By Sam Oliver-Rainbird
26th March 2025
Conversations about misogyny are uncomfortable. Conversations about violence against women are uncomfortable. Conversations about accountability are uncomfortable. What is most uncomfortable are the rising statistics surrounding gender-based violence and sexism.
A 2022 NASUWT poll revealed that 72% of female teachers have experienced misogyny in their schools, and nearly 60% of such behaviour came from students.
Globally, WHO estimates that around 1 in 3 women have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
We need to talk about this.
Failure to engage in these conversations is the difference between active bystanding and passive observing. We fail as a society when we do not embrace this growing threat. We endanger those around us by sitting idly by and letting this behaviour and culture grow. What must we do to tackle this crisis?
The hit Netflix show Adolescence is a start. Currently the most streamed title in both the UK and US, the mini-series has already hit Parliament, with the show’s writers invited to discuss online safety with MPs.
This was the plan from the start.
Writer Jack Thorne goes one step further, advocating for a smartphone sale ban on under-16s in a bid to mitigate exposure to harmful online content. One watch of the show and you will soon see why. In four episodes, Adolescence carefully navigates the rise of incel culture amongst young males, a subculture in which misogynistic views circulate in an echo chamber, known as the ‘manosphere’. Ideological frustration towards women is not only facilitated, but championed and bred across social media – validating such views. Often this frustration spills out into tragedy, executing such a belief through violence. It is this same fate that the show’s 13-year-old lead follows.
At fifteen, young actor Owen Cooper’s portrayal of Jamie Miller has rightfully taken the plaudits, his performance a harrowingly accurate take on modern-day misogyny. As the main suspect in the murder case of his classmate Katie, the series explores how online influences, adult aggression, and education system failings all contributed to his motives. The unfortunate answer is that we all could have done more. We all failed Jamie, and more significantly we failed Katie.
How can we avoid this? How can we build a better society for our young men and women to stop the radicalisation of boys and violence against girls?
Let’s listen to Stephen Graham. Let’s listen to Jack Thorne. Let’s get talking.
More talk means calling our peers out on their behaviour. Questioning their actions. Questioning our own.
“Maybe, we are all accountable – in some way, shape or form” – Stephen Graham
Accountability leads to self-reflection, and self-reflection might just combat toxic masculinity.
As PM Keir Starmer has discussed with former England men’s coach Gareth Southgate, there is an urgent need for more male role models – those in our communities, as well as in the public eye. We can challenge generational misogyny through embracing such positive masculinity, combined with legislation on greater social media regulation. Schools must also tackle these social issues at the youngest possible age.
But this all begins with a conversation.
This article expands upon a panel discussion on this week’s The Young Ones’ Politics Hour episode. Catch the full show here.
Politics Hour 