Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 32
Reuters: TV drama “Adolescence” has shocked and captivated audiences around the world, providing what campaigners say is a rare opportunity to tackle the largely hidden world of online misogyny and violence.
Since its release on Netflix on Mar 13, more than 96 million people have watched the British four-episode series that begins with armed police raiding the home of a terrified 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a young girl, and ends with a raw illustration of the pain of his broken family.
The action in between, with each hour-long episode shot in a dizzying single take, slowly destroys the initial disbelief that a child so young could commit such a violent crime.
It depicts a toxic online culture known loosely as the manosphere in which common teenage male insecurities about attractiveness and romantic failure can warp into resentment and hatred of the opposite sex.
“There are people who will watch it and go ‘but that boy couldn’t do that’. The point is that boy can do it,” said Susie McDonald, CEO of charity Tender that educates children and adults on healthy relationships
The show is number one in the Netflix global Top 10 and heads the charts in almost every country – from Brazil to Bahrain – for which the streaming platform provides data.
