There has been a lot of focus in the media of the Netflix series ‘Adolescence’, raising issues about the pressures on teenage boys, the ‘manosphere’, incel culture and parental ignorance of their children’s online behaviour – there have even discussions at Prime Minister’s Question Time. For those of us who have been working in the field of gender and education for some time, we welcome a chance for a wider public debate on the issues, but we wonder how long the focus will last and what meaningful actions will be put forward to make a difference. In 2020 the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website was set up by Sara Soma after watching the BBC television series ‘I May Destroy You’, to tackle rape culture. Within weeks thousands who had suffered sexual abuse at schools, colleges and universities sent in their testimony, leading to a media outcry. As someone working in Sheffield it was on the one hand heartening to see so many young people volunteer their testimony but also disheartening to see nearly every secondary school (and several primaries) reporting testimony.
In March 2021 there was further outcry over the Sarah Everard murder by a serving police officer who had been allowed to progress up Allport’s Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination[1] from banter to murder unchecked (we later discovered there have been many others allowed to do the same).
In June 2021 Ofsted released its report on sexual abuse in schools and colleges which said that sexual harassment has become “normalised” among school-age children and that that students often do not see the point of reporting abuse and many teachers underestimate the scale of these problems. Also, RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) the subject area that should mainly be dealing with these issues was seen as a joke by most pupils as it was so badly taught. Many of us thought that now every inspection would have a strong focus on these issues and that school, cultures would be made to change. This does not seem to have been the case.
A 2023 House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee report stated that “sexual harassment and sexual violence continues to be a scourge in our schools, with many girls and women feeling powerless.”
If ‘Adolescence’ leads to more parents taking an interest in what their children are up to online and being able to talk about feelings and emotions that will surely be a good thing. However, the idea that the programme should be shown in schools seems very misguided. The second episode mainly filmed in the boy’s school shows it as chaotic with pupils engaging in highly inappropriate behaviour. Most schools do not have enough adequately trained staff to engage meaningfully with the issues. Schools would be better advised to look at the guidance we have listed below.
Gender Action is a free accreditation scheme that enables a whole-school approach to promoting gender equity. It empowers school communities to create an inclusive, equitable environment that challenges gender stereotypes, addresses sexism, and promotes gender equity. We provide nursery, primary and secondary schools with the tools, resources, training, and motivation to commit to meaningful change.
Across 2024, before attending Gender Action Initiator Level training sessions, only 10% of participants strongly agreed that if a student talked about gender issues they would know how to respond. After the training this increased to 62%. Again, across 2024, before attending training sessions, only 8% of participants strongly agreed that they felt confident to address issues of gender inequity in their school. After the training this increased to 72%.
‘We are pleased to have worked with Gender Action and to celebrate all the successes that we have had in promoting equality in our school.’ (Headteacher, Pitmaston Primary School, Gender Action’s first Beacon Level school)
Resources and Guidance
- PSHE Association’s guidance on ‘Addressing the influence of online misogyny and the manosphere through RSHE/PSHE’
- UK FEMINISTA Online influencers and misogyny
- Ulster University Taking Boys Seriously project has 10 principles of relational education with boys and young men
- Independent Thinking The Adolescence Effect (Tips for parents)
- Angharad Morgan and Lucy Russell (UK FEMINISTA) offer training on dealing with online misogyny. For more details contact a.morgan10@lancaster.ac.uk
[1] http://the-classroom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Prejudice_And_Allport_Scale.pdf-1.pdf