speech Flashcards
p1
Adolescence follows the investigation of Katie’s death and her murderer: a boy called Jamie who’s just 13 years old. Each episode is artfully crafted uncovering the harsh truth of Jamie’s personality and the toxic environment he’s been exposed to. Many people have always assumed that the common reasons for crime is neglect, poverty and some people even believe in a ‘criminal gene’. Jamie’s reason was just as dangerous. It was the internet.
p2
From his room Jamie had been consuming all types of content. The internet is subtle. You like one video and suddenly it’s all over your feed. It’s hard to get rid of and even harder to forget about. Jamie was only 13 but his mind is young and vulnerable. At 13 you’re still figuring out your own morals and determining what type of person you will be. The internet is a massive influence on that because you’re consuming content all the time everywhere. The content he was consuming was dangerous: the idea of male superiority and seeing women as objects. Jamie claimed that he was better than other men because he could’ve ‘touched any part of her’ and didn’t when other men would’ve. He thought that murdering Katie wasn’t wrong because he could no longer see her value as a person.
p3
Adolescence has been the trigger for many new conversations. Mainly, how young boys are being sucked into supporting this type of content and what can be done to stop it. The first thing that must be done is identifying what they are watching. You want to be successful. This content targets that and suggests that you need to alter your mindset to these more traditional values which is the idea that men need to be the provider. This idea also reinforces the harmful view that women just can’t do these things because they are too emotional. This view has cost thousands of women their rights and freedoms. So, what can be done to stop it? Online, lot’s of parents have considered monitoring phone usage and though this could work it could also lead to unhealthy parent-child boundaries. The biggest thing that can be done is spread awareness. Schools should be playing more of a key role. Lessons on equality should be taught not just in passing, an occasional lesson here or there but fully and what happens in societies which aren’t equal. Schools should also teach that how a woman dresses or behaves should never justify violent behaviour. Adolescence is a good step in raising awareness about the influence that social media has on children and the rise in misogyny in young boys.
