Tuesday March 25th 2025
Lorna Slater, Lothian MSP and Scottish Greens co-leader writes her monthly column for Midlothian View.
Misogyny is on the rise, and its impacts are being felt in every corner of Scotland. From our schools and streets to our screens, women and girls are facing an alarming resurgence of prejudice and hatred.
This is not just a women’s issue; it is a societal crisis. If we are serious about building a safer, fairer country, we must all, particularly men, stand up and take action.
The prominence of Netflix’s new series Adolescence has brought these issues into the spotlight this week. It has sparked overdue and important conversations about how young men are being radicalised by toxic online influencers.
It shows the very real dangers faced by boys growing up in a digital age where misogyny is packaged as entertainment and empowerment – and how it can be going on under all of our noses without anyone noticing until it’s too late.
Adolescence makes it painfully clear: we need to act now.
We are witnessing a dangerous culture taking hold, where outdated patriarchal ideas are dressed up as ‘self-improvement.’ Boys are told they must be ‘alphas,’ dominating others to achieve status and respect. Success, they are told, comes at the expense of compassion. It’s a lie. And it’s harming both men and women.
Being a parent to teenagers in this modern age must be terrifying. The ability for children to step away from the screen, the adverts and the influencers and relax into nature, a book or family time feels like an impossible challenge.
Understanding the term “Influencer” is vitally important in identifying what is changing in kids’ formative years now. When I was a teenager, I would have had posters on my wall from magazines and the influence of those I admired would have been limited to the occasional article or interview. Now, influencer is a full-time job with hundreds of hours of video, audio and photos uploaded for mass consumption every week.
The role models young men are being exposed to are dangerous. They peddle falsehoods and dangerous opinions. They create a world where women are viewed as less-than, where their safety, dignity, and equality are constantly undermined.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
We need men to be part of the solution. Boys and young men won’t always listen to women asking for equality—but they will listen to their fathers, brothers, grandads, teachers and friends. Perhaps one of Adolescence’s biggest takeaways.
It’s time for more men to step up, not just when it affects their loved ones, but because it’s the right thing to do.
This isn’t about blame. It’s about building a Scotland where success means being kind and fair. A Scotland where men don’t need to prove their worth through violence or dominance. A Scotland where women and girls are safe, valued, and equal.
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