Since it was released in March 2025, Netflix drama Adolescence has generated a frenzy of debate and discussion among journalists, academics, teachers, parents, conservative organisations and those who work with boys and young men to prevent sexual and gender-based violence. Notwithstanding the considerable limitations of drama to handle such a sensitive, complex and contested issue, the series touched a societal nerve, which has in turn alerted teachers, parents, politicians and policy makers to the urgent need for interventions to prevent boys from falling prey to the seductive messaging of masculinity influencers and other reactionary online communities. However, while Adolescence has put the manosphere and gender-based violence on the political agenda, it has also opened up spaces for misunderstanding and misinterpretation, both deliberate and inadvertent, which operate in the service of anti-progressive agendas. This short paper unpacks such problematic readings and responses in relation to patriarchy, male victimhood, the manosphere and critical digital literacy.
Ging et al. (Sun,) studied this question.