This week we welcome Lewis Wedlock to discuss his work as a ‘masculinities educator’ with young people in schools in Bristol and across the country. In our age of controversial ‘hypermasculine’ online influencers – perhaps most famously, Andrew Tate – this can be an eye-opening experience, to put it mildly.
Of course the ‘manosphere’ of which Tate is part has broken massively into the wider consciousness recently. Last year the hard-hitting Netflix drama Adolescence went viral, followed just a few weeks ago by Louis Theroux’ documentary Inside the Manosphere.
Many people – including Lewis – questioned whether that film should have done more to challenge the men making a fortune out of packaging idealised, unobtainable and sometimes toxic versions of masculinity on social media and podcasts.
People outside of that world – and especially parents of boys – can find it both terrifying and bewildering, in terms of its appeal.
So this week we’re seeking to get into why it’s so attractive and what its impact is. We’ll be exploring what Lewis – who has a book out, called Masculinity in Schools – believes a more positive vision of masculinity can look like.
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