TALKING POINTS
There’s nothing like controversy and current events to kickstart conversation. Seize the day and get talking with your kids about these recent news stories…
1
Vivian Jenna Wilson on Being Elon Musk’s Estranged Daughter, Protecting Trans Youth and Taking on the Right Online (Teen Vogue, 20/3/25)
“Student Vivian Jenna Wilson, age 20 – who had gender dysphoria as a kid then came out as trans in 2020 – says: ‘One night I was like: “I know for a fact I am trans.” Puberty was picking up and my life was falling apart. I was having mental breakdowns in class. It was like: ‘If I stay in the closet anymore, this will take me down a very destructive path.’
I posted: “I’m trans. She/her pronouns” on my public Instagram 2 days before I told my mom. I regret that: she deserved to be the first one to know. She was like: “That figures. Yeah honey. OK.” My dad [Elon Musk] was not as supportive. I hadn’t talked to him in months so I had to get parental consent to get testosterone blockers and hormone replacement therapy. I don’t feel like people realise that being trans is not a choice’”
TALKING POINT Do you know anyone who has come out as trans? Read the article >
2
TikTok’s latest toxic filter has been banned – but what caused people to use it? (Metro, 21/3/25)
“With TikTok’s chubby filter, people could see how they’d look if they put on weight. It was taken down after a backlash about how this could popularise diet culture. Healthcare expert Thorrun Govind said: ‘Body modification is pretty trendy. But transformation filters can lead to a disconnect between a person’s real and perceived self. People aren’t aware of the short- or longer-term effects of using this kind of filter on young people or people with body image concerns. Focusing on weight transformation or body size can harm anyone.’ Social media plays a part in demonising fatness and glorifying being emaciatedly thin”
TALKING POINT How could filters like these affect people now or later? Read the article >
3
How toxic masculinity, Andrew Tate and the online “manosphere” inspired Netflix’s Adolescence (NBC News, 20/3/25)
“Chart-topping show Adolescence – about a boy, age 13, who kills a classmate – deals
with teens confronting social media-boosted toxic masculinity, male fragility, male rage,
the manosphere (a network of online spaces promoting rigid ideas of masculinity and misogynistic stereotypes about women), incel (meaning involuntary celibate: men who
feel unable to attract women) culture, extremism and Andrew Tate. It’s a whydunnit, not
a whodunnit about what’s going on inside teenage boys. The writer hopes the show will
start conversations at home, in schools and in the government, and eventually help boys”
TALKING POINT What have you heard about the show? Have you seen it? Read the piece >
4
Sir Gareth Southgate hits out at “toxic” online influencers damaging boys and young men (Evening Standard, 19/3/25)
“Ex football manager Gareth Southgate said in a lecture entitled The Beautiful Game: Building Belief And Resilience In A Younger Generation: ‘Young people are targeted with images of the perfect body, career and life. How can this make them feel good about themselves? Parents keep telling me young men are suffering, feeling isolated, grappling with their masculinity and their broader place in society. They fall into gaming, gambling and porn, with toxic influencers as role models. But we all need belief and resilience’”
TALKING POINT Do you notice any of this happening around you? Read the article >
5
Fire service defends nail painting after backlash (BBC, 25/3/25)
“After negative Facebook feedback, the Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said about participating in the Hard As Nails project in which firefighters painted their nails then recorded people’s reactions: ‘It’s about opening up conversations about allyship and men supporting women.’ Their post got many messages of support as well as people calling it ‘nonsense’, ‘woke’ and ‘embarrassing’. The Hard As Nails leader said: ‘The point is to get people talking about masculinity, gender identity etc. Firefighters, some of the bravest men around, are quite happy to symbolically paint a nail and say: ‘I support this’”
TALKING POINT What do you think of boys and men using nail polish? Read the article >
And finally: to discuss…
The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood was “almost mute” and “very socially anxious” (Yahoo News, 7/4/25)
Actor AIMEE LOU WOOD, age 31, says that as a child…
“I was almost mute, very socially anxious. I couldn’t sit down and eat a meal. My mum had to leave food around the house and I’d have to snack around. It was neurodivergence. I got diagnosed a few years ago with ADHD with autistic traits – they think maybe it’s autism that’s leading the charge and the ADHD is a by-product of the masking.
When I was younger and dealing with my eating stuff, it was my worst nightmare to get my body out. But I’d worked through that stuff and then I was back to covering up.
There was so much in the way that I started to desexualise myself.
Sometimes you just want to put on a sexy dress and be a siren, but I denied myself that.
With White Lotus, I was more nervous about bikinis than sex scenes. I was more worried about just being around the pool because I feel like that’s when you’re thinking more about how you look”
MORE FROM WOOD
• “I was so detached from my body when I was in the eating disorders, it was like I was outside it, scrutinising it. Your body becomes like an enemy. I am very gradually getting over that”
• “I’m very anti-Botox. A lot of my career relies on facial expressions. So I can’t start freezing my face. It needs to move”
• About the gap in her grin: “It makes me really happy that it’s symbolising rebellion and freedom, but the whole conversation is just about my teeth – it makes me a bit sad because I’m not getting to talk about my work. If it was a man, would we be talking about it this much? It’s still going on about a woman’s appearance”
TALKING POINTS What do you think it is like for Aimee Lou Wood to talk openly about being diagnosed with ADHD – and about her eating and body image issues? Does it help other people to hear a film star like Wood discussing the things they have struggled with? What does Wood mean by saying that her teeth symbolise “rebellion and freedom” – who do her teeth symbolise rebellion and freedom for, and freedom from what? What do you think about her feeling that there wouldn’t be the same kind of focus on her looks if she were a man?