Lawyer Says Netflix’s Adolescence Helped Her Understand Maltese School Experience
Maltese lawyer Martina Caruana said that the popular Netflix show Adolescence has made her realise the “dark” implications of comments she received from students at a Women’s Day event two years ago.
Caruana, a former PN policy research head, said that two years ago, she and her law firm partner Emma Portelli Bonnici were invited to address a Women’s Day event at a private mixed secondary school.
She said she encountered a “deeply worrying attitude, masked as edgy humour” by some of the students present.
“Several boys idolised Andrew Tate. They casually used words like ‘gold digger’, ‘feminazi’, and described women as manipulative or attention-seeking,” she said.
“They blamed feminism for their struggles, and referred to women as if they were a single, scheming entity. They dismissed the idea of meaningful relationships, claiming they were ‘pointless’ or ‘doomed’ because women ‘only want money or looks.’ They talked about sexual success as something only reserved for a ‘genetic elite.’ They disrespected their female classmates and female teachers without hesitation.”
“At the time, I left the school shaken, but brushed it off. I convinced myself this was just immaturity – teenagers pushing boundaries, testing ideas, trying to sound confident.”
However, Caruana said her viewpoint changed when she binge-watched Adolescence, the British limited series about a 13-year-old boy arrested for stabbing a female classmate, influenced by the online ‘manosphere’.
“I see more clearly now what I missed then,” she said.
“These weren’t just random comments, they were early signs of something darker. The ideas those students were expressing are common across what is now known as the manosphere – a loosely connected network of online influencers, forums, and content creators that peddle deeply misogynistic, nihilistic, and sometimes extremist ideas about gender, relationships, and society.”
“It’s easy to assume these online ideologies are fringe. But they’re not. They’re accessible, addictive, and being consumed by our children – often silently, and in plain sight.”
Caruana said she has learned that an attractive online ecosystem exists that targets young men by offering them easy answers and scapegoats. The content often starts as fitness or confidence tips but eventually shifts to young men being told that “women are the enemy, that kindness is weakness, and that domination equals success.”
“These boys aren’t inherently hateful. Many of them are hurting. They’re confused. They feel lost in a world where the definition of masculinity is shifting, and no one is helping them navigate that with care,” she said.
“So they turn to the loudest voices online. The language they start using – ‘alpha’, ‘beta’, ‘red pil’, feminazi’ – isn’t just slang. It’s a signal of the communities they’re in, the beliefs they’re absorbing, and the values they’re being taught.”
Just as in the show, she warned that most adults don’t realise it’s even happening.
“It lives in algorithms, in podcasts and YouTube shorts. It sounds like confidence. It looks like success. But underneath, it’s fear, anger, and shame – redirected outward.”
She said society must talk to young boys with curiosity instead of judgement, create safe spaces where they can feel vulnerable, help them question what they’re watching, model respect and empathy, and show them that strength and care can coexist.
“And we stop brushing it off. Because if we don’t challenge this now, we risk losing a generation of young men to a version of masculinity that is built on fear and division. We all have a role to play.”
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