Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Filmed at the Battle of Ideas festival 2023 by WORLDwrite volunteers.
From bad influences to rebels without a cause, society has always worried about young men. But the recent popularity of the influencer and self-titled ‘king of toxic masculinity’, Andrew Tate, among young men – and even pre-teen boys – has left schools and parents in a panic. Such is the fear of Tate’s influence that headteachers have reached out to the Department for Education for guidance on how to talk to their lads about his misogynistic views on women.
Has our nervousness about masculinity left us unable to talk to boys about what it means to be a man? Does the popularity of Tate and other influencers prove that sexism is still a problem, or should we be more concerned that large numbers of boys are turning to strangers online for life guidance? Are boys in fact lost?
The speakers are:
Nick Dixon - comedian; presenter, GB News; host, The Current Thing; host, The Weekly Sceptic
Dr Ashley Frawley - sociologist; author, Significant Emotions and Semiotics of Happiness
Matilda Gosling - social researcher; author, Evidence-Based Parenting and Teenagers – The Evidence Base (forthcoming)
Dennis Kavanagh - director, Gay Men’s Network
The chair is: Toby Marshall - film studies teacher; member, AoI Education Forum
Filmed at the Battle of Ideas festival 2023 by WORLDwrite volunteers.
From bad influences to rebels without a cause, society has always worried about young men. But the recent popularity of the influencer and self-titled ‘king of toxic masculinity’, Andrew Tate, among young men – and even pre-teen boys – has left schools and parents in a panic. Such is the fear of Tate’s influence that headteachers have reached out to the Department for Education for guidance on how to talk to their lads about his misogynistic views on women.
Has our nervousness about masculinity left us unable to talk to boys about what it means to be a man? Does the popularity of Tate and other influencers prove that sexism is still a problem, or should we be more concerned that large numbers of boys are turning to strangers online for life guidance? Are boys in fact lost?
The speakers are:
Nick Dixon - comedian; presenter, GB News; host, The Current Thing; host, The Weekly Sceptic
Dr Ashley Frawley - sociologist; author, Significant Emotions and Semiotics of Happiness
Matilda Gosling - social researcher; author, Evidence-Based Parenting and Teenagers – The Evidence Base (forthcoming)
Dennis Kavanagh - director, Gay Men’s Network
The chair is: Toby Marshall - film studies teacher; member, AoI Education Forum
