Evidence that dozens of women were groomed into online sex work by members of influencer Andrew Tate’s “War Room” group has been uncovered by the BBC.
Leaked internal chat logs identify 45 potential victims between March 2019 and April 2020 but the total number is likely to be higher.
The texts also appear to show the techniques used by War Room members to exploit possible victims.
Or very young and impressionable without a loud enough opposing influence. My understanding is that young teens and even pre teens are being exposed to this way of thinking through their social media algorithms. Yes, parents need to be on top of their kids screen times, but no one is perfect and this shit is insidious.
A friend recently told me about the fear he has that his young sons will find and latch onto shit like this without his knowing. He described seeing a concerning image in a YouTube video that his young teen was watching, making him play the audio out loud to see what was being said, and then screening that channel later to understand the content. It was benign, but so many kids go down these dark paths without their parents being aware until it’s too late.
It gave me a new appreciation for how difficult it must be to be a parent in modern times. I found it frightening.
I’m an elder millennial so my peers who are parents are savvy to the web and grew up enough with it to know its dangers. But it’s also such an intrinsic part of kids’ lives these days. When I was a kid it was a fun extra - a recreational activity like sport or watching movies. Now it’s a legitimate and necessary part of their schooling, their social interaction, their understanding of the world, and a communication channel with peers and family.
I honestly don’t know how my friends navigate the complexity of it. Like you said, it’s frightening.
For me, it’s very simple. I just talk to my daughter about what she’s watching. Maybe that’s not enough for some parents. Maybe their kids won’t tell them. I’m sure my daughter doesn’t tell me everything she watches (I bet she watches porn sometimes), but I have a general idea of what she believes overall about the world, so I know what she is watching is not doing harm. She’s a very caring, empathetic person who wants to make the world a better place.
I’m sure you’re doing a great job, but I guess the subject was inceldom and the influence of Tate et al. As a woman myself, I know stranger danger in all mediums has been on the mind of every woman, since I was a child. It’s the boys that the influence can turn to dangerous and rotten places, to the detriment of, in the case of incel ideologies, the safety of women.