The manosphere is driving a surge in misogyny in schools, with teenage boys refusing to acknowledge female teachers or even mix with girls in their class.
Earlier this year, teaching union NASUWT warned that a ‘masculinity crisis is brewing’ after nearly a quarter of female teachers reported being subjected to misogynistic abuse in the classroom.
That figure has continuously risen over the past four years. Some teachers described feeling ‘humiliated’ and ‘demeaned’ after being ignored by male pupils.
It is something charity founders and filmmakers Alex Williams and Dwayne Gumbs have witnessed first-hand alongside their team on visits to schools to try and tackle those harmful ideologies head-on.
Through their charity Diverse Voices, the London-based pair use their skills to find creative ways to encourage young people from vulnerable communities to express themselves on sensitive topics.
Over the past 16 years, their workshops have been delivered to 40,000 pupils at more than 100 schools up and down the country.
Their work has exposed how harmful views capable of leading to violence against women and girls can be formed at an alarmingly young age.
Children’s views are increasingly being shaped online and in the playground, where they spend most of their time during the week.
Alex tells Metro: ‘We have seen as social media and the online world has developed, that young people have more access to information.
‘The scary part is, who is providing that information? What attitudes are being adopted from the influencers that they are engaging with online?’
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Nearly two-thirds of young men watch so-called ‘masculinity’ influencers, according to The Children’s Society.
Manosphere content exposes them to negative attitudes towards women and girls – objectifying them, dehumanising them and portraying them as inferior.
The manosphere is a loose network of digital forums and groups claiming to address men’s struggles.
But it often promotes harmful views of women and girls, while misrepresenting men as the oppressed victims of feminism.
‘A really big change I’ve noticed is the separation between boys and girls,’ Alex says of the workshops.
‘10 years ago, if you said in a classroom, “Guys, let’s get into groups”, there would be mixed groups.
‘Now if you say it, the boys will be on one side, and the girls will be on one side, and when you actually encourage mixing these groups, they are out of their comfort zone.
‘But we see that as an important thing to do because it’s not about singling out any gender around this education – it is about shared attitudes, boys who can become potential perpetrators but also girls knowing what shouldn’t be normalised as attitudes and actually being able to have that conversation in mixed groups.
‘But I think that just seeing that separation is something which, especially over the last three years, is something which has really changed.
‘It’s the culture that they’re exposed to online, the fact that boys are consuming a certain type of media and listening to a certain type of influencer and I guess not being exposed to the views of girls and women.
‘Taking that a step further, we’ve had male students who refuse to take instruction from female members of staff. Like, literally stonewall, “I’m not listening, I can’t hear you, I can’t see you”.
‘And yet, a male voice would say something a minute later, and they would react.
‘So, that takes that kind of classroom separation to the next level, where it actually impacts their behaviour and how they engage with teaching staff.’
Dwayne adds: ‘If they’re grouping together in these mini ecosystems around people they feel comfortable having these conversations with, then that just fuels the transfer of misinformation and ignorant views.
‘An important part of what we are really trying to do is to open the conversation up and create an environment where the majority of the learning comes from peer-to-peer conversations, as opposed to us lecturing them about what’s right and what’s wrong.’
To do that, Alex and Dwayne have created short films that feature within a learning portal tailored for both primary and secondary school audiences.
After an initial icebreaker task to encourage everyone to feel comfortable sharing their views, the groups are shown a short film tailored to their ages.
It is accompanied by a discussion on the issues it depicts, including relationships and pressure to have sex, consent, intimate image abuse, self-image and controlling and coercive behaviour.
The young people are asked whether the behaviour shown is ‘acceptable’, ‘unacceptable’ or ‘questionable’.
‘Seeing that through the lens of the film, you really see a lot of bright eyes kind of going, “Ah”, whereas they wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about these things if we were questioning them on what they are doing themselves,’ Alex says.
‘But actually having these characters as a focal point gives them the freedom to say their opinions.’
The conversation is then opened up to feedback on what was discussed in the groups to the whole class, before staff explain healthy approaches and laws surrounding the topic.
‘We’re really empowering them to kind of take ownership of having these discussions, empowering them to feel that their voice is valid and heard,’ Dwayne says.
‘Really, it’s just about facilitating the conversation in a way where a light could be shone on healthy views and opinions that are aired by the students, and really be used to kind of make the point, as opposed to it come directly from the adult in the room.’
The charity also enables schools to continue lessons using resources it has created.
Dwayne says: ‘It’s not an expectation that one conversation is going to change people’s opinions. But it’s continuing that conversation over a period of time and also opening the doors for young people to feel that they can have these conversations with their teachers, with the adults around them, regardless of whether it’s within a program of learning or not.’
Alex says: ‘By the end of that program, they haven’t just been spoken to by a classroom teacher or by us – they’ve actually engaged, interacted, and are now in control of changing the outcomes, which then empowers them to do the same thing in their own lives.
‘We have great results and we have evidence that changes happen. Beyond just those lessons, we have teachers reporting that they overhear the conversations even continuing in the playground.’
The pair emphasise the important role men can play in tackling violence against women and girls.
‘A lot of what we’re actually asking boys to unlearn, they are learning from men,’ Alex says.
‘So, that just puts the responsibility on us as men to actually be positive role models and to affect change.’
For more information on the charity Diverse Voices’ and their resources you can visit https://www.diversevoices.co.uk/ or email info@diversevoices.co.uk
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