Mum claims her son was 'red-pilled' like in Netflix's Adolescence

A mum claims her son was 'red-pilled' like in Netflix's Adolescence - when Andrew Tate videos convinced him 'women are gold diggers'. Rachel Parker noticed son Spencer Parker repeating misogynistic things he'd heard online at the age of just 11. When the schoolboy casually told her 'women are gold diggers' the 33-year-old says she immediately challenged him and asked where he'd heard it.

The now-15-year-old explained it had been discussed in Andrew Tate videos that had appeared on his YouTube content feed. (Image: Kennedy News and Media) Rachel said she had to intervene in conversations as recently as a year ago on subjects such as women 'respecting their bodies' and blaming men for 'everything'. She felt upset that Spencer was 'turning his back' on women, particularly given he grew up without a father figure.



But a few weeks ago, the mum overheard him telling off a friend for referring to his mum in a rude manner and says she's proud of the man he's becoming. In light of Netflix's hit series Adolescence, the beauty industry worker is warning parents of 'red-pilling' signs and is giving advice on how to challenge concerning opinions. YouTube said they terminated channels associated with Andrew Tate in 2022 and remove content promoting Incel ideology.

Rachel, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, said: "One day he randomly said, 'well women are just gold diggers anyway'. "I remember thinking, 'that's weird for an 11-year-old to say' so I asked him where he'd heard that and he told me that he'd seen some men talking about it online. "He watched normal videos of people playing video games and then out of nowhere this information started leaking in.

"Because he watched one video of it, another one came in and then he liked that and then another one came in. "We would talk about other things that came up in these videos such as women 'not respecting themselves 'and women being on OnlyFans. "At that age he didn't even know what [OnlyFans] was but he jumped on the hate train.

"Even as recently as about a year ago I was out on a walk with him and he said something about 'body count' and we deconstructed that together as well." Rachel says she explained how he shouldn't be offended by harsh words against men if he isn't behaving badly. She recalls how female figures such as his grandma and aunties had helped raise him so she struggled to understand his frustrations.

Rachel said: "It kind of threw me for a loop because I have raised him to be aware of feminist issues and aware of the system that he lives in. "He mentioned watching Andrew Tate to me. "I never squashed any part of his personality to make him feel like he should have needed to find community in a place like that.

"He was having to deny his own lived experience because he is essentially raised by women. "My sisters, my mum, my grandmas, they've all been really involved in his upbringing. "All of a sudden he was turning his back on us and picking these beliefs up.

"It upset me more than anything and I wondered what I had done. "If I would have ignored that, that would have been the wrong thing to do. "Misogyny is everywhere anyway but recognising it and realising this is something I've got to tackle was probably one of the hardest things I've done.

"It was the most important thing I've done as a parent as well." The term 'red-pilled' refers to a scene in the 1999 film The Matrix where the lead character is given the choice to take the red pill which would lead him to understanding the illusion of The Matrix. In Netflix's Adolescence, it is explained that the 'red pill' represents an awakening to the 'truth' about gender issues.

Rachel has watched the first two episodes of Adolescence with Spencer and they are planning on finishing the series soon. Spencer said: "Watching Adolescence, it was very interesting to see how it plays out when a boy is exposed to that stuff online and has to experience the social expectations of having a girlfriend, which is why I focus more on school work instead of that. "I now find this online content cringe.

It's so embarrassing to watch those people have these opinions so loudly knowing that people are going to believe it without question." YouTube said they terminated channels associated with Andrew Tate for multiple violations of Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, including their hate speech policy, in 2022. Reuploading content from a channel following its termination violates YouTube's policies and will be removed.

They say its long-held Community Guidelines make clear it doesn't allow hate speech on YouTube. As part of this hate speech policy, YouTube removes content that promotes the Incel ideology, including the recruitment of individuals to the Incel community..