is supporting two weeks of Many Good Men in May 2027. This is for seven schools. One more week will give the experience to 4 more schools and 500 more pupils. Two more weeks will give the show to all the schools in Fife.

£1 If everyone who is concerned about the negative influence of the 'manosphere' on children's lives gave £1 Civic Digits would be able to deliver this experience to every child in Fife!

£30 Supports one young person to participate

£47 Pays for one teacher's training

£1500 supports 50 young people

£40,000 will allow Civic Digits to deliver Many Good Men to all S1s in Fife

Civic Digits' vision is that through creativity people are empowered with knowledge, skill and agency to take control of their digital lives, to achieve equity, justice and to flourish.

We make theatre. We make tech. We make change.

Partners

Civic Digits have worked on the Many Good Men project since 2024 when we first created it at Hearts Football club in Edinburgh, when it won the Creative Edinburgh Award for innovation.

We are working closely in partnership with local services and organisations in Fife so there is a lasting impact from the project.

This includes: Fife Violence Against Women Partnership, Dunfermline Athletic Football Club, Dunfermline High School, Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, Fife Education Services and Fife Council Safer Communities. Fife Council Community Learning and Development Service, Youth Space Fife.

Many Good Men is funded for two weeks by the Home Office. Civic Digits C.I.C is funded by Creative Scotland.

Values

Many Good Men is effective because it understands that we are all vulnerable to the influence of social media and internet algorithms. It practices critical thinking through live performance and live discussion in the safety of drama and fiction. We know that fiction gives us a bit of space to feel safer and to be bolder when thinking about how to help the characters because we're not talking directly about ourselves.  Fiction gives us a space to rehearse understanding better, and to listen better and with compassion.

Up coming events

Join us and get involved in raising money for Many Good Men!

Screening of the Many Good Men Dunfermline Documentary: 26th November Fife College

Reclaim the night Fife: 2nd December 17.00 Starting Point: St Margaret's Church Car Park, East Port, Dunfermline (KY12 7JB)

16 days of activism: 25th November - 17th December

Challenge: Create a list of all the positive characteristics of a male role model. Then take that word to someone you think represents that word and say: "You have been given the Many Good Men 'kindness' (or other positive characteristic) award."

There are so many good men, and we need all of them to stand up to online radicalisation.

Many Good Men in the News

BBC News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68191817

"Deserves – and needs – to be seen by audiences both young and old." ★★★★ ALL EDINBURGH THEATRE. MGM Hearts FC 2025

"Many Good Men is a bold, audacious show... one that dares to peer deeply into one of the darkest corners of contemporary culture." THE ARTS DESK. MGM Hearts FC 2025

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 17th December 2026 at 12:00pm