What about our own adolescents?

Illustration: TBS

Netflix's recent hit series 'Adolescence' is a psychological exploration of critical issues impacting adolescents today, tackling some rather heavy themes.

In the show, a 13-year-old boy, Jamie Miller, is arrested for killing one of his classmates, Katie Leonard. However, the series does not centre on whether Jamie committed the murder or how he did it; instead, it delves into Jamie's thought process and how it evolved over time.

As the story unfolds, Jamie becomes entangled in the online 'Manosphere' — a toxic digital community that promotes extreme masculinity, misogyny and anti-feminist ideologies. The show poignantly illustrates how such online echo chambers manipulate adolescents, luring them into spreading hate, toxicity, and even committing violent acts, including murder.

This four-episode series tells the story of a boy from the UK, yet Jamie serves as a mirror for millions of children worldwide — including in Bangladesh.

With sudden and largely unregulated exposure to the internet, countless Bangladeshi teenagers are falling prey to the same traps that ensnared Jamie. Toxic masculinity and misogyny are on the rise among them more than ever — and, just as in Jamie's case, a key driver is unfettered access to social media platforms.

Dr Syed Md Saikh Imtiaz, professor and former chairman of the Women and Gender Studies Department at the University of Dhaka, observes, "Many teenagers no longer watch television — they're glued to their phones. And there's no effective way to monitor what they're consuming."

In the show, Jamie is influenced by the controversial figure Andrew Tate, who is infamous for advocating alpha male behaviour, incel culture and male entitlement. These ideas shape Jamie's perception of women — a view that eventually turns violent.

Bangladesh, too, has its own versions of Andrew Tate. Influencers like Anisul Islam Boby and Farshad Shafian regularly disseminate similar messages. They teach their followers how to 'be a man', how to 'act like a man', and how women can be 'scored', reducing them to mere objects.

Some religious preachers, including figures like Muhammad Ibrahim and Shamsul Arefin Shakti, echo these sentiments under the guise of religious instruction, blending misogyny with faith-based rhetoric.

Teenagers — especially those in grades nine to 12 — are at a formative age where they are particularly susceptible to radical ideologies, no matter how toxic or extreme.

A few years ago, Professor Imtiaz and his team conducted research into the rise of toxic masculinity among school-going boys in 20 rural schools in Rangpur and Cox's Bazar. "We developed an app where students could ask questions anonymously — anything that came to mind — and we would respond," he said.

According to him, the lack of gender education, the socially and religiously enforced segregation of boys and girls, access to pornography, and the absence of online monitoring are the main drivers behind the spread of such dangerous ideas.

The findings were deeply troubling. "The kinds of questions we received were horrifying. We hadn't anticipated that children aged 11 to 14 could be thinking about such things," he recalled.

Professor Imtiaz reported that more than half of the students surveyed regularly watched pornography, and nearly three-quarters admitted to having, at some point, felt the urge to molest a girl.

"Groups of five or six boys would pool their money to buy a smartphone, taking turns to use it. In rural areas, there are many shops where, for just Tk20, one can load a memory card with pornographic content," he explained.

In Bangladesh's deeply patriarchal society, misogyny is deeply embedded. The professor also highlighted the influential role of wazins (preachers who speak at waz mahfils) in amplifying the issue, especially in rural areas. Their rhetoric often delineates what women can or cannot do — views that are not only misogynistic but also formative for young listeners.

"Children end up conflating the narratives from pornography and wazins, developing a perception of women as either sexual objects or a subordinate species," he said.

Due to the absence of comprehensive sex education, pornography has become the de facto source of sexual and reproductive knowledge for many adolescents. Meanwhile, waz mahfils serve as a primary source of gender education — albeit a deeply flawed one.

Professor Imtiaz emphasised the enormous influence of social media in propagating radical misogynistic narratives. "Social media platforms actively promote anti-feminist content, often backed by religious and political groups as well as dedicated online communities," he noted.

In the Bangladeshi context, numerous Facebook and Telegram groups with names like 'Anti-feminist Community' and 'Aid for Men' are flooded with misogynistic posts by teenage boys. Some posts go beyond harassment — engaging in outright slut-shaming and verbal abuse.

"It has now become a trend: the more openly misogynistic someone is, the more they're viewed as a hero. This attitude is being glorified in such circles," said Professor Imtiaz. "What used to be portrayed on television dramas and films has now moved to social media, making it even more accessible and dangerous."

Jamie's attitude toward women in the show reflects this. He confessed to Dr Briony that he approached Katie when she was mentally vulnerable, thinking she would be more likely to reciprocate his feelings. When she rejected him and called him an 'incel', he became enraged.

The term incel — short for 'involuntary celibate' — refers to men who blame women and society for their lack of romantic success. There is a growing online incel community that spreads hate speech against women.

Jamie's violent response to being labelled an incel parallels troubling behaviours now increasingly evident in Bangladesh. Just days ago, a screenshot went viral showing a boy sending abusive slurs to a girl who had ignored his romantic overtures. Such incidents are now so common that almost every girl has encountered similar experiences.

To address this authoritarian and entitled mindset among boys, Professor Imtiaz asserts that curriculum reform is essential — and it must be properly implemented.

He also underscored the need for healthy entertainment and cultural engagement, which are sorely lacking. "In one upazila in Rangpur, over a hundred waz mahfils were held in a year — but not a single cricket or football tournament or cultural event took place," he remarked.

Jamie's parents were unable to provide him with quality time and attention, an absence that contributed to his descent into darkness. 

Professor Imtiaz identified this as another critical factor in healthy childhood development.

What he finds most alarming is the complete absence of efforts to involve boys in solving the issues of misogyny and toxic masculinity. His research suggests that with the right training, many boys become significantly less susceptible to anti-women ideologies.

"Since independence, we have heavily invested in women's empowerment. But at the end of the day, society comprises both men and women. Have we done anything to prepare boys to coexist with empowered women? No, we haven't," he stated. "We assumed that women would become independent and fight their own battles to claim their rights. But society is now paying the price for that oversight."

"If we had invested in educating boys and men — if we had taught and sensitised them while promoting women empowerment — the outcome might have been very different." he concluded.