As time went on, the videos became more and more extreme, says Brown, now 21. “It started out pretty benign,” he recalls. “You’re watching something about teen fashion, and then the next thing you know, the algorithm will push you to a Ben Shapiro video.” Although Shapiro describes himself as a conservative political commentator, his views are controversial — and some are blatantly discriminatory. He has suggested, for example, that trans people suffer from a “mental disorder”. But he has a combined 9.4 million subscribers and followers on YouTube and Twitter, many of whom are young people like Brown was when he was pushed in Shapiro’s direction. While Shapiro is not affiliated with any hate group, experts in media, gender studies and the radicalization of young men say the commentator’s content is prevalent in online extremist communities. And exposure to controversial — and increasingly harmful — views on masculinity, the objectification of women and the LGBT community has the same experts worried about how extremist, far-right groups are using TikTok, YouTube and other social media apps in a drip campaign to slowly radicalize vulnerable teenagers and young men.
While TikTok’s decision to remove influencer Andrew Tate’s account for misogynistic content, which the company said violated its policies, has put the debate in the spotlight, the personal stories of people like Brown offer unique insight into the impact it can have. has content on teenage boys. The videos Brown watched as a young teenager were often misogynistic, he said, and they began to affect the way he thought and the way he interacted with people at school. Documentary and podcast producer Ellen Chloë Bateman has researched online radicalization among young men and the incel subculture. (Zoom) “I remember repeating some sexist attitudes, things about the wage gap… Especially when I was hanging out with my friends, we were repeating all these things that we saw on the Internet. A lot of sexism and misogyny.” Seeing his friends play these things in person made it “more real” than just seeing an idea online, he said.

It can be escalated in the comments

This is exactly how online radicalization works, says Ellen Chloë Bateman of the Brown Experience. A documentary and podcast producer who investigates online radicalization among young men and the incel subculture, Batemen describes radicalization as a “slippery slope” that can begin as algorithms push boys toward increasingly harmful videos. Then, “someone might lure you into a comment thread and tell you to join their discord group [where] the content is getting darker and edgier,” he said. “It’s fun for some young people and before you know it, you’ve stumbled into an extremist subculture.” The targets are often young men who feel lost or isolated. they look to these groups as a way to escape those feelings, he says. Joanna Schroeder, a writer specializing in gender and media, says young men can feel “out of touch” if they can’t talk about how they feel about the media they consume. (Zoom) “The allure of these hate groups is that they provide isolated young men with a sense of community and power—often for the first time in their lives—and give them a target, someone to blame for the challenges they perceive in their lives.” Some young men may also see empowerment messages about women and girls as an attack on masculinity, says Joanna Schroeder, an author whose work focuses on gender and media representation. “Maybe they see Me Too stuff … maybe they see a T-shirt or bumper sticker that says ‘The future is female,’” she said. “There is a lot of empowering content out there for girls… and if [young men] they are not given a chance to talk about their feelings about it, they may see it as “Men are irrelevant”. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the case … but they might feel that way.” So how can our society give young men a way to work through their emotions in a healthy way? That’s what Morris Green found himself asking for — and what he says his organization hopes to provide.

Finding a healthy way out

Green is a health education consultant who is a member of GuysWork in Nova Scotia, an organization now in its 11th year. Green says he began working with schools in Nova Scotia in 2012, hoping to give young men a safe space to talk about their feelings, mental health and disrupt problematic ideals of masculinity. Morris Brown focuses on creating safe and inclusive spaces for young men through Guys Work. (Submitted by Morris Brown) These harmful social norms can include anything from pressuring young men to drink alcohol to not wanting to be seen as vulnerable or to ask for help, he said. There is also often homophobia and concern that being anything other than straight might be perceived by peers as ‘abnormal’. “We wanted to essentially normalize help-seeking behavior,” he said. Green said GuysWork sessions focus on fostering a sense of safety and inclusion for young men who may not have an adult role model or someone they feel they can talk to. “We’re really trying to be creative … with the classes and the facilitation, to create that safety for some very important conversations that just don’t happen in most cases.” And it pays off. In 2020, GuysWork participated in a study with the University of St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, NS There, Chris Gilham, associate professor and lead researcher, found that GuysWork was able to positively shift young men’s views on certain male norms he said. can be harmful for short- and long-term health outcomes. Many of the 180 students who participated said they felt they no longer needed to perform a “certain kind of formal and traditional masculinity” and could instead be “kind, loving, kind and considerate,” Gilham said.
Bateman and Schroeder both agree that role models are vital to the healthy development of young men. They say it’s important for parents to talk to their children about the type of content they consume online. “[Parents] we need to watch for signs of radicalization, including changes in language and behavior,” Bateman said.

How to have healthy conversations

While parents can’t catch all the technology their teens might use, Schoeder said, they can help by teaching them media literacy — and early. “We start critiquing media with them when they’re young enough so they have the ability to analyze something when it’s presented to them.” And it’s important to be curious about teens instead of reacting with anger if they share that they’re watching controversial videos, she said. WATCHES | Algorithms and their agenda:

How algorithms target young men

Joanna Schroeder, a writer focusing on gender and media, explains why social media algorithms target young men and how this can affect what they see online. “Ask them questions about how they feel [the content] and then they confirm their kindness in telling you about it.’ As for Brown, he is now a fourth-year mechanical engineering student at Dalhousie University. He said he was able to avoid being drawn into more extreme content by using social media less often – and instead reading literature and various media publications. For him, it really depends on the impact of social media. “Young men aren’t inherently sexist. I think it’s the algorithms that can really make them that way.”