There are times when, in a world of constant content creation, a piece of literature or film emerges with the power to start a debate and shed light on something ignored or brushed off by society. Netflix’s new miniseries Adolescence has managed to do just that. The story revolves around a 13-year-old seemingly normal schoolboy who is accused and then convicted of murdering his fellow classmate after she turned him down. As the story progresses, the series delves deeper into establishing the motive for the murder. Eventually, it comes to light that Jamie (the murderer) was allegedly part of incel culture and was influenced by the ideas of the manosphere and figures like Andrew Tate. But what is this Tate phenomenon, and why is it so dangerous? Let’s take a look.

With the global prominence of neoliberalism and hyper-commodification, alienation is on the rise, with traditional community safety nets breaking down and hyper-individualism being the main ideology propagated by corporations and imperial institutions. The result is an entire generation finding meaning and a sense of self in purchasing commodities and striving to be different from everyone else. As social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook gained global users, this phenomenon grew even larger, with everyone showcasing the best version of themselves online, creating a pervasive sense of “not being enough” in the populace. This gave rise to a series of problems such as the loneliness epidemic, substance addiction, extremely low self-esteem among the younger population, and the incel culture and manosphere.

Incel culture is defined as an online subculture of predominantly young men who express frustration,........

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