Adolescence: A Series for a Generation
It was about five years ago when I first became aware of the term ‘incel’. Like many of us, I was doing a lot of walking during lockdown, and I got into listening to audio books. One of the books I listened to was Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates. (You might have heard me talk about how it was the book that changed my life.)
I can remember walking around my little town incredulous that these kinds of men existed in our world. Not only that, but no one seemed to know about them. I’d never heard of them, and I spent a lot of time online. It felt important to me that other people had this same knowledge that I did. That everyone was in a position to protect, not only their wives and daughters, but also their husbands and sons.
The answer when it came seemed obvious to me: I’d write a novel and base it around the world of incels. In many ways, it was easy to write, perhaps the easiest of all my books. The words poured out of me, and I knew exactly what I wanted to say. The hard part was some of the research I had to do. It was important to me that I didn’t sensationalise incels, nor that what I was writing came across as hyperbolic. Reading the thoughts and actions of incels from all over the world was nauseating. And, just as I was writing the finale, a man who identified as an incel shot and killed five people in Plymouth. It took me a month to start writing again.
Adolescence on Netflix has appeared almost three years after Open Your Eyes was published. It has definitely reached a much larger audience than my book is ever likely to. I’m glad that people with a greater reach and bigger platform than I has shone light into corners that have remained dark for far too long.
Incel culture is a societal problem that needs to be addressed from both sides. It’s important that people educate themselves and develop an understanding of how men and boys become indoctrinated, as well as – understandably – condemning those who seek to be divisive. I can recommend starting with Men Who Hate Women…