California Gov. Gavin Newsom told Vanity Fair during an interview published in late September he had first heard of Tate from his eldest son. So yesterday when California First Partner and documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom joined us in Santa Barbara for the Most Powerful Women Summit, Fortune’s Ellie Austin asked her how she talks to her kids (two sons and two daughters) about the manosphere. 

She said it can take very little for misogynistic content to reach kids online today. When the family lived in Sacramento and her kids played competitive sports, she said “all you had to do was literally consume sports online,” and boys in particular “were fed, in a very short time period, misogynistic content.” 

“It happens very, very quickly,” she continued. And girls aren’t spared: They’re “fed misogynistic content that teaches them to devalue themselves.”

Her own son, she said, had been “exposed” to Tate and other controversial figures, adding that we have a “horrific role model in the White House in terms of harassment and criminal behavior towards women.” (Tate is currently being held in Miami while he fights extradition to the U.K., where he faces charges including rape and human trafficking. Romanian prosecutors separately indicted Tate in September on charges including trafficking minors and money laundering. Tate, the self-proclaimed misogynist, has denied all wrongdoing.)

“I just feel like our boys are searching for healthy role models,” she said. When asked whether there were any good examples today, she pointed to Bill Ready, the CEO of Pinterest, and Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at New York University who is also a podcast host, author, and serial entrepreneur who’s gained a large social media following. Galloway’s 2025 book, Notes on Being a Man, focuses on the challenges facing boys and young men.

Siebel Newsom has explored the topic of boys and masculinity in her documentary The Mask You Live In, and at the MPW Summit said culture has “sort of normalized bystander behavior,” in which people see misogyny and say nothing. She pointed to the Weinstein trial and the Epstein case, saying “there’s so many men…and some women who have held positions of power, but who have just kind of sat by and watched all of this behavior go down. And it’s very dangerous.”

“I feel such sadness for our young boys,” she continued.

Siebel Newsom’s goal as a parent is to “shift us back to the middle,” but her own mother, who raised five girls, has told her that “parenting in today’s day and age is harder than it was in her generation.”

“I appreciate when she says that,” Siebel Newsom said, “because I do think it’s really challenging.”

Want more from her conversation? Read about the legacy she hopes to leave as first partner.

Sydney Lake
sydney.lake@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

Jane Fraser’s turnaround keeps paying off. Citigroup posted its best third-quarter revenue in a decade on Tuesday, with net income up 17% to $5.2 billion and revenue up 8% to $23.8 billion. Fraser, the first woman to run a major Wall Street bank and No. 1 on this year’s Most Powerful Women list, said Citi expects to beat this year’s return target.

Is this thing on? Hillary Clinton is back on the mic, this time in a podcast with co-host Kara Swisher, a renowned tech journalist and author, to examine the midterm election. Starting Wednesday, High Stakes will air weekly through the election. Clinton—the former secretary of state, first lady, the Democratic party’s 2016 presidential nominee, and senator—told the New York Times she didn’t think “the stakes for the country and the world could be any higher.”

A Walton’s $100 million bet on moms. Walmart heir Olivia Walton told the MPW Summit audience on Monday evening she couldn’t get the postpartum care she needed in Arkansas “even with all my resources.” (The Walton family is worth an estimated $500 billion.) Her nonprofit, Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America, aims to halve the U.S. maternal mortality rate in five years. 

AI agents are getting a spot on the org chart. At the MPW Summit on Tuesday, Block CFO and COO Amrita Ahuja predicted more companies will list AI agents alongside human teams, with workers responsible for training them. “Those agents, not too dissimilar to humans, need to be developed over time.” In February, Block CEO Jack Dorsey laid off 40% of his entire staff, a part of a structural overhaul as it upped its AI adoption to automate workflows. 

ON MY RADAR

Veronica Beard built a $400 million brand by banking on the everywoman. What’s next? Vogue Business

Women ‘more likely to be told autoimmune conditions are psychological’ The Guardian

Why the intelligence gap really matters The Atlantic

PARTING WORDS

“When I feel most powerful is when I see the people I’ve invested in make moves.”

— Latriece Watkins, CEO of Sam’s Club, at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit on creating opportunities for greater impact for employees.