A new study into the 'manosphere' has shown that 90% of secondary school teachers and 68% of primary teachers strongly feel that schools would benefit from teaching material addressing online misogyny.
Researchers at the University of York spoke to 200 teachers across secondary and primary schools
There has been little research relating to how online influencers are affecting the behaviours and experiences of children, but recent polls have shown that the impact of individuals, such as Andrew Tate, is far reaching among young people, with one survey suggesting that 80% of 16 and 17 year-old British boys have consumed content created by Tate for example.
Researchers at the University of York spoke to 200 teachers across secondary and primary schools in the UK and asked them a series of questions about online misogyny in their school. Psychologists asked teachers to rate how concerned they were about the problem, describe cases they have encountered, if they had witnessed online misogyny influencing behaviours, and if they had been personally affected by it.
They also asked them about whether their school was currently tackling the issue and what they felt would be positive ways to address it.
Inequality
Professor Harriet Over, from the University of York's Department of Psychology said: "There has been an increase over the past 15 years in social media influencers or self-styled 'life couches' pushing a narrative that attempts to legitimise inequality for women in the workspace and wider society, acts of sexual violence, and verbal abuse. We can see from recent surveys that these views reach a wide online audience, which includes young people and children.
"What we don't know is how much impact it is having on the social and educational development of children and teenagers, and the best place to try and see this is within schools where both boys and girls have to interact with each other, as well as teachers, in a learning environment.
"What was particularly striking about our results was that whilst 76% of secondary school teachers reported being strongly concerned about the influence that online misogyny has on their pupils, Primary School teachers were not too far behind that at 60%, suggesting that education about misogyny in the online and social media space needs to start much earlier than we might have originally thought."
Inappropriate behaviour
The team found that 38% of secondary school teachers referenced male pupils making misogynistic comments; 14% referenced male pupils engaging in discriminatory or inappropriate behaviour, and 14% of teachers referenced male pupils disrespecting female members of staff relative to male members of staff. They also reported 26% of teachers referenced male pupils discussing misogynistic influencers like Andrew Tate or misogynistic movements from the internet, such as incels.
At primary school level, 23% of teachers referenced their male pupils making misogynistic comments, with 12% of primary school teachers referencing their male pupils engaging in discriminatory or inappropriate behaviour, and 8% referenced male pupils disrespecting female members of staff relative to male members of staff. Just under 20% of primary school teachers referenced male pupils discussing misogynistic online influencers.
Female teachers
Dr David Zendle, from the University of York's Department of Psychology, said: "We asked teachers to demonstrate their concerns with examples they have experienced most recently, and the feedback we got ranged from young boys not understanding what 'consent' meant, using discriminatory language towards female students in relations to what jobs they are suitable for, excluding female pupils from activities on the grounds that it was for 'boys only', and physical abuse.
"There was a higher rate of disrespectful behaviour toward female teachers compared to male, and teachers reporting that when male students were challenged on their behaviour toward female students, some have referenced having watched online influencers, such as Andrew Tate, in their response."
Complex issue
The research showed that dedicated classes seeking to help children critically reflect on misogynistic content was relatively rare, and yet the overwhelming majority of secondary and primary school teachers felt strongly that specific resources were needed to tackle the problem, rather than it being put together with lessons on topics that address equality and discrimination in society.
Professor Over said: "What we need to do as the next step is to see what impact this has on the boys themselves. Does this behaviour hinder their educational progress for example, and are they more likely to face disciplinary actions within and outside of school due to their behaviour.
"We also need to look at this complex causal relationship over a longer period of time and understand if the frequency of which children are exposed to these views online makes a difference to behaviour, and crucially what children themselves think about misogyny online and its impact on them."
The research is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
