Speaking up: Gareth Southgate V misogynistic online influences

Boys are spending “…more time online searching for direction and are falling into unhealthy alternatives like gaming, gambling and pornography, and this void is filled by a new kind of role model who do not have their best interests at heart. These are callous, manipulative and toxic influencers whose sole drive is for their own gain…” 

These are the words of Sir Gareth Southgate, Former England Football Manager. In his Dimbleby Lecture last week, Gareth spoke out about the deeply damaging content that young people, in particular boys and young men, are being exposed to online, and the enormous harm this is causing.  

It is heartening to see influential figures like Gareth Southgate speaking out against misogynistic online influencers and pornography. It is also encouraging to see the conversation sparked by the TV programme Adolescence, which tells the story of the violent murder of a female classmate by a teenage boy who had been exposed to sexist online content. However, words must translate into action. If the Government is to fulfil its commitment to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade, it must go must further than backing a campaign to show the programme in schools. 

This must be moment of reckoning so we can start to redefine the online world to safeguard boys and girls. Everyone in the community, including policy makers, teachers and parents, must come together to challenge the increasing normalisation of misogyny and violence against women in the online world.  

UK Feminista has long called for reform to policy and practise to combat violence against women and girls online – and in the classroom. We provide support to schools to support them to combat sexism, sexual harassment and the impact of misogynistic online influencers. Through our work as the Secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation we campaign for legislation to tackle harms associated with the online pornography industry. This includes ensuring that offline pornography laws against extreme content also apply online, and securing robust implementation of age verification legislation to prevent children’s exposure to pornography.  

Violence against women and girls, and the misogyny that underpins it, is not inevitable. We all have a crucial role to play in ending it.   

Find out how UK Feminista supports schools to combat sexism and sexual harassment – and donate to support UK Feminista’s work.