Netflix's 'Adolescence' Highlights the Need for Reform in Schooling

Renton바카라�s sarcastic comment refers to the meeting that the British PM held at Downing Street that was attended by the writer of the show Jack Thorne, its producer Jo Johnson, as well as charities such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Movember, and Children바카라�s Society. The goal was to discuss the toxic content of online sites that children are increasingly exposed to and to figure out measures to safeguard them. At the meeting, Starmer also presented himself as a parent, sharing how hard but important it was for him to watch the show with his teenage children, even as wearing his prime ministerial hat, he acknowledged that there was no easy 바카라�policy lever that can be pulled바카라� to redress the harm being caused.

Recent years, however, have seen a number of policy decisions being taken by the UK government to control the dissemination of violence on online platforms. While Jack Thorne has called for a ban on smartphones in schools and made a pitch for the UK to follow Australia바카라�s lead in banning children under 16 from accessing social media, in 2023 the British Parliament passed the Online Safety Act, introducing 바카라�a new regulatory framework바카라� to make the internet a safe space for all.

Through this Act, a set of duties are 바카라�imposed바카라� on providers, explicitly stating the imperative to ensure that 바카라�a higher standard of protection is provided for children than adults바카라�. This comprises part of the 바카라�duties of care바카라� to prevent children from 바카라�risk of harm바카라�. Pornography finds a special mention in the consideration of these risks and the focus on regulating access is given considerable attention.

The discourse here is two-fold. On the one hand, there is an emphasis on prevention: to have policy measures in place that would prevent children from gaining access to violent misogynistic material online, and on the other is the endorsement of the principle of protection, as a duty of care. Starmer has now said that perhaps this Act needs to be further strengthened while other education experts have also called for an overhauling of the Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum that is taught in British schools as part of the curriculum. A revamped RSHE would look to counter misogyny, toxic masculinity and the power of influencers such as Andrew Tate on young boys. All this has led Netflix to also do its bit for the public good by announcing that it was making the series available for free streaming in secondary schools.

What Adolescence has tapped into is the already existing convergence of government, charities, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and corporations that provide the infrastructure within which social relations are managed and regulated. This has been accompanied by increasing social anxiety among parents, teachers and the public at large about the effects of online exposure to pornography and extremist violence of all kinds on children. Starmer himself put his finger on it as a parent when he said there was something deeply cultural about this that would always elude policy prescriptions and well-meaning legislation.

In many ways, we are back to the basic questions that animate all issues concerning social problems바카라�what is the relationship between culture and economics? Can we separate the two? How can we address the culture of toxic masculinity among boys and young adults without addressing the persistent evisceration of state funding for our schools? The focus on exams and ratings has transformed schools into factories. Music, sports, and other extra-curricular provisions have been severely downsized and class sizes increased. In such a context, over-worked and underpaid teachers can hardly be expected to have any insight into individual students바카라� lives. Parents working multiple shifts on low paid, low-end jobs like Jamie바카라�s may well take solace in the fact that at least their child is at home and not roaming the dangerous streets, without being aware of the dark web that their child may well be engrossed in. As a middle-class parent myself, I can바카라�t even count the number of times I have handed my daughter a device to entertain herself because I had a deadline to meet.

Ultimately, perhaps, why Starmer loved the show, in spite of how hard he found it, is because it seems to absolve the government from its duty of care towards schools and working-class communities. By diagnosing this as a cultural problem, often a code word for a particular class or ethnic group, the problem of misogyny can be individualised, making it easier for a carceral response to the criminality of young people. Strangely, there is also almost a religious tonality in the discourse that locates an inherent criminality within children that needs to be controlled through any means possible, reinforcing the full power of the police and prisons while disempowering schoolteachers and parents. Conversely, Maria Neophytou, NSPCC Director of Strategy and Knowledge has said: 바카라�The online world is being polluted by harmful and misogynistic content which is having a direct impact on the development of young people바카라�s thinking and behaviours.바카라� The imagery of 바카라�pollution바카라� suggests the idea of an original innocence, also drawing on a religious conceptualisation of childhood. Whatever position we find echoes our own ethical concerns, children are the new sites of moral contestation.

Perhaps what the Adolescence discussion should also remind us of is the fact that online misogyny is after all only a particular form of a wider misogyny that is linked to the political economy of neoliberal Britain. The economic desolation and social anomie that comprise the social geography of many northern and Midlands English towns like Rotherham in Yorkshire, as well as Oldham, Telford, Banbury and others, was also a factor in the 바카라�grooming gangs바카라� scandal. In this, thousands of young and vulnerable working-class white women, between the ages of 12 to 16, were being groomed for sexual exploitation by networks of Pakistani-heritage and working-class white British men who mostly worked in the gig economies of these towns. This issue deserves as much national attention as the one that Adolescence has sparked.

For the first time since he took over as prime minister, I could relate to Starmer for I too have found the series hard to watch with my teenage daughter. As a mother and as a feminist, I also have concerns about how she will navigate what seems like an increasingly violent world only because there are ever newer spheres of exploitation where misogyny and toxic masculinities are being played out. But I am also aware of the dangers of apprehending this issue in an individualist manner as parenting is now undertaken바카라�by restricting social media usage, by controlling what she can access, by seeking to prevent and protect바카라�I can only temporarily stall her entry into the world. A more important parental duty of care is to equip her with the emotional and intellectual resources needed to confront misogyny, and to be part of collective efforts to create a better world for all.

(Views expressed are personal)

Rashmi Varma is Professor of English & Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick and founding editorial collective member of the journal Feminist Dissent

This article is part of Outlook바카라�s April 21, 2025 issue 'Adolescence' which looks at the forces shaping teenage boys today바카라�online misogyny, incel forums, bullying, and the chaos of the manosphere. It appeared in print as 'May The Force Be With You.'