We won’t solve ‘toxic masculinity’ by treating boys like they have a disease

Article here. Excerpt:

'There was a time when The Lancet was regarded as one of the world's most distinguished medical journals. But that was before it took to publishing articles like the one written by Prof Sarah Hawkes and Prof Kent Buse in the latest issue, suggesting that the "manosphere" and toxic masculinity are a public health hazard on a par with the tobacco industry.

The pair, co-founders of Global 50/50, a "gender justice think tank" in Cambridge, argue that manosphere content on sites like Instagram and TikTok has "normalised and amplified" misogyny. They say this has contributed to sexual violence and aggression against women, and increased isolation in men, and is, therefore, a public health hazard.

They call, inevitably, for the Government to ban problematic content. In fact, it is already happening. There's a national taskforce led by the busy equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, which is trying to root out "[misogynist] attitudes wherever they emerge", including online, at a cost of millions of pounds. Think of what that money could have been spent on… actual problems like educational special-needs provision, say.'