Internet role models: just toxic male heroes?

Adriana Newbury

Is this the new wave of the patriarchy? Popular male influencers are targeting young boys, feeding them the idea that they are being wronged; where equal rights are being established, these boys are being told their rights are being taken away. Many young boys perhaps feel that their masculinity is being villainised; we need to showcase the amazing men who embody masculinity whilst advocating for equality.

If we let young boys look up to misogynistic, transphobic men, we are in danger of transgressing back to prejudice and hatred. Take Jordan Peterson’s take on transgender someone else who’s a hell of a lot less trouble”. How about just treating people as people? He is openly admitting that he would discriminate against trans or non-standard gendered people in favour of someone who fits the social norms. This is a scary rhetoric to place into struggling and vulnerable young people’s minds, especially if boys feel that they are being ‘overtaken’ by minorities.

What’s more, Andrew Tate has managed to influence so many young boys, that even after his arrest for human trafficking and rape, they still defended him.

I was recently with some male friends, discussing Tate: one of them said he was the “greatest of all time” and I was in complete shock. He is accused of imprisoning women and forcing them to film porn; I’m not sure what’s great about that. People who hold this belief are either seriously uneducated or worse - they believe Tate’s opinion to be fun ny and somewhat true. Some young men are lured into his ideology be cause it makes them feel powerful in a world where they feel they’re losing power. The consequences to this are unbelievably harmful. Rape culture still perpetrates our locker rooms and school corridors. If young men think these acceptable, line get

Whilst solutely wrong men havrole modcannot take away mas culine role models.

Take Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. The Rock, who has tackled ideas of negative masculinity and suffering in silence. Something crucial about The Rock is that he is also a symbol of classic masculinity; we don’t need to be telling young men that they all need to start painting their nails and wearing pink: you can be strong and ‘masculine’ while also encouraging women and respecting trans people. The main lesson is that the two ideologies are not mutually exclusive. Another outstanding role model is Lewis Hamilton. Undisputed champion of F1, with 103 pole positions and 7 world titles, Hamilton is an incredible athletic figure of masculinity. He also advocates for gay rights, especially by his helmet designs in the countries he races in with anti- the unfolding humanitarian disaster, when the West has turned a blind eye to the majority of the catastrophic struggles Syria has faced in recent years. Interestingly, it is only now, when closer relations between Turkey and Russia are potentially on the cards, that the West taken action, providing the nation with humanitarian aid to facilitate relief efforts as well as unleashing a scathing attack on Turkey’s political decisions. and a hard place during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The first priority internationally should be urgent aid, including the donation of cash to trusted charities and aid organisations providing immediate humanitarian relief.

So, whilst the complicated political situation in Syria and parts of Turkey warrants, to some degree, the scarce focus on earthquake protection in the years leading up to the catastrophe, it is in no way enough to ignore the brutal fact that February’s earthquake was quite literally a disaster waiting to happen, due to flawed political decisions and a lack of policies to support both the countries and their people.

With so many lives taken or destroyed in both Turkey and Syria, maybe this month’s earthquake will be the desperately needed wakeup call to prioritise earthquake resistant infrastructure once and for all, albeit heartbreakingly too late and at the unnecessary cost of so many. Only when initial relief has been provided can the conversation of exactly what needs to change in light of the disaster carry on, instead of waiting until another, perhaps more deadly crisis strikes, and more lives are unnecessarily lost before learning vital lessons and doing something about it.

Nevertheless, that shouldn’t be used for political gain by Turkey’s opposition parties in the run up to May’s election day, nor manipulated by the West, made up of many nations like us who have never had to contend with such devastation from seismic activity, yet are quick to criticise Turkey at a time when it already finds itself in between a rock