Sir Gareth Southgate’s call to action: Let’s support young men and build a better future for everyone
- GINA
- 13 hours ago
- 4 min read
Sir Gareth Southgate, the previous England men’s football team manager, delivered the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture last week. In this first public address since stepping down as England’s manager, Southgate highlighted the increasing threat that toxic discourse on social media is having on young people, boys especially and called for a greater focus on the self-belief and resilience of young men. Identity, connection and culture are, for Southgate, the pillars against which young boys should lean in order to avoid being sucked into this dangerous online discourse.
‘Young men are suffering. They are feeling isolated. They're grappling with their masculinity and with their broader place in society’, he stated. He referenced the Lost Boys report, released earlier this month which revealed that, by the age of 14, almost half of first-born children in the UK do not live with both natural parents and that, shockingly, boys are now more likely to own a smartphone than to live with their father.
Many young boys live without positive father-figures in their lives which means they are forced to seek out examples of masculinity elsewhere. The internet is now the most accessible tool for this search and unfortunately, toxic influencers like Andrew Tate, are difficult to avoid. According to a 2024 study from Dublin City University, it takes on average 23 to 26 minutes of video watching, for TikTok and YouTube shorts to recommend toxic or misogynist content to the accounts of young men, so we can only begin to imagine how much exposure young boys have to these harmful ideologies over weeks, months, years.
Southgate warned that these influencers have become the role models for so many young boys but that their ‘sole drive is for their own gain.’ He added, ‘They willingly trick young men into believing that success is measured by money or dominance, never showing emotion, and that the world... including women... is against them.’
He also cautioned that young boys are ‘falling into unhealthy alternatives like gaming, gambling and pornography’. However, the UK’s trade body for video games, Ukie, criticised this statement, arguing, in a letter written to Southgate: "Video games should be celebrated for their positive impact, as a medium that connects people, teaches new skills, drives creativity, and boosts the economy.". Indeed, Southgate’s wording can be seen to be reductionist in its over-generalisation of gaming, gambling and pornography as being unhealthy. For example, as discussed in the most recent GINA blog post, gaming has been found to foster a sense of community and serve to develop a wide range of skills such as logic and decision-making. Perhaps it is not gaming, gambling and porn that are the problem, but instead the dangerous messages which are allowed to foster and spread within these communities.
Whilst Southgate’s speech focussed on young men, he made sure to highlight that he did not wish to draw attention away from ‘the plight of young women’. He said: ‘By focusing my remarks on young men, I don't, for a second, intend to underplay their challenges, not least around self-esteem and mental health, especially today. I've worked with some amazing women, I have a beautiful daughter and wife, I care deeply about them all’. He also referenced a mother who recently told him: "One of the most impactful things we can do for women is to focus on improving young men."
Indeed, the consequences of toxic masculinity extend further than the boys themselves- women and girls are directly impacted too. When boys absorb harmful online discourses which promote hatred towards women, aggression and emotional suppression, misogyny becomes rife. The influence of misogynist content has already been linked to normalisation of sexual violence, cases of sexual harassment and even murder. Just this month it was revealed that Kyle Clifford, who killed Carol, Louise and Hannah Hunt in July 2024, has searched for Andrew Tate’s podcast and watched his videos the day before the attack.
The scale of this issue is alarming. Studies have shown that one in six boys aged 6-15 in the UK have a “positive view” of Andrew Tate, who is somewhat of a poster boy for this toxic discourse and 1 in 8 boys in the same age category agree with his views on women. These attitudes are not only abstract opinions, but they also translate into how women and girls are treated in daily life.
Southgate concluded his speech with a call to action: ‘We need to make sure young men today aren't facing their struggles alone either. That we are there for them, ready to build genuine connections at home, in schools, workplaces and communities. And it means reminding them that asking for help isn't a weakness - it's a strength.’
His words carry even greater weight since coming from a white man with significant influence in football- a sport where misogynist views remain deeply embedded.
Overall, the message is clear: we must do more as a society to support young boys. But in doing so, not only are we helping them, but we are also working towards a better future where men and women can thrive together.
Hopefully this speech can serve as another small push in the direction of meaningful change.
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