Sydney great Jamie Dunkin is re-defining what it means to have male role models. He wants young men to look up to women rather than the type of people who have made headlines in recent years. Dunkin’s journey from a troubled adolescence marked by health issues and online toxicity to a progressive outlook on gender dynamics highlights the need for positive influences in young men’s lives.
In his early teens, Dunkin faced significant adversity. As a result, he barely went to school in Year Nine. This removal from the traditional school setting created a gap that he filled with his time spent scrolling the web. Sadly, from the ages of 14-16, Dunkin found herself in a dark and damaging area of the internet. This experience completely changed his perspective and warped his mind. It occurred even though he was raised in that quintessentially Australian desirable household—an inclusive, progressive household in Sydney’s inner western suburbs.
Dunkin considers that most teens are interested in these taboo areas and behaviors as a means to search for attention. He writes about how this desire drives young men to worship men like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate. These influencers push dangerous and regressive concepts of masculinity and gender norms. Those are for-real interactions that Dunkin claims these messages fail to properly gear young men up for.
He is passionate about teaching people the power of words, how those words affect their loved ones and promoting that understanding on a greater scale. “Teenagers may not grasp why they use certain language or the implications behind it,” Dunkin points out. He’s convinced that today’s young men can find motivation in the example set by powerful, determined women. Instead of turning toward polarizing personalities, they should embrace the power these women represent.
Dunkin’s perspective is particularly poignant given the early influence of content creators in the early 2010s, whose language and ideologies shaped a generation of impressionable youth. He says that all of these influences have helped create a culture in which it is easier for negative attitudes toward women to fester and grow. His own story makes this clear, as it stands as a cautionary tale of what dangers can be found in toxic online communities.
Just lately, Dunkin’s story got broader national attention through its appearance on the SBS series “Insight.” His transformation, and the lessons he drew from his past, were the centerpiece of his programs. It provided him an opportunity to articulate his conviction. He realizes that welcoming female role models is just as important for the development and maturation of young men.
