Riot Women: Brilliant TV – But Where Are the Good Men?

I’ve just finished watching Riot Women – and what a fantastic piece of television. Bold, challenging, and unflinching in its portrayal of the sexism, discrimination, and sexual harassment women have been forced to endure for far too long. It shines a necessary spotlight on the personal, institutional and cultural barriers women have faced (and still do). I was hooked.

But… it left me with one lingering concern.

Across the entire series, I struggled to find a single good man.

Men were sexual predators, violent, philandering, incompetent, childish – or all the above. And while satire and exaggeration certainly have their place, it got me thinking…

Decades ago, there was a powerful and necessary shift away from portraying women through stereotypes – the damsel in distress, the ditzy assistant, the nagging wife. We recognised that these narratives were harmful, limiting, and didn’t reflect real women. We wanted (and still want) strong, complex, inspirational female characters – role models who help shape healthier culture and expectations for all of us.

So here’s my worry…
Where are the positive male role models today?
Not the superhero saving the world.
Not the villain destroying it.
Just the good ordinary man – caring, respectful, supportive, trying his best.

I’m seeing fewer and fewer of them on screen, in public life, and sometimes even in how we talk about men as a group. And that matters -because the vast majority of men are good ordinary men. Men who want others to thrive. Men who care deeply about fairness and safety. Men who support the “riot women” in their lives every day.

We absolutely need stories like Riot Women.

We also need stories that show a positive vision of modern masculinity.
Because if we remove the role models – in fiction or in real life – what are boys and men supposed to aspire to?

I’d love to see the next wave of storytelling champion both sides: women rising and men rising with them – as allies, as partners, as equals.