On Thursday, a special Prime Time programme examines how online influencers who promote a negatively distorted form of masculinity may be shaping Irish teenagers' views of the world.
As part of the research, the Prime Time team conducted in-depth interviews with teachers who deal with young people daily, to see if they have noticed a related change among teenagers in recent years in schools nationwide. The vast majority said they did.
Several said they personally were subjected to behaviour they perceive to be linked to narratives and views promoted by influencers online and contained within pornography. They all wished to remain anonymous to protect their own identities, schools, and students.
Here, three of those teachers - two women and one man - share their views.
Sarah: 'There is definitely something bubbling up'
Sarah*, a teacher working in an all-boys secondary school in Dublin, was the target of an online harassment campaign from a 15-year-old male student.
"I got a video where someone had a picture of my face and they were masturbating and ejaculating onto the picture of my face."
"When the first video came in, I think I sort of went into denial," Sarah told Prime Time.
Prime Time has verified her story through legal records provided and other checks.
Despite her experience, Sarah said she does not think teenage boys in general "are toxic", adding most of the boys she works with are "great".
"I've heard boys themselves calling out negative behavior, which is great. But there is definitely something bubbling up," she said.
The male student also made a collage of her social media profile photos and created fake accounts to message her friends on Instagram and ask for more images of her.
He was later convicted of harassment. His two-year sentence was suspended on a number of conditions, including that he has no contact with Sarah for the rest of his life.
"I don't want to see any young person starting out life with a conviction. But there are consequences to these actions," Sarah said.
She said the case had a significant impact on her life and lifestyle.
"There was terrible anxiety over the whole lot. It would have taken a few months where I didn't really want to go out. I was extremely careful about who I was talking to."
Over the course of a year, Sarah regularly received images and videos from anonymous social media profiles. After making a complaint to gardaí, she handed over access to her social media accounts so they could track where the messages were coming from.
"It was highly sexualized, very degrading, very like beyond objectification. It's shocking to think that a 15-year-old would have been knowing that sort of thing - but also then feeling that they could send it on to an adult that they just were seeing in their daily life."
Like others who spoke to Prime Time, Sarah links behavioural changes she's seen among teenagers to content they can access – and which is promoted and recommended to them – online.
"They need to see positive, real-life influences in their life as opposed to going to the phone. I think the phone just plays into it as well," she said.
"Teenagers are insecure, so then they see someone that kind of taps into their insecurities, like the Tate Brothers, that's what they're going to buy into."
Read more: 'The Manosphere': Why some young men turn to negative influencers
Derek: 'The term you hear a lot is 'alpha male''
Derek* works in a secondary school in Dublin and told Prime Time that he believes that increasingly boys' ideas on masculinity are all "derived from online".
"The term you hear a lot is 'alpha male' ... It's all about physicality, strength, and your ability to obtain wealth. There's very little conversation around morals."
He says conversations can quickly turn to women and their role in society.
"It definitely feels like you're engaging with a young person who's been exposed to a lot of misogyny and a lot of physical masculine identity."
"They will engage in a good strong debate with you and have a lot of opinions. So, they are informed but - just for me what they're informed in is concerning. Any adult will be highly concerned when they hear that conversation."
Derek says he engages in conversations and tries to challenge views which he says are often focused on rigid ideas of gender roles.
"It's startlingly stereotypical of something maybe we would have heard in the mid 20th century."
"They'll say things like, you know, 'ultimately girls are only interested in money and power' and stuff like that."
"Then [men are] to provide material wealth for the family. The woman doesn't have to do that - the man has to do that."
"They look for answers and they're getting them online... somebody online is giving them an easy solution to a highly complex problem."
In terms of role models, he said a lot of the boys gravitate to influencers who are "driven by accumulation of wealth, status and power".
"I think there's so much buy-in with that role model. They've bought all the way in that they can't let them go. You know, if they do, it's nearly like their own identity has been challenged or dismantled."
"It's very concerning more than anything, and very hard to show them an alternative."
Clare: 'He wasn't thinking about how it impacted her at all'
Clare* who works in the south of the country in an all-boys school says: "My boys are largely very good ... but you can tell that their views of women have been heavily influenced by what they're seeing on the internet."
She says if the "boys don't know you and you're a woman, they're less likely to listen to anything that you're saying".
"You could present them with all the evidence in the world, and it could be really well-researched, but they'll sit there and they'll just scoff at it. If it doesn't support the view they've already picked up from the internet."
"A man could come in and say the exact same thing with less evidence, and they'll sit there and nod."
Sometimes, Clare says, students intend comments they are making as jokes or banter.
"Some of the boys that I've had in my class have made rape jokes and things like that. Now, if I hear them make a rape joke, I'll immediately send them from the class, and that will be an issue for management because I won't accept it."
What concerns her is that those making the comments are not considering how they may be received. She said she has overheard students speaking about taking another boy's phone to send messages to female influencers on social media.
"He wasn't thinking about how it impacted her at all. He didn't think about the creepy messages she was getting from him, from the others, from however many hundreds of men every day. None of them - none of the boys in the room - they were laughing as they talked about it".
"He was sending her sexual harassment," she said. "Now, he didn't think it was serious because he didn't mean it entirely. He was doing it from another person's account, and it was just to embarrass that person."
"It was only, as I started giving out to them, explaining, 'How would you feel if you were getting these messages on your phone?’ Would you think, 'Oh, well, it's okay. They're only joking,' or would you feel really sad?"
"They were older, so they got it and they got really ashamed of themselves and really quiet, but they didn't see it themselves."
Parents and social media companies must take greater responsibility for what kids and teens are exposed to online, Clare says.
"I've had kids come to me when they're a little bit older, 16, 17, and say that they wish they had never had the access they had to the internet when they were 12, that the things they saw are things they can't get out of their heads years later."
In-depth coverage of the impact of negative masculinity influencers from the RTÉ Current Affairs Digital Unit and Prime Time continues across the week online and on television, with a special programme on the 22 May edition of Prime Time.
