Paul Hopkins: Adolescence and the role of toxic masculinity

The mental health knock-on from the pandemic lockdown, perceived lack of opportunity for a good income, lack of housing, and the concerns of climate change are cited as reasons for the changing attitudes of young males, some of which borders on criminality – think riots and robbery – and for toxic attitudes towards women.

Anecdotal evidence implies links between social media and a rise of discriminatory gender norms – acceptable, appropriate behaviour – in adolescent boys but research to suggests it is not a straightforward cause-and-effect relationship. Social media comprises many platforms but personal experiences, pre-existing attitudes and social context play pivotal roles in influencing boys' views on gender norms.

So-called 'influencers' are, to my thinking, the ones parents need to guard against in rearing teenagers. 'Influencers' like the Tate brothers and the fighter Conor McGregor.

Rape victim Nikita Hand is, allegedly, not the only victim of McGregor. Two months before his appearance with Donald Trump in the White House, a woman filed a civil lawsuit against McGregor, claiming he assaulted her in a bathroom at an NBA final in Florida in 2023. The woman is a vice-president on Wall Street.

In 2020, McGregor was detained in Corsica over alleged sexual assault. The case was dropped over a lack of evidence. In another case, later dropped by the complainant, a woman claimed she had to jump off a yacht after an alleged attack by McGregor in 2022. McGregor denies both allegations.

Immigration has been raised many times by McGregor as a domestic political issue in Ireland. He wrote inflammatory social media posts ahead of, and in the middle of, the Dublin riots. These included: "Ireland, we are at war", "There is a grave danger upon us", and "Make change, or make way." The DPP is considering a case against McGregor.

Self-confessed misogynist Andrew Tate has targeted Simon Harris in a scathing online post after the Tánaiste said the "likes of McGregor and Tate should not be social media influencers – they should be social pariahs". In a post on X, the influencer, facing charges of rape and trafficking offences in Romania, which he denies, told his 10 million followers: "Jealous weak men will do anything it takes to stop powerful men regaining control of the systems."

Tate (38) has encountered allegations of hateful behaviour and violence against women since he was removed from British TV show Big Brother in 2016, after a video showed him attacking a woman. Tate turned to social media, where he has cultivated countless young men and boys – promoting his troubling take on modern masculinity and claiming, erroneously, that 80 per cent of young women are attracted to only 20 per cent of young men.

The concept of toxic masculinity is used in academia to refer to those aspects of masculinity that are socially destructive, such as misogyny, homophobia and violent domination – and their promotion of sexual assault and domestic violence. Socialisation of boys sometimes also normalises violence, as in the saying "boys will be boys" – an adage promoted by the Tates, among many online 'influencers'.

The week of St Patrick's Day heard former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate say he fears young men are spending too much time watching pornography – and they need better role models beyond online influencers. At the BBC's annual Richard Dimbleby lecture, he said parents, teachers and authorities needed to do more to encourage young men to make the right choices in life and to not fear failure – because of our rapidly changing world.

In the same week, Netflix began streaming Adolescence, the four-part tale of a teen, just 13, who has been accused of killing a female classmate. The young boy is quickly revealed to be guilty and the series begins a larger, steeper dive into Incel culture – the 'right' of sexual male entitlement and gender violence, promoted by the Tates and their ilk.

The compelling series, which should be seen by all parents, is a damning indictment of the role of social media, and of the questionable lack of a responsible role by parents, teachers and authority, resulting in the young girl's murder.

Part four ends with the young boy changing his plea to guilty but, more pertinently, his parents coming to terms with what their son has done and questioning their role in it all. Did they ever question what was going on with his laptop in his locked bedroom?

Did the parents of the boy killers of young Ana Kriegel know?

Do you know what's going on behind your teenager's locked bedroom door?