Sir Keir Starmer has rejected the idea of creating a minister for men to combat some of the issues raised in the hit Netflix drama Adolescence.
Sir Keir said he was “worried” about the “crisis in masculinity” raised in the programme, which centres on a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a young girl and the rise of incel culture.
The themes touched upon in the show have led to suggestions that the government introduce a minister for men to mirror the women and equalities minister that currently exists in the cabinet.
But speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, the prime minister said he did not think appointing a new minister was “the answer” to the problems affecting young boys today, including negative and harmful social media content and a lack of visible role models.
“I am worried about this; I’ve got a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl,” he said.
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“There’s a reason why the debate has suddenly sparked into life on this and that’s because I think a lot of parents, a lot of people who work with young people at school or elsewhere, recognise that we may have a problem with boys and young men that we need to address.”
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Sir Keir said he was more persuaded by arguments put forward by former England manger Gareth Southgate, who argued in a recent lecture that young men lacked positive role models, making them vulnerable to online influencers who promoted negative ideologies about the world and women.
“I’ve been in touch with Gareth,” the prime minister said. “I know Gareth. I thought his lecture, what he was saying, was really powerful, will have resonated with a lot of parents.
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“And I do think this is something that we have to take seriously, we have to address. We can’t shrug our shoulders at it.”
Asked whether a minister for men would help, Sir Keir said: “No, I don’t think that’s the answer.
“I think it is time for listening carefully to what Gareth Southgate was saying and responding to it.
“I want to have that further discussion with him. We’ve already had a bit of a discussion about this, but I do think it’s important we pick this challenge up and see it for what it is.”
By Anjum Peerbacos, education reporter
As a former English teacher, I was interested to see how the show depicted schools and teachers – and their interaction with the central character.
Some elements struck me as truthful, others not so much.
“Shut up,” we hear one child yell at the teacher, Mrs Fenumore, as she’s taking the detectives to meet Jamie’s class. It made me wince, despite knowing that this does happen in schools.
In this depiction of schools, poor language was prevalent and not challenged appropriately by the adults in the situation.
As is the case in every profession, in classrooms there are good and bad teachers.
But in some cases I found the lack of knowledge and extent of ignorance from Mrs Fenumore hard to believe – and on a personal level hard to watch. How could she not know about the incel movement? It was her job to know.
For example, I remember devising lessons and assemblies specifically looking into the incel movement, which were even more pertinent when the case of murdered 33-year-old Sarah Everard was in the news.
Adolescence is a must-watch, but it is also a hard-watch for anyone that has a young person in their life.
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Delivering the BBC’s annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture, Mr Southgate revealed how his experience of missing a penalty at Euro 96 “still haunts me today”.
And he warned that “callous” influencers online were tricking young men into thinking women and the world were against them, causing them to “withdraw” into the online world and express their emotions there rather than in “real-world communities.
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He said a “void” in their search for direction is often now being filled by some influencers who “willingly trick young men into believing that success is measured by money or dominance”.
In his interview with the BBC, Sir Keir suggested footballers and athletes could be role models for boys and young men but said there was also a need for inspirational people in communities.
Asked who the British male role models were, Sir Keir told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I always go to sport for this. Footballers, athletes, I think they are role models.
“But I also think if you actually ask a young person, they’re more likely to identify somebody who’s in their school, a teacher, or somebody who maybe is a sports coach, something like that.
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“So we need to make sure that – this is something that dads do, dad would reach for a sort of sporting hero – I think children, young people, are more likely to reach someone closer to them, within their school, within their community.
“And that’s, I think, where we need to do some of the work.”
The UK has never had a minister for men but previous Conservative MPs, including former Doncaster MP Nick Fletcher, have called for one in the past to tackle high rates of suicide among men.
The position of minister for women was created by former Labour prime minister Tony Blair as a means of prioritising women’s issues across government.
