“With every swipe you are drawn into extreme conspiracy theories on TikTok”

‘You raise your children in a very feminist way’, I’ve been told lately.

And I hear it myself in my children. Often I think ‘Yes! See it works’, but of course I’m also worried because most of their friends aren’t (yet) concerned with it.

For example, my 10-year-old recently came home complaining that the whole class had to fill in a blue card for the teacher who is having a son.

‘What do you mean blue again, eh mom? Boys can love pink too!’

At times like that I am super proud of her and also a little bit of myself.

But it is also sometimes difficult. For example, a friend of my 13-year-old daughter recently said that she still calls it N-kissing (and then in the full name). And she added that it is really nonsense that the name has been changed. She also clearly echoes her parents, because let’s face it, a 13-year-old will have it all rusted on her or his pants.

Read also – Patricia: ‘I had always planned to be a happy feminist’ >

Extension

So our kids are often an extension of us, but they can also become an extension of an influencer. And I find that idea terrifying, because on TikTok, for example, you quickly get into a kind of rabbit hole of the algorithm. And there are trends going on that encourage very scary thoughts.

You may have heard of the name Andre Tate. This is such a creep. And this controversial influencer was charged in June with rape, human trafficking and the formation of a criminal organization. Yoohoo! And his account has since been defunct, but he has hundreds if not thousands of cardinals on TikTok and these clones are wildly popular with young men.

“They rave about fast cars, piles of money and, above all, indicate the place of women in society”

They rave about fast cars, piles of money and especially indicate the place of women in society. Women have become too independent and they have to arm themselves against that. The algorithm pulls you further into more extreme conspiracy theories with every swipe.

For example, these types are now announcing a dangerous drop in the male sex hormone testosterone. And they immediately sell an absurd panacea. They also claim that 90 percent of men go unnoticed by women and that women are biologically determined to only want the “best men.” And so arise what they call the lone wolfswho are still above the alpha male.

TikTok

Well, with this knowledge as a parent, you have to be careful with your child’s social media use. The advice is therefore to go through TikTok with your child a few times a week. To see if they haven’t gotten too far into some scary algorithm.

I will continue to raise my children as a feminist for now, because I want them to believe in equality and respect for all.

Would you rather listen to Patricia’s column? Which can. Every Sunday between 4 and 6 pm she reads it on Wild FM.

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