‘Adolescence’: How young men are being radicalised by social media
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Four-part British drama ‘Adolescence’ debuted last week on Netflix to wide-spread acclaim. It follows the events after a 13-year-old boy murders a girl in his school year. Each episode is a one-take insight into different aspects of the murder’s fall-out: from the initial arrest, to the investigation at a school, a psychological assessment of the boy, and his parents’ response.
Hanging over the drama is the question of how a culture of toxic masculinity has led to the tragedy. Particularly in the school episode, the influence of male content creators like Andrew Tate on young boys is highlighted as a dangerous radicalising force in British society.
Writers and co-creators Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham have said they want the show to create real change in society. “I want it to be shown in schools, I want it to be shown in parliament. It’s crucial because this is only going to get worse,” Thorne said.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that he watched the show with his 16-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter. Asked if he backed ‘Adolescence’ being broadcast in parliament and in schools, he said: “It’s a very good drama to watch. This violence carried out by young men, influenced by what they see online, is a real problem. It’s abhorrent and we have to tackle it.”
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that knife crime is increasing in England and Wales, up 4.4% last year. Sharp instruments were used in 41% of homicides during the year ending March 2024.
Rape and sexual assault were the two categories that showed the highest increase of knife-related crime in the past four years. In that time, there was a percentage reduction in knife crime related to attempted murder and robbery, but a 16.7% increase for rape.
Although rape and sexual assault victims can be any gender, they are crimes that predominantly target women. Last year’s figures revealed that the number of women killed, injured or threatened with a knife more than doubled in a five-year period.
In 2023, 16-year-old trans teenager Brianna Ghey was murdered by two of her school peers. The two perpetrators were both sentenced to life imprisonment last year, with the court deciding they were primarily motivated by sadistic tendencies and secondarily by their hatred against transgender people.
Content retrieved from: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/adolescence-young-men-being-radicalised-170239346.html.
