Kate Emery: Netflix hit series Adolescence a gripping wake-up call or a harmful portrayal of teenage boys?

If you haven’t seen Adolescence, Netflix’s feel-bad hit about a teen boy radicalised by the so-called “manosphere”, you’ll know someone who has. Not since the Game of Thrones finale has TV proved quite so divisive. Except instead of railing against how that show’s creators did Jon Snow and Daenerys dirty, the conversation around Adolescence is whether it’s a gripping piece of entertainment and nothing more, a must-watch educational tool or a misandrist assault. Adolescence tells the story of a 13-year-old boy whose bullies help drive him into the toxic tarpit known as the manosphere: an online world where accused rapist Andrew Tate spreads misogyny for clicks, “incels” never met a problem they couldn’t blame a woman for and vulnerable young men are radicalised by far-right influencers. If you want to watch the show spoiler-free, you might want to stop reading before I tell you that this boy from a loving — if imperfect — home murders a female classmate. The British-made show has dropped at a time of anxiety both about the role toxic masculinity plays in violence against women and the need for young men to positive masculinity rolemodelled. In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has backed a push to screen the series in schools. “As a father, watching Adolescence with my teenage son and daughter hit home hard. We all need to be having these conversations more,” he wrote on social media. And in Perth, Hale headmaster Dean Dell’Oro has suggested that showing it to teenage boys risked inadvertent “boy bashing” and might be a roadblock to necessary conversations. Mr Dell’oro is alive to the dangers of the online manosphere but sees Adolescence as a valuable watch for parents — not kids. Show it to a young boy and he’s more likely than not to say “’I would never do that’ and you’ve lost him” is how he puts it. But what those who think the show accuses all boys of being murderers-in-waiting are missing is that Adolescence is a conversation starter. And the key word there is starter. It’s an opportunity for a broader conversation about bullying, social media and masculinity. It’s the start of a conversation — not the conversation itself.