Stephanie Wescott, Steven Roberts | Schools need more support to stop the spread of toxic masculinity

Our ongoing research project on the radicalisation of boys in Australian schools by misogynist influencers has so far revealed troubling insights into the spread of toxic attitudes and behaviour among boys.

The behaviour is overt, it is widespread, and it is impacting women and girls in schools.

A substantial response through curriculum, education, training and policy is required to prevent further harm and to counter the influence of misogynist social media influencers.

There have been broader social concerns in recent years about the growth of anti-feminist and misogynist figures generating content on social media and online support communities.

A figure of particular concern is Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer now social media influencer infamous for his denigration of women and promotion of toxic masculinity. Although currently facing charges of rape, human trafficking and organised crime, Tate's social media presence attracts hundreds of millions of views and is particularly targeted to the social media feeds of teenage boys.

Tate's content has infiltrated boys in both primary and secondary schools, shaping their views on women and girls and the way they treat them.

Our interviews with women teachers illuminate the presence of rampant disrespect towards teachers, sexual harassment of teachers and girls, physical intimidation and blatant disregard for women are common experiences among teachers in Australia.

This behaviour is not only making women unsafe in their workplaces, but is profoundly disruptive to girls' education.

Girls are being exposed to degrading language, harassment of teachers and sexist ideologies in their classrooms from boys who have adopted misogynistic attitudes from Tate and other such influencers.

Tate is also shaping boys' perceptions of their worlds; teachers are observing that boys appear to view women as unfairly advantaged by socially progressive movements, with traditionalist masculinity presented as a solution to enable men to reclaim their power.

The rise of toxic masculinity is not isolated to Australian schools.

Increasing misogynist attitudes and behaviours have also been reported widely by teachers in the UK, where teachers say that Tate's ideology has infiltrated school populations.

UK schools have received advice from the Department for Education (DfE) to discourage discussion of Tate and the DfE is refusing further support for schools.

In Australia, the same behaviour is being widely experienced by teachers across both the public and independent systems and in primary and secondary settings.

This trend is being widely underreported and acknowledged, which further isolates women in schools grappling with boys' problematic behaviour.

Further, there is currently no uniform approach and no official acknowledgement of boys' changing attitudes to women.

While there is some work being done in Australian schools to stymie the influence of Andrew Tate on boys - such as inviting guest speakers to address cohorts and organisations such as The Man Cave to run "healthy masculinity" programs - these measures are often one-off initiatives and/or lack sustained engagement, and appear to have been unable to stem the rising tide of boys' misogynist attitudes and behaviours.

Respectful Relationships, a whole-school approach to building cultures of respect and gender equity in schools and a recommendation of the royal commission into family violence, should be more broadly implemented across the curriculum, beyond health and physical education and the personal and social capability. Teachers are calling for Respectful Relationships teaching content to be broadened across all curricula, more explicitly built into the values of the schools and addressed in behaviour management programs.

Another key part of addressing this problem is naming it accurately.

Schools should not shy away from precise language such as misogyny, sexual harassment and sexism to describe the behaviour of boys; but the experience of women teachers is that common behaviour euphemisms such as "disrespect" are instead frequently deployed. This does not capture the scope nor the gravity of attitudes and their impact on women and girls. Input from across the gender spectrum, especially from men teachers and leaders, is particularly valuable, too - boys must not only have behaviour modelled to them by men, but also be able to have open and honest conversations about what they are seeing and hearing about masculinity. There must be space made available for boys to have their views heard and challenged.

MORE OPINION:

Schools are currently battling staffing shortages and increasing administrative pressures and are inadequately resourced and equipped to respond meaningfully to widespread misogyny. They require support through targeted programs, training and education for staff to equip them with skills to deal with challenging behaviour and ideas, and a broadening of the curriculum to counter the influence of Andrew Tate.

Acknowledgement of the challenge of widespread misogyny and sexism, and an appropriate response to it, through both school-based management of behaviour and broader curriculum and policy responses is essential. Only then might schools remain safe spaces for women and girls to work and learn, and places where boys can have meaningful and respectful relationships with teachers and peers.