A new four-part series, Adolescence, fronted by Stephen Graham and Ashley Walters, has stormed into first place on Netflix in the UK – and appears to be sparking some urgently needed conversations about the radicalisation of boys and men online. It follows the journey of 13-year-old Jamie (played by Owen Cooper), who is accused of brutally attacking and murdering his female classmate, Katie, after she rejects his offer of a date and teases him about being an incel (involuntarily celibate) on social media.
Jamie’s disturbed mindset, which his parents are later seen attributing to him spending hours on his computer alone in his room, consuming harmful anti-women content, is deftly unravelled by the script of Adolescence. While the show itself is a fictionalised dark drama, sadly Jamie’s warped view on the world (and women) is more common than we might like to believe – and is influencing boys as young as 11.
New data from Vodafone reveals that, on average, boys aged 11-14 are being exposed to harmful content within just 30 minutes of being online, with one in 10 even being shown dangerous posts and videos in under a minute. Recent data from King’s College London also found 57% of Gen Z males believe women’s rights have gone so far that men are now actively being discriminated against (with 36% of Gen Z females agreeing with that statement too). This all comes at a time when, as per Rape Crisis, one in four women say they have been raped or sexually assaulted since turning 16 (for men that figure is one in 18).
Adolescence also dropped just days after Kyle Clifford, 26, was given three life sentences for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, Louise Hunt, and the killing of her mother, Carol, and sister, Hannah, with a knife and crossbow respectively – something the court acknowledged took place mere hours after Clifford had viewed content from misogynist influencer, Andrew Tate.
The judge in Clifford’s case said, “You raped and killed Louise, who had been as gentle as she could in ending her relationship with you, after your arrogance and anger proved too much for her to stand.” He also also described the killer as being "soaked in self-pity" and holding women "in utter contempt".
The series airs months after Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned the nation that we’re witnessing a rise in "extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, [and] young men in their bedrooms" in the wake of the devastating Southport stabbings, carried out by 18-year-old Axel Rudakabana at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last summer, resulting in the murder of three young girls. The PM added, “You've seen versions of it in America with some of the mass shootings in schools [...] individualised extreme violence, obsessive, often following online viewing of material from all sorts of different sources."
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Tate, a kickboxer who is often viewed as the poster boy for anti-women content online, is currently being investigated following multiple rape and human trafficking allegations. Yet, he still has millions of followers who gladly absorb his dangerous views and teachings – some even paying for the privilege – an issue that multiple teachers told Cosmopolitan UK is now evident in schools around the country. From Manchester to Wales, there have been reports of male students showing female members of staff a blatant lack of respect and only (barely) responding to male teachers when given instructions or while being disciplined.
Even if boys and men aren’t actively seeking this content out, it’s still dripped into their feeds like poison, especially if they’re looking for health and wellness content in a bid to boost their confidence. Too many are happy to brush over Tate’s harmful misogynistic messaging, praising him for athleticism instead, unable to separate his mindset and health-focussed chat from the posts that encourage men to “beat the shit out of” any women who may dare to challenge them.
Tate et al (for he’s far from alone in this messaging) also routinely push the narrative that masculinity involves being the most powerful person in the room and crushing the weak in order to get ahead, a sentiment we’re seeing echoed on a larger scale via current geopolitics, and in Adolescence. There’s a scene in the second episode where the ‘80:20’ rule – the idea that 80% of women are only attracted to the ‘top’ 20% of men, leaving the rest behind – is explained to DI Bascombe (played by Walters) by his son, Adam.
As for who exactly constitutes the ‘top’ percentile of men in this world, according to this insidious wave of influencers, it’s those who are demonstrably aggressive, powerful, rich and brash. Those who view most women as vapid and something they are entitled to – a sentiment echoed by Jamie when he congratulates himself during his therapy session with Briony in episode three for not ‘touching’ Katie’s chest (who we also learn had her nude images shared by another boy in school without consent prior to her death), after scaring her with a knife. A knife he ultimately used to end her life. He also reveals his smart tactic of asking Katie out when she was at her lowest ebb.
This set of beliefs about men and women’s ‘rightful’ place in the world, which is packaged up as self-improvement and something positive, or even as the ‘truth’, is encouraging boys and men to question everything they know about society’s ‘matrix’, which some influencers now claim prioritises women over men. None of these content creators touch on the aforementioned rape stats, nor ones relating to domestic abuse (something one in four women experience) or the fact that woman don’t feel safe walking home alone and there being no element of life in which there is true equality amongst the sexes (see: the gender pay gap, as just one thing we’re still fighting to get addressed).
As shown in the series, teenagers taunting each other via emojis that adults don’t understand the meaning behind is just the tip of the iceberg. Alarmingly, it seems men and women, boys and girls, children and parents/teachers, are now speaking in entirely different languages to one another and living in different ‘matrixes’.
“You don’t know what they’re watching in their room,” Jamie’s dad says in the final episode, as he and his wife try to unpick how their son could have committed such a devastating crime. “Look at that fella that popped up on my phone, going on about how to treat women and how men should be men and all that shit. I was only looking for something for the gym, weren’t I? We can’t keep an eye on them all the time.”
Adolescence itself makes for tough, depressing viewing. But the fact that it has received such a great critical reception and is being watched by so many should spark some hope; it shows people are engaged in this issue. It’s being watched by men and women, boys and girls, which is what we need to end this disconnect. Despite some on X claiming it ‘defames’ Andrew Tate by mentioning his name in an episode, many are posting about how they urgently want to help change the content young boys and men are being exposed to – which in turn helps girls and women to live a safer, happier life too.
It’s been heartening to see posts infiltrate my feed, from the likes of Joeli Brearley (founder of Pregnant Then Screwed) and author Matt Haig, suggesting ways that adults can have conversations with the boys and men in their lives about these issues.
Next up, we need an equivalent series – that sees just as much engagement – showing the experiences of girls and young women trying to survive this fraught era. I want to see Katie’s backstory, how she coped (or likely did not cope) with being the victim of image-based abuse before her death. I want people (boys and men especially) to care just as much about how we help girls like her in the face of boys like Jamie. And crucially, these conversations need to keep happening across the gender divide, or else we’ll get absolutely nowhere with them.
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Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
