Young People & Misogyny

This week I found myself thinking about what I had believed to be two very different

subjects; a friend I used to talk to and the Netflix series Adolescence.

My friend had told me once in conversation he thought it was reasonable there’s a pay

gap between men and women with the reason being women naturally choose the lower paying

jobs. When I asked him why he would think that, he told me about his years of having female

teachers, seeing women work retail and other fields believed to be dominated by a particular

gender. He evidently didn’t see any issue with this, holding this notion that it’s just the way of the

world and even verbalizing this feeling of annoyance that people, women specifically, would

protest when they’re making this conscious decision. I thought about this infrequently, but it

always confused me- why hold this conclusion that disregards so many years of history that

would have led women to lower paying jobs? I could chalk it down to teenage

misunderstanding, yet it only made me consider what percentage of young males would think

similarly.

Feminism and gender inequality have become irrelevant to youth and it’s become an

unconsciously mocked thing. It’s gotten to the point in my life where, as I write this as a sixteen

year old, I feel like I’m embarrassing myself by being overly woke. I remember that feeling of

annoyance I thought was forming within the guy I knew and I think about how it could evolve

into disregard for women or even contempt- reminding me of Adolescence.

The Netflix series premiered in 2025, following the story of a thirteen year old boy who

has been arrested under suspicion for the murder of his female classmate. It navigates complex

feelings of masculinity that young men are feeling in the modern day, and how isolation or incel

behaviour influences behaviour towards women.

With these parallels in my life, one being an everyday moment of misguidance and the

other being an extreme depiction of how misogyny can impact lives, it seemed necessary to

think about how gender inequality and sexism plays a role in my life and in the life of my friends.

I feel that for youth, words like sexism can hit more heavily, bring more reactions of

avoidance because why use such a strong word? I also feel like everything has become very

polarized. Left versus Right, or in Adolescence- women versus men.

In my life, I’m grateful that very few people have allowed themselves to feel that way

about others. It’s no secret, however, that many faucets in adolescent life feed those sorts of

ideas. Social media algorithms target young men with content regarding misogyny, sexual

objectification, discrediting women. There’s no lack of content with a man “bringing down” an

overly woke woman, the new trope of a crazy blue-haired liberal. The ultimate result of these

beliefs and videos is that every young woman becomes, as a result, less credible and more

hysterical when they act in any way similar to the scapegoats of feminism.

Regardless of what the boy I knew said, patriarchy is overarching in the United States-

beginning with historical laws, exclusion at the nation’s creation, and so much more- which

impacts the choices women can make today. I find myself being more critical of the women who

cater into patriarchal systems, because it never even uplifts them. It’s been many months since,

but I still think about Pam Bondi being fired. Only four out of eight women originally in Trump’s

cabinet remain.

I want to conclude by saying that I’m grateful to the people in my life who understand the

historical complications that women have faced. Those who are mindful of what they let into

their headspace. I am sympathetic to adolescents who feel lost, or angry that they are alone and

I feel contempt for creators who alienate one sex from another. In a world that is already

divisive, the solution will never be finding a belief or a type of individual to scorn. Young women

will never benefit from joining the parties who laugh at their gender, and it’s been seen through

politics and throughout platforms. We must make sure all of our youth are supported because

that is what shapes a healthy adult population of the future.

The phrase “hell is a teenage girl” is one widely adapted by young women everywhere

and it encapsulates the turbulent emotions of growing up; it should never become more complex

due to fear or hatred by your own brothers, friends, or even other women. It is complicated,