Adolescence May Have Created a ‘Cultural Moment’ But Our Conversations About Misogyny and Masculinity Are Missing the Mark

The issues highlighted by the hit Netflix show go much deeper than online influencers – a patriarchal society which maintains women’s inequality is the root cause of male violence against them. Meg Warren-Lister reports

Though many poignant cultural portraits of masculinity and gender-based violence fly under the radar, every now and then there is a show or film that triggers an explosion of discourse. Netflix’s Adolescence falls well within the latter category, having attracted commentary from celebrities, experts, and politicians alike.

The four-part series is billed as a crime drama, but it would be more helpful to describe the show as a fictional window into the real world impact of the ‘manosphere’ – the online spaces in which right-wing, misogynistic ideologies flourish under the aegis of influencers such as Andrew Tate.

Shortly after its release, former England manager Gareth Southgate also focused on the issue in the BBC’s annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture. This was followed by Keir Starmer writing an opinion piece about his experience of watching the show with his teenage son.

According to co-writer Stephen Graham, Adolescence aims to illuminate how the risks of misogynistic radicalisation are present for all young boys. He has repeatedly emphasised that it was important that the violent protagonist came from ‘an ordinary family’ – to highlight the reach of the wider societal forces at play.