1 week ago
‘The younger me would have sat up and nodded’: Adolescence writer Jack Thorne on the insidious appeal of incel culture
Researching mine and Stephen Graham’s Netflix drama, I realised the brains of under 16s are unable to cope with ideas as dangerous as those in the ‘manosphere’. The government needs to ban smartphones for childrenTwo and a half years ago, Stephen Graham phoned me up to ask if I was interested in writing a show about knife crime. He wanted to talk about young male violence towards women and he had two stipulations: he wanted to do it in a series of single shots, and he didn’t want to blame the parents.I enthusiastically got involved and suggested we write together. At first, we didn’t know why Jamie, the perpetrator of the attack, did it. We knew he wasn’t a product of abuse or parental trauma. But we couldn’t figure out a motive. Then someone I work with, Mariella Johnson, said: “I think you should look into ‘incel’ culture.” Continue reading...
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