School-aged youth in Alberta and Tyneside are facing a surge of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including the creation of “rape lists” and AI-generated deepfake pornography. These incidents highlight a growing trend of misogyny driven by social media influencers and a systemic failure by institutions to address gendered abuse.
In Alberta, students at Camrose Composite High School discovered a series of Snapchat group messages where boys listed girls they wanted to sexually assault or mutilate. The chat, which reportedly remained active since the fall of 2025, included one boy who explicitly referred to himself as a rapist
.
The discovery triggered student walkouts in protest of this digital violence. However, the aftermath revealed a friction between student reports and institutional responses. One Grade 12 student involved in the protests reported that when students tried to alert school officials to the chat, a staff member dismissed the behavior, stating boys will be boys
.
Institutional Neutrality and the “Culture of Impunity”
The response from the Battle River School Board has drawn criticism for using gender-neutral language. Rather than identifying the perpetrators as boys, the board’s statements referred to them as students
. This phrasing, according to analysis from The Conversation, obscures the gendered nature of the abuse and makes it difficult for media and scholars to raise awareness about violence specifically targeting girls.
This pattern of neutralization is mirrored in other digital crimes. In the same week as the Camrose incident, two 14-year-old boys were charged for allegedly using artificial intelligence to create graphic deepfake nudes of several girls from high schools in Edmonton.
The Influence of “Toxic Masculinity” in Tyneside
Similar patterns of aggression are appearing in Tyneside, where schoolgirls are facing rape threats and misogyny. Director Sue Davison, a specialist teacher with 30 years’ experience, attributes this shift to the rise of toxic masculinity promoted by social media influencers, which specifically impacts disenfranchised boys
.
Davison notes a dangerous disconnect in how these behaviors are perceived. While the vast majority of boys are uncomfortable with this conduct, a small minority may escalate from language to physical violence. She suggests that nine out of 10 boys would never move beyond language, but the remaining one in 10 might.
The Gap in Gender-Based Education
The lack of explicit education regarding consent and boundaries has left young teenagers vulnerable. Marchant, representing a charity focused on breaking cycles of abuse, highlighted a disturbing trend among early adolescents.
Marchant argues that the failure lies in the silence surrounding these acts, stating that nobody has told the girls that boys should not treat them that way, and in some instances, nobody has told the boys that they should not behave that way.
Systemic Risks and the “Manosphere”
The rise of “manosphere” rhetoric and influencers like Andrew Tate is linked to the growing misogynistic attitudes among teen boys. This environment normalizes violence against women and girls, creating a space where abuse can continue unchecked due to a perceived culture of impunity.
The scale of the problem in Canada reflects a broader systemic issue where gender-based violence continues to rise even as overall violent crime decreases.
| Metric | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Frequency of female/girl deaths | One every 48 hours |
| Police reporting rate (women) | One in four |
| Estimated actual experience rate | One in three |
| Sexual assault risk (Women vs Men) | 5 times more likely |
| Intimate partner violence risk | 4 times more likely |
These figures, cited by The Conversation, suggest that the “rape culture” identified in school chats is an extension of a larger societal problem where victims are blamed and perpetrators are routinely excused.
The Consequences of Institutional Silence
When schools and boards use neutral terms like students
to describe perpetrators of gendered violence, they effectively erase the specific nature of the crime. This “degendering” of violence makes it harder for activists and scholars to paint an accurate picture of the crisis or implement targeted interventions.
The cost of this failure is not only emotional but physical and economic, as survivors often require therapy or face disruptions to their work and education. By writing off responsibility through phrases like boys will be boys
, institutions leave victims to manage the aftermath without justice or adequate support.
The intersection of AI-generated deepfakes in Edmonton and “rape lists” in Camrose indicates that technology is not creating new forms of misogyny, but rather providing more efficient tools for existing gender-based violence to proliferate within school environments.
