Tonight on RTÉ Prime Time, the reality behind online negative masculinity

Prime Time speaks to Charleen Murphy, an influencer whose online harassment turned into a real-world attack

Tonight, Prime Time hosts a special programme focusing on the impact on young Irish people of online influencers who promote a negative form of masculinity.

The programme will reveal research carried out over the last number of months by RTÉ journalists Kate McDonald and Jack McCarron, as well as current insights from teachers, experts, and individuals who have been personally affected.

Among those featured is Charleen Murphy, an Irish lifestyle influencer who explains the real-world impact. In an interview in Thursday night’s programme, Charleen recounts how she was attacked in a Dublin restaurant by a man who had previously repeatedly messaged her on social media, “I just felt this blow to the back of my head, my head basically went so full force forward into my glass that the glass completely shattered…”

“I looked to my left and I could see him standing there. Straight away, I knew who it was… He had been messaging me in the past online,” she told RTÉ journalist Kate McDonald.

Charleen says the experience is part of a larger pattern of online abuse she has encountered over years. Ms Murphy has made a career from sharing her life online, posting lifestyle content across her social media accounts. “When I came out with the story that time, people said, ‘You’re not a real victim.’ They downplay your pain or trauma,” Charleen said. “You don’t have to have something worse than someone else to still have gone through something bad.”

The programme explores how online narratives are increasingly shaping young people’s views on gender roles in society, something Charleen has also noticed. “It’s happening much younger,” she says. “People have these words and this information so young. Their brains are being shaped by it all. It’s scary. I’m scared for the younger generation.”

In her interview Charleen Murphy provides a personal account of how online misogyny is not just digital and has a larger impact, “People think it’s just a comment. But kids are reading that. That’s saying to them, ‘It’s okay for me to post this too.’ All the little things turn into the big things.”

Accompanying the programme, there are a series of online articles explaining and examining why young men may become interested in certain types of masculinity influencers, what an incel is, what teachers are seeing in schools, and looking at the wider social impact of these online narratives. Available at RTE.ie/PrimeTime.

Watch the full programme on Prime Time tonight May 22, at 9:35pm RTÉ One and RTÉ Player and read the detailed online reports on RTE.ie/primetime.

-ENDS- 

Date: 22 May 2025

RTÉ Communications: Sharon Sorohan

Notes to Editor: 
Prime Time broadcasts Tuesday and Thursdays at 9:35pm on RTÉ One and stream on RTÉ Player.
You can read special reports from the Prime Time team on rte.ie/primetime
Follow @RTE_PrimeTime on X/Twitter for regular content, #rtept