Latest news with #Adolescence.The
BBC News
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Hertfordshire youth group hosts workshops after Adolescence drama
A youth group plans to hold workshops to tackle issues around social media and misogynist influencers after they were highlighted on the Netflix show Swan Youth Project in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, has supported 12 to 18-year-olds in the area for about 30 manager Parul Dix said one young person recently told her "quite boastfully" that they "had told a teacher they were going to rape them".She said the incident prompted her to focus on educating "boys and girls about what is acceptable, so they are not growing up into some of the influencers that we are seeing". Adolescence tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who is charged with the killing of a female classmate. The show has led to a national conversation about the impact of social media and "manosphere" influencers on children. Ms Dix said the series showed "all the complexities that young people today are seeing online, having to decipher what is real and and what is not and what they should and should not be". The workshops, which are for 13 to 16-year-olds and will be funded by the Hertfordshire Community Foundation, will also teach teenagers about healthy relationships and how to recognise coercive behaviour. The BBC spoke to three young people who regularly attended the youth 17, said teenage boys were under "a lot of pressure" to behave in a certain way and felt "toxic masculinity played a huge part in that".He said he has heard young people speak about "women in a derogatory way" and labelled it "disgusting" but "normalised".He added "there is an expectation to be a bit of a player and be confident when it comes to girls, which is not realistic".Suri, 16, said that the expectations for younger people, especially men, has changed from the "lean look" in the nineties to "going to the gym three or four times a week".She added that she thought there was pressure for girls to "act, particularly feminine" and that girls were judged if they acted "a bit more stereotypically masculine", such as if they sign up to play what she described as "less graceful sports".She wanted to highlight violence against women because she felt that if it was "normalised for the next generation, then we have got serious problems".Megan, 16, said toxic behaviour had become so common that "when she has a guy that is a friend who is really, really nice, that does not seem normal anymore".She added that when she was "11 or 12 she had been exposed to horrible things online, on really sensitive topics about self harm and stuff like that". If you have been affected by this story or would like support then you can find organisations which offer help and information at the BBC Action Line Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Meet the Leeds pianist behind 'haunting' Adolescence song
A musician from Leeds said she felt "incredibly lucky" to have been part of Netflix hit show four-part series, which centres around a 13-year-old boy who is accused of murdering a schoolmate, has received widespread praise for shining a light on the corrosive impact of social media and misogynist influencers on some Lim accompanies a children's choir on the piano for a cover of Sting's song Fragile during a poignant scene in the second Lim, who works as a student information adviser at the University of Leeds, said: "They wanted it to be really moving, to evoke the heavy emotion of the scene." Ms Lim said she had no idea what the show was about when she was initially contacted by one of its composers, David Ridley."I was only sent the music a week before, together with a bit more information about the storyline," she said."None of the children were musically trained, so they had to learn to sing from scratch and learn the song by heart." The song, which is about the meaninglessness of violence, plays in the background as the boy's father lays flowers at the crime scene."I felt it perfectly captured the fragility of the situation; that it's incredibly difficult to be a child in this world right now," said Ms Lim."I could see why they wanted it to be a stripped-back and more haunting version of the original."While an emotionally charged experience, she said she really enjoyed the process."I felt incredibly lucky they were prepared to take a chance on me and believed in me," she said."It was an awesome experience."Despite her involvement in the series, Ms Lim had to wait like everyone else until it officially aired last month."I have to confess it was a slightly weird experience hearing the song I'd recorded, but I think it perfectly captured the conflict between the themes of innocence and the harsh realities explored in the show," she said."I'm really happy with how it all came across." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
02-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Adolescence: Welsh education secretary to meet young people after Netflix drama
The education secretary for Wales said she will speak to school pupils to learn more about concerns raised by the Netflix drama drama, about a teenage boy who is arrested for murdering a female classmate, touches on the impact of social media and misogynist online Neagle said she has asked to meet a group of young people who help the Welsh government with its Keeping Safe Online said she wanted to ensure resources provided to teachers and parents were "fully up to date". Neagle said she found Adolescence "deeply worrying" and a "shocking programme"."What I'm worried about is how we keep pace as adults with a world that is so very different from our own," she said."We've got a group of learners who help us with our Keeping Safe Online work."I've asked to meet with them, as well as the team that leads on that, so we can really make sure that the resources we are providing that we're providing via [education online platform] Hwb to children, to parents, and to teachers, are fully up to date and take account of the kind of things that are emerging now in society." Incel culture 'concerning' She spoke as members of the Senedd raised concerns about incel culture - misogynistic online communities of males who describe themselves as "involuntary celibate" - and mobile phones in ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru MS for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, asked Neagle if she was considering stronger national guidance on access to mobile phones in said mobile phones were being actively discussed with schools, which can already ban them within the school days.A recent Senedd inquiry on the issue said mobiles should not be banned outright but that schools should get more support to set their own Isherwood, Conservative MS for North Wales, said he had never heard of the term incel until he had seen the series."As parents and grandparents of both girls and boys, I find incel culture extremely concerning," he said."It now applies to online forums in which men discuss feeling angry and resentful towards women because they believe women don't find them attractive."He asked what action was being taken to ensure it was addressed in healthy relationship sessions delivered in minister said the Welsh government's relationship and sexuality education (RSE) curriculum had an important role to said work was taking place to "strengthen our RSE provision".Neagle said: "We fund the Spectrum project and that supports schools across Wales with lessons on healthy relationships, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. "But I am looking at what more we can do around RSE in Wales."
BBC News
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Netflix drama Adolescence shines light on 'growing problem'
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has there was a need to tackle the "emerging and growing problem" raised by new TV drama four-part series co-written and starring actor Stephen Graham, from Kirkby, Merseyside, follows a family whose lives are blown apart when their teenage son is arrested for killing a female drama released last week shines a light on the corrosive impact of social media and misogynist influencers on some teenage boys. It was the most-watched show on Netflix around the world over the said he and his family had been watching the serial after Knowsley MP Anneliese Midgley raised the issue at Prime Ministers Questions earlier. Sir Keir's comments came after writer of Adolescence, Jack Thorne, said he and co-writer Graham wanted the programme to be a piece of work that "causes discussion and makes change".Thorne said: "I want it to be shown in schools, I want it to be shown in Parliament. It's crucial because this is only going to get worse."It's something that people need to be talking about, hopefully that's what drama can do," he added. 'Toxic misogyny' Midgley told the Commons "everyone" was talking about the series, whose stars Graham and Christine Tremarco, were both born in her Labour MP said it "highlights online male radicalisation and violence against girls" and that "the creators of the show are calling for screenings in Parliament and in schools to spark change".She asked the Prime Minister to back the campaign "to counter toxic misogyny early" and "give young men the role models they deserve".Starmer responded his household had also been glued to the said: "At home we are watching Adolescence with our children. "I've got a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl and it's a really good drama to watch." He said the violence carried out by young men influenced by what they see online was "abhorrent" and "we have to tackle it." He added the government was taking steps such as putting in specialist rape and sexual offences teams in police forces across the country dealing with 999 he said the issues raised in Adolescence were "a matter of culture" which he said "it's important across the whole house that we tackle this emerging and growing problem".It comes as the former England manager Gareth Southgate spoke out about masculinity and the "manosphere".In a wide-ranging talk for the BBC's annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture, Southgate said he feared young men were spending too much time gaming, gambling and watching pornography - and that they needed better role models beyond online influencers. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
