The growing menace to young people of misogyny is all around - Susan Dalgety

Teachers have expressed concern about the influence of figures like Andrew Tate. Picture: Ian Maule/Getty

While the Netflix mini-series Adolescence proved to be compelling viewing, its story of how a 13-year-old boy Jamie Miller pled guilty to murdering his female classmate Katie Leonard after being radicalised by online misogyny was, after all, a piece of fiction.

It was slightly disconcerting to see the Prime Minister call an emergency summit on the back of it, in an effort to address the influence of toxic online content on adolescents.

Surely his time would have been better spent listening to the real world experience of teachers, students and their parents, rather than depending on script writers, no matter how talented. And there is more than enough evidence from the frontline to worry all of us.

While Keir Starmer was posing for a photograph with the show’s creators, a teachers’ union released research that showed that nearly half of Scotland’s female teachers (49 per cent) reported physical abuse or violence in the year, compared to 36 per cent of their male peers.

The survey by NASUWT also found more than a quarter (27 per cent) of female teachers reported being hit or punched in the last year, more than double the rate of male teachers at 13 per cent.

One of female teachers surveyed echoed the themes of Adolescence when she said that in her experience, boys are “hugely influenced” by online influencers such as Andrew Tate. She pointed to a “definite shift in disparaging, disdainful behaviour” of boys as young 12 or 13 towards female members of staff.

For those readers lucky enough not have encountered Tate in any shape or form, he is a former kickboxer who now peddles misogynistic nonsense online.

On his social media platforms, he refers to himself as ‘Top G’ (G for gangster) and dismisses women as inferior to men. “A woman’s job is to support a man in his conquests, not to conquer herself,” is one of his more ‘polite’ utterances.

His 2022 arrest in Romania for human trafficking and rape seemed to only glamorise him in the eyes of his young fans, easily impressed by his wealth and fast cars. He is currently under judicial supervision while the Romanian authorities continue their investigation.

Perhaps we – including the Prime Minister - should all listen to what young people themselves are telling us.

In another survey, this time by the John Smith Centre at Glasgow University, two thirds of people aged between 16-29 said toxic masculinity was now more common and that social media should be banned for under-16s.

It is true that banning stuff simply makes it more attractive, especially to youngsters who love nothing better than a whiff of rebellion.

But the real-life evidence suggests that our teenage boys – and girls – are being damaged by the dross they consume on their smartphone.

I don’t know how practical it is to stop youngsters spending all their time on Tik Tok and Snapchat, but surely for their own sake, as well for the safety of women and girls, we need to do something to reduce the reach and influence of poisonous men like Tate.