On March 13, Netflix released a four-episode long series titled “Adolescence.” The fictional show follows the aftermath of the death of Katie Leonard (Emilia Holiday), after she was stabbed by 13-year old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper). Despite being a crime drama, the show isn’t about finding who the true killer is. In the very first episode, CCTV footage is shown of Jamie stabbing Katie to death, confirming him as the real killer. The short series instead focuses on what led Jamie to the murder: the online “manosphere.”
The manosphere refers to several online groups consisting of men that fight against gender equality. These men believe that feminism is oppressing men, rather than its true goal of making all genders equal. Instead of recognizing that men are causing their own problems by deeming emotional expression taboo, they choose to blame women for their problems. These misogynists typically dub themselves “incels,” short for involuntary celibate. They blame women for not being able to make relationships with them, rather than reflecting upon their own personalities. Several of these incels have committed violent crimes against women. These crimes can range from harassment, rape, murder and more. When someone kills a woman, usually because of her gender, it’s referred to as femicide.
“I read an article in the paper about a young boy who’d killed a young girl and three weeks later I was watching the news and there was a story of a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death,” director Jack Thorne said, speaking to BBC Breakfast. “It really hurt my heart. I just thought, ‘what’s going on in society where this kind of thing is becoming a regular occurrence?’”
In “Adolescence,” Jamie’s true intentions for committing femicide against Katie were because of his exposure to manospheres and their ideologies. He had asked Katie out after seeing a leaked photo of her topless, which caused her to reject him. She later called him an incel on her Instagram, completely enraging him. With the influence of online misogyny and the anger he felt, he tracked her down and killed her. Some might be quick to blame Katie for her own death, believing she shouldn’t have rejected and mocked him, but women should have the right to reject and snap back against those that harass them.
“Jamie has been polluted by ideas that he’s heard online, that make sense to him, that have a logic that’s attractive to him, that answer the questions as to his loneliness and isolation and lead him to make some very bad choices,” Thorne said to BBC Breakfast.
Writers Stephan Graham, who also acted in the show, and Thorne have said that they’d like the series to be shown in middle schools or higher. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also agrees with the idea, saying that he has shown it to his 16-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter. While some people argue that showing it to students would do more harm than good, I disagree with many of the points they bring up. Some argue that the material is too distressing for middle schoolers, but with the rise of disturbing content online, I believe pre-teens aren’t as sensitive and innocent as some adults would like to believe. If parents are truly worried, they should be able to opt their children out of watching it, as they are able to do with most videos shown in schools. People also argue that teachers aren’t properly trained to handle discussion of the show. To combat this, teachers should either be trained or directed to send students to their counselors with questions. If counselors aren’t prepared to tackle the topics in “Adolescence,” then they shouldn’t be counselors anyways. If they can’t handle fiction, how will they deal with an actual student coming to them?
Showing “Adolescence” in schools will benefit countless students and potentially reduce the rise of misogyny. The show can give victims the strength to stand up against their perpetrators, encouraging them to speak out. It can also scare self-proclaimed incels from committing crimes, seeing how silly and unintelligent they look when viewed from an outside lens. Portraying them as a 13-year-old that wets himself instead of a rich businessman will help some realize that they look like the former more than the latter. As a student myself, I wish they would have shown this in middle school. The misogyny that I and many other girls faced could have been majorly diminished. To protect the upcoming generation of women, measures need to be immediately taken.
“Adolescence” can be a simple way for schools to cut down on rampant misogyny and inspire parents to monitor their sons closer.