‘This is not just a drama’, said Labour’s then safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, of the hit TV show Adolescence last year. ‘It’s a disturbing glimpse into the minds of thousands of young boys warped by the violence and abuse they are witnessing every day online.’
The statement was puzzling in many ways – not least because Adolescence quite literally was ‘just a drama’. However brilliant the young Owen Cooper was in his portrayal of a troubled boy who had stabbed a female classmate, however compelling the script, Adolescence was a work of fiction. Yet here was the minister responsible for tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), treating this tale of a murderous, manosphere-obsessed schoolboy like a piece of academic research.
