Netflix’s new hit limited series “Adolescence” has started an important conversation across the U.K. about how best to protect children from violent misogyny and other extremist content on social media.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted the creators at 10 Downing Street to discuss how best to tackle the issues explored by the show, including an initiative to screen the series across U.K. public schools as a sort of cautionary tale; but is passive television-viewing the right way to address the worsening crisis of violence against women and girls?
“Adolescence” follows the story of a 13-year-old British boy who has murdered his female classmate. Co-creator Stephen Graham — who also delivers a powerful performance on-screen as the boy’s father — said that the concept for the series arose after he read two articles about the exact same crime — a teenage boy stabbing a female classmate – occurring at opposite ends of the U.K., just a few months apart.
Graham and his co-creators have made clear that the series is not a “whodunit” — there is no mystery or ambiguity surrounding the actual events of the crime. Instead, the series asks: Why? How did we get to this point? And how do we begin to address this crisis?
In the U.K., violence against women and girls — including stalking, harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence and femicide — has seen a 37% increase in the past five years, with male perpetrators getting younger and younger.
Additional research shows that gender-motivated sexually inappropriate and violent behavior is being observed in children as young as 10 years old.
“Adolescence” is a fantastic work of television which honestly and sensitively addresses this worsening crisis. That being said, it does so by interrogating how we as parents, educators and communities are failing our children, and contains graphic depictions of violence and references to sexual assault.
Unfettered social media access is centrally implicated, with direct and specific references to the “Manosphere,” a collection of internet communities which promote violent misogyny, headed by men like rapist and human trafficker Andrew Tate. The issues it explores — masculinity, sexuality, pornography and misogyny — are complicated and explored indirectly through characters’ actions and attitudes.
But “Adolescence” is not didactic; it’s a naturalistic and nuanced reflection of the world we live in, which requires critical analysis. It is a diagnosis of the misogynistic ills in our society, but it is not, alone, the prescription.
To put it simply: when even many adults are missing the point of the show (mistaking depiction for endorsement, for example), how can children be expected to interpret the show’s complicated themes on their own and without error? And even if the show is screened to older, secondary school aged children who might be more equipped to handle its graphic subject matter, it’s simply too late.
If boys as young as 10 are making sexually inappropriate comments and advances towards their female classmates, and 17-year-old boys are stabbing little girls, intervention clearly needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Anti-misogyny education is a more productive alternative which is already being implemented in some U.K. schools. One organization called Everyone’s Invited is dedicated to recording survivors’ stories and providing education to “expose and eradicate rape culture with empathy, compassion, and understanding.”
Everyone’s Invited has provided such education in over 100 schools, trained over 7,500 educators and reached over 40,000 students. Their programs are science-backed and specifically designed to combat extremist misogynistic ideology that children are being exposed to on social media.
Another U.K. organization called Men At Work trains professionals in various fields ranging from education to social work to facilitate dialogue with young men and boys on issues such as “healthy relationships, self-image, gender stereotyping, online influencers, risky behaviors, impacts of porn, gaming, peer pressures, friendship, and more,” to mitigate the effects of sexism on both boys and girls.
Men at Work’s founder Michael Conroy called Starmer’s proposal to show “Adolescence” in classrooms a “crass, simplistic response which is inappropriate for a lot of schoolchildren.”
“Adolescence” is a fantastic drama which sheds light on a very serious and worsening issue, but screening it to children is not an effective form of education or prevention. Instead, the U.K. government should invest in the development of positive role model programs like Everyone’s Invited and Men At Work, which use evidence-based educational materials to help boys and girls lead compassionate, non-violent lives.
asmajla1@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @netflixuk, Instagram
