'Hoodies, louts, scum': how media demonises teenagers
Research finds negative stories in the press make teenage boys frightened of each other
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ALAMY
The research found that fewer than one in 10 articles about young people actually included their perspectives in the debate
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The portrayal of teenage boys as "yobs" in the media has made the boys wary of other teenagers, according to new research.
Figures show more than half of the stories about teenage boys in national and regional newspapers in the past year (4,374 out of 8,629) were about crime. The word most commonly used to describe them was "yobs" (591 times), followed by "thugs" (254 times), "sick" (119 times) and "feral" (96 times).
Other terms often used included "hoodie", "louts", "heartless", "evil" "frightening", "scum", "monsters", "inhuman" and "threatening".
The research – commissioned by Women in Journalism – showed the best chance a teenager had of receiving sympathetic coverage was if they died.
"We found some news coverage where teen boys were described in glowing terms – 'model student', 'angel', 'altar boy' or 'every mother's perfect son'," the research concluded, "but sadly these were reserved for teenage boys who met a violent and untimely death."
At the same time a survey of nearly 1,000 teenage boys found 85 per cent believed newspapers portray them in a bad light.
They felt reality TV – with shows like The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent – portrayed them in a better light – with fewer than 20 per cent believing they were being portrayed negatively.
As a result of the negative press, 80 per cent felt adults were more wary of them now than they had been a year ago. However, the most striking finding, according to the research, was that many were now more wary of boys of their own age. "It seems the endless diet of media reports about 'yobs' and 'feral' youths is making them fearful of other teens," it said. "Nearly a third said they are 'always' or 'often' wary of teenage boys they don't know.
"The most popular reason for their wariness, cited by 51 per cent was 'media stories about teen boys' compared with 40 per cent who said their wariness was based on their own or friends' bad experiences of other teens."
Nearly three-quarters said they had changed their behaviour as a result of this wariness. The most common change, cited by 45.7 per cent, was boys avoiding places where teenagers hung around. Others included dressing differently (14.2 per cent), and changing who they were seen with (11.9 per cent). "For much of the press, there is no such thing as a good news story about teenagers," it added.
"Stories about sport and entertainment, which might have balanced other negative coverage, also took a critical line. Only 16 per cent of stories about teens and entertainment were positive: only 24 per cent about teens and sport were positive."
The research found that – for all the coverage of teenage issues – the boys' voices themselves were rarely heard in newspapers. Fewer than one in 10 articles about young people actually quoted young people or included their perspectives in the debate.
Fiona Bawden, the WiJ committee member who presented the research at the British Library, said: "When a photo of a group of perfectly ordinary lads standing around wearing hooded tops has become visual shorthand for urban menace, or even the breakdown of society, it's clear teenage boys have a serious image problem.
"The teen boys' 'brand' has become toxic. Media coverage of boys is unrelentingly negative, focusing almost entirely on them as victims or perpetrators of crime – and our research shows that the media is helping make teenage boys fearful of each other."
The research, Hoodies or Altar Boys? what is media stereotyping doing to our British boys? was carried out for WiJ by the research company, Echo.
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Comments
Muslims need to stop mugging people, blowing people up, being traitors and commiting crimes - then maybe people wouldn;t hate you so much... Moaning and whingeing ain't gonna change it now is it? Why not open a curry house? You won't have time to being a wimpy weeping wallah then will you? Just a thought...
ram-raiders, joy-riders, crusties, goths, punks, rockers, mods.... this goes right back to the Teddy Boys, so it's hardly news, is it?
One thing I have noticed whilst reading these posts is the glaring lack of understanding in most of them, shown on both sides of the fence.
I have some experience in this field as an "ordinary citizen" and my findings are these, if one endeavors to try and understand the others position, one can begin a dialog that actually helps understanding along, firstly, one has to earn the others respect, usually by trying to understand their position by actually listening carefully, instead of dictating to them, this tends to break the ice and facilitates further dialog, which again leads to further respect & understanding on both sides.
Once this is achieved, one finds on meeting this youngster and his friends one receives a favorable greeting containing far less hostility, even a smile, there is also a readiness on their part to stand and talk, all the time respect for each other is gained, culminating in what one might call, an illuminating and joint beginning of an understanding of each others position.. as for so called "hoodies" I come up against the constant complaint by youngsters of "Lack of privacy", hence the hood to hide the face, of course, there are those among us that immediately say, " privacy to do what, in what respect"?. mostly the answer is simply initially, just privacy because they know they are being targeted. This can then lead to the attitude, OK, we are being watched, lets give them something to see....I don't for one minute advocate a softly softly approach to the criminal element among these folk, nor do I believe in letting those off for the crime they commit, for the law has to be observed, what I am against is the racial elements within the police force that incite and extenuate the problem , our police must be completely un-judgmental in the execution of their duty, something that is sadly lacking in many cases, not all of course, but I do know that many are, from personal experience in my working days as an employer of Asian and African folk among others, which I found disgusting and positively counter productive.
I could go on and on here but it would just get boring, suffice to say that there is a huge lack of basic understanding involved on both sides, not understanding another's culture, especially culture, not understanding another's needs, with many of us on "our" side of the fence, expecting all to conform with out question or else, advocating, "do in Rome as the romans do". In the new "Global Village", I am afraid those days are fast disappearing, isolationism is fast becoming a thing of the past, us thinking & believing that our set of morals and actions are the end and be all of everything, which they probably were, and still are, to you and I, simply because they worked or work for us, but to others of different cultures and backgrounds? no, it will never work,
I was a Teddy Boy by the way, as wayward as any of them, LOL, with all the defensive accoutrement's, any Teddy boy will know what I am on about, I won't list them so as not to give others ideas, however, I owe much to a mentor I was fortunate enough to meet, who turned me around and helped me make sense of the society I was living in at that time....
But this is not new. We never joined a youth club or went to McDonalds in th 80s. Why? Coz all the scum hung out there. We staeyd with other teens like us - at good schools from good homes. People just want to avoid being attached - it's called self-preservation. And teens always moan anyway - and the media's full of salacious gossip and piffle. It is NOT real life - the biggest problem for all kids is the fractured familt structure in the UK with so many boys damaged by divorce and/or single mother 'families'. Most have no father around.
Also the R word is predicatably absent here. 80% of mugging id done by black boys; most of those involved in gun and knife crime are black boys; most of those pupils and students so disruptive they are expelled are black boys. It helps no-one to deny this - the problem with black boys must be faced and addressed.
The fact is - go and live somewhere not many black peopel live and there is no mugging, no gun crime and very little knife crime. Drunken attackes, yes. Chavvy scum picking on other teens yes. But get out of London and the mugging evaporates. It's a black issue, this. And not cause by racism either (I don't notice chinese people going round mugging people...)
And for goodness sake - males of any age are always portrayed as either idiots or monsters - in all media. Boys have to be either heros or zeros - and have so much more pressure on them than girls. They start as little boys who everyone think sweet; from the age of 10 to about 20 they are seen as trouble and criminals; after age 20 men are seen as paedophiles and monsters who constantly have to prove their innocence in any job or situation.
Our society is a misandrist mess.
The only time I've ever been mugged was by a white man in his twenties. What type of people have mugged you over the years?
Perfectly ordinary lads do not wear hooded tops. It's menacing because it's intended to be menacing, Get real.
I resisted the temptation to *play to type* and deck him one, so instead I replied: "Yes, it is a school holiday actually - the summer holiday. And no, I don't spend my time spitting or swearing of breaking windows."
He looked completely taken aback by this - or the fact that I was articulate and could actually string a sentence together, so he said: "Oh, well, you're a good lad you are then. But most of you are troublemakers."
I sighed and let it go... you just can't change the media-inspired prejudiced views of all young people, especially young teenage boys.
Oh - I forgot to mention - this was in 1976!
We are all deluded,and suffering from phantasmagorical hallucinations regarding the behaviour of a very large section of adolescents.
The fact is that the eunuchs whom are supposed to represent us, and call themselves politicians are so gutless that they refuse to impose order on the streets that we have bought houses on,and have to live our daily lives.If life was not already tough enough,many people have to endure the nightly mayhem of gangs of mindless dross- either doped or bladder-ed, who appear to have no other aim in life other than to disturb,terrorise,and smash up whatever falls in to their line of sight.
As someone else pointed out in their comment,individuals generally walk about with their hoods concealing their faces, as a statement.
And that statement is 'i want to appear menacing'
And whats more-we as a society have become systematically de-sensitised to just how actually atrocious some of these individuals really are.Indeed the term 'feral' is a splendidly apt description.
Unless of course you happen to think people getting kicked or,stabbed to death outside their own homes, is somehow commonplace all over the world.
Rightly-or wrongly,because of the liberal wrecking crew's twisted view of what society should be like,we have become conditioned to accept unacceptable behaviour when encountering packs of yoofs.
a couple of years ago,i was in the Peloponnese-Greece.I had come out of a bakers shop,and outside were a gang of about twenty youths on bikes.Them being quite boisterous, as I walked away I expected some sort of sassy remark (being a foreigner )
The obvious leader shouted out 'Greek bread is the best-enjoy'
My point is,that sadly in Britain we have become conditioned to expect some sort of abuse from assembled gangs.
Do I claim to be an expert on delinquency??
Not at all.
But I were a qualified Psychiatric nurse, working in a well known special hospitals personality disorder unit for many years.
And the frightening thing is that all around me on the streets of Britain, I can recognise the same traits of disorder among many teenagers-Its just that they have as of yet, not been locked up for something serious enough.
God knows what it will be like in the future in this awful country.
On the one hand, most youth violence comes from deprived background. It's insane to expect people born onto the bottom rung of society to repect and abide by the laws of the land, set by those higher up for the benefit of those higher up. I mean, be realistic, if you were born into that kind of environment, would you give a shit about what some rich white fella says about how you should live your life? What would be in it for you? What's your incentive, apart from being punished by the rich white fellas law if you get caught stepping out of line?
On the other hand, just because you can understand the reason that someone is a violent thug, doesn't make them any less of a violent thug. I was attacked by a gang of 15 year olds last night as I cycled up Regents Canal near Limehouse, and if I hadn't been a bit faster than them and willing to take a few kicks as I passed, then my bike and I would be in the canal if we were lucky.
And yes, they were all black.
But then, so is my god-daughter.
Oh, and I also own and wear several hooded tops, and am a 32 year old, white, educated professional.
In fact, I'm actually wearing one right now...run, middle to upper class england, run!
To find out more about this topic, I'd recommend listening to Radio 4's 'Thinking Aloud' programme at this link <http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/thinkingallowed_20080227.shtml>
and this one <http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/thinkingallowed_20081231.shtml>
Some older members of society have always been scared of the young.
My own son changed who he was hanging out with, and stopped the hooded sweatshirt habit. It never bothered me that he wore them, I just asked that he remove the hood in buildings, and be polite to people. I guess all I can say is, be the best you can be, and prove the nasty media wrong. You guys are our future; we should be encouraging you, and guiding you, not counting all your faults all the time!
Perhaps the negative members of the media could invite all you young British men to do something positive for your community, and for once, give you all some good pr?
I believe that there is a law in Italy forbidding people to appear in a public place with their faces concealed. What a good idea.
No not to run off with.
The older of us have to take a lead, its WE that keep the distance. TALK TO Young Pepole; even the "bad ones"; dont use news papers as an excuse for your own stupidity
The more hate the media spews at young men the more often they will fight back. The more abusive are single mothers and the more abuse of young men is condoned and applauded, the more often they will fight back. This study shows part of the underlying reason for the violence. It will keep getting worse until society has had enough and begins to address its problem, feminist hate of boys and men.
Bob
i am an 18 year old, who likes to go out and have a good time with friends,
I live near Croydon and regularly spend time there.
I am doing 4 A levels includidng one in politics and was directed to this page by the BYC - for all of you who dont know its the British Youth Council, Who are campainging with the help of under 25's to get better representation of young adults in politics and in the media.
I was directed to this website from the Respect? Campain, where they are surveying and trying to get newspapers to not mis represnt youths.
Recentally whilst walking back at lunch to school after a visit to the Chippy I saw an old lady and a group of about 5 year 11's in hoodies, and school uniform.
Unfortunatally, I took this the wrong way at first, these are people that I am around all day, this shows how strong the media influence is.
The lady was having a nice chat with the year 11's.
Please can we see more of this in society, If you dont cross the street and move away, you are likely to find out that under the hoodie, which is lovely when its cold, (and a nice deterant from the big brother state we currentaly live in), there is a person, just like you or me, that would be plesentally supprised by the conversastion.
Yes we live in a screwed up society, where nobody talks or makes eye contact. i mean take your headphones out on a commuter train, and there is total silence, - is this really healthy?