E arlier this year, I sat in a circle of teenage boys and asked them about gender equality. These were nice, seemingly clued-up, boys: they named Rosa Parks and Malala Yousafzai as women they admired. They were aware that women face barriers – one said: “There are the same opportunities, but it will be more difficult for women to get to the same position as men. It’s not impossible, but it’s more difficult.”

Then we talked about men they admire, and a few named Chris Brown.

Chris Brown – as in the Chris Brown – as in the man charged with beating singer Rhianna to the extent that she was hospitalised in 2009. So I asked, in as cool a way possible, “Hey guys, what about all the domestic abuse shiz?”

And then the whole conversation unraveled into something pretty dark.

They told me that Brown was sorry, and anyway some women might deserve roughing-up, especially certain kinds of women. A few off-colour jokes were muttered and I felt increasingly uncomfortable.