We are hearing increasingly from schools about an upsurge in misogynistic behaviour and attitudes. Many school staff have only latterly become aware of one ignominious Andrew Tate.
Tate’s influence is far-reaching. However, when his message is challenged staff are being met with a defensive backlash from teenage boys. Some schools have decided to avoid any mention of him on the grounds that doing so might then “advertise him” to students.
I disagree. To ignore him and avoid these challenging conversations arguably allows his influence to increase unchecked and leaves girls feeling powerless and frustrated in responding to the misogyny they experience.
It also misses vital opportunities to educate and support boys. As Lucy Emmerson wrote in SecEd earlier this year when discussing Andrew Tate: “Misogyny is not new, and it’s not made by children. It is important that boys are not blamed for its existence, and that there is a focus on the choices people have about how to behave in different situations they may encounter now and in the future.”
When we let harmful influences and attitudes go unaddressed, we await passively the time when those behaviours are evidenced in harmful, abusive, and criminal behaviour – at which point it is too late: the damage has already been done.
There are also clear links to the Incel phenomenon, which has become a rapidly emerging threat to young males and a key focus on our safeguarding work in schools (for more, see Elizabeth Rose’s recent article on this topic).
As schools we are often reactive. But if we are to adequately care for our students, we must be proactive when it comes to discrimination, harassment, and misogyny. We must go looking for it, call it out and address its underlying causes.
However, we can’t call it out if we don’t even notice it. So this is the starting point.
Noticing it
Notice the unconscious sexism and misogyny that is embedded in our systems, language, and practices
This is no easy thing. My advice is to prioritise whole staff training on this in the next year. If you want to change culture then staff need to understand unconscious bias, explore their own biases, and feel equipped to address the bias in their own language, classrooms, teaching and curriculum.
This starts small – the “your mum” jokes, the “man-up” comments, the “grow a pair” references, the “I need some big strong boys to help me move these chairs” requests, the “like a girl” put-downs.
All of these have at their core a misogynistic derision of women and girls that has typically gone unnoticed.
Then there’s the lack of representation of women in our curriculum and our chosen texts and examples – women relegated to the sidelines in so many pursuits. But many of us didn’t notice.
Go looking for it
Start from the assumption that misogyny is entrenched, then determine to root it out
Misogyny and sexism are so normalised that most will not even consider reporting it unless it leads to an overt act of abuse. Looking for it means you proactively educate about it, label it and listen.
For example, in all my teaching years I have never heard any students tell a rape joke. Thus, I have never had a conversation with a student about rape jokes nor sanctioned anyone for telling them.
However, when I recently asked a whole year group of year 7 students whether they had heard a rape joke this term, every single one of them put their hand up. I then asked them to keep their hand raised if they had reported it. Nobody did.
This is common. But the looks on their teachers’ faces were telling – they had no idea, because they had never asked the question. The same goes for sexual harassment.
So what is to be done?
First, educate: many women and girls have not been aware of the extent to which they have experienced and lived with sexual harassment (nor have boys been aware of how much they have perpetrated it) because they didn’t know what sexual harassment is.
Second, label it. Call it what it is. Misogyny, harassment, discrimination. Misogyny is not designated as a hate crime, but as Lucy Emmerson points out in her article, cited above, the Equality Act 2010 provides a framework that protects people from discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics, including sex and gender reassignment. So many incidents that take place in your school will be illegal.
Third, listen. Surveys, anonymous reporting systems and clear behaviour codes need to be explicit and accessible. A common comment from victims goes along the lines of: “I didn’t report it because I couldn’t prove it, it would be their word against mine. I thought reporting it would make things worse.”
This represents a distrust of the school systems and a concerning perception that the system favours the perpetrators not the victims. The same goes for Andrew Tate. If we don’t ask the questions…
- How many of you follow him?
- Why do you like him?
- What does he say about women and girls?
- What does he believe about masculinity?
…then we can’t know and address the messages that are being propagated.
Respond to it
And now we need to respond – but how exactly should we respond? Here are some tips for handling conversations about Andrew Tate:
Avoid ‘demonising’ him: Labelling him as misogynistic or “bad” tends to illicit an immediate defensive response among most boys that ends up being counterproductive. To many of them he is a genuine hero and role model, the Top G (gangster). They want to be like him. Attacking him will feel like a personal insult and they will defend him and feel a sense of injustice. So, allow them to talk about why they follow him.
Teach how to distinguish between positive and negative messages: The bottom line is the human rights of all and the Equality Act 2010. Students need to be clear that it is illegal to discriminate against a person because of their biological sex or any other protected characteristic. This is sexism. And that messaging and attitudes which undermine a person’s human rights, their rights over their own body, and their right to be treated equally is against the law.
Educate about hate speech and freedom of speech: Many boys feel that Tate is being victimised and silenced by a “woke” media machine which is trying to stifle freedom of speech. They like Tate because he “says it like it is” and “speaks the truth”. So they feel his cancellation on social media channels is unjust. This stems from a misunderstanding of the right to freedom of expression. Students need to understand that freedom of speech is not freedom of hate speech. Here’s the definition: “Threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause, another person harassment, alarm or distress.” This is why Tate has been removed from social media channels – because his views qualify as hate speech.
Talk about Tate’s view of men, masculinity and strength: Much of Tate’s rhetoric and imagery centres around a traditional, “old school” view of what a “real man” is: physically strong, well built, attractive, powerful, financially successful, unemotional, sexually prolific and/or dominant. And by implication the converse of these is seen to be negative (and feminine): weak, financially dependent, emotional, sexually submissive, or “frigid” etc. There is a hugely important conversation to have here about gender stereotypes and the huge diversity of men and women and those who prefer to identify as neither. The danger for young boys is that they measure themselves by a definition of manhood that is neither attainable nor desirable.
Watch some clips of Tate and dissect them: Use these questions to discuss them:
- How might this clip/message be positive?
- How might it be negative?
- Are there any human rights which are being undermined in this clip?
- Is there any hate speech in this clip?
- Is the portrayal of women positive or negative in this clip?
- Is the portrayal of manhood/masculinity healthy or unhealthy in this clip?
- Are there any generalisations made which are inaccurate or unhelpful?
Final thought
None of this can be done effectively by having a one-off assembly or tutorial on misogyny. This kind of education is on-going, relational, and informal. Look for the opportunities to have meaningful conversations with students: encourage dialogue and critical thinking. These conversations matter.
Peter Radford, founder of Beyond This, is a former teacher and school leader. He now delivers student workshops and staff training on a range of RSHE and Careers issues including all aspects of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Find his previous articles for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/peter-radford/. Peter’s annual conference for schools, FREE & EQUAL? takes place on October 13 and is streamed LIVE to schools nationwide. See www.freeandequal.co.uk
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