Sir Gareth Southgate calls out influencers
By Keira McLaughlin
Football sensation Sir Gareth Southgate called out a large chunk of his fans at the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture. Young men. Southgate said that boys were looking up to callous, manipulative and toxic influencers.
Recent Netflix hit show ‘Adolescence’ depicts the story of a young boy, Jamie, who is corrupted by social media and the toxicity of the internet. This leads him to commit the worst of crimes. The show almost works as a social commentary towards what is happening in the real world and relates to what Southgate said at the lecture.
Violence against women from young men is a growing worry in society and lectures and social commentary such as this are gravely important to inform young people how to behave. How to remain respectful and to prevent people from having their minds corrupted.
Gareth Southgate at the Euros 2024. Credit: Stu Forster/ GettyImages
With “role models” such as the infamous Andrew Tate, boys’ minds have been warped into believing that the world (including women) has it in for them, while money and strength are all they need to become “true men”. Touching on incels and manosphere through Jamie’s online bullying bringing it to everyone's attention of how dangerous this type of content is to young men. The show perfectly highlighted how prominent the fear and expectation of rejection is for young boys especially in their years of education.
Asking students here on campus about how they feel about social media and what they consume, a lot of them feel a sense of pressure.
“I feel like I have to look a certain way. Be proper built like the people on Instagram,” said Ryan. Clearly body image isn't just a women’s issue and men feel this too but unfortunately don't feel that they can speak up.
Andrew Tate has regularly been labelled a dangerous influencer. Credit: Ian Maule/ GettyImages
The dangerous factor of misogynists that gather behind their screens is that it seems as if there is more of these people that agree with these views, and they become more relatable. But no. They've only been given a platform that highlights the number of followers they have.
Luca said: “Social media is good, but it does have consequences on people’s mental health.”
Student advisor, Julie Lough Dennel said: “I can see how glued people are to their phones on campus every day. But I don't think anyone can predict how much it will impact anyone. I've looked at something the BBC put out that it only takes six clicks to find something that could destroy your whole feed with misogyny and radicalisation.”