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Women are inferior, gays are weak and men need to be extremely muscular: toxic ideas from the ‘manosphere’ permeate schools. As many as 78 percent of teachers see that students are influenced by online content, according to research by the School & Safety Foundation.
“One student mentioned that if he had a girlfriend who did not want to have sex with him, she would not be suitable for him. He said that a woman should simply be available for him,” a teacher told the researchers. During a lesson on violence against women, a student reportedly told another teacher: “If a woman is beaten, she probably did something to deserve it.”
Researchers from Ipsos I&O, commissioned by the School & Safety Foundation, surveyed hundreds of schools about the manospherea network of social media channels that promote ‘traditional’ values of masculinity and femininity. The idea that a man is only worth something if he is dominant, rich and muscular, with a submissive, beautiful woman by his side, is gaining ground among influencers like manosphere head Andrew Tate quickly gaining ground in society.
And now it turns out: this also applies to the classroom. No fewer than 78 percent of secondary school teachers surveyed say they see young people influenced ‘to some extent’ by online content about masculinity, gender identity and interactions with women.
This manifests itself in different ways: from fixations on wealth or fitness to negative statements about women, transgender people or homosexuality. Also terms such as ‘alpha’ (dominant male), ‘beta’ (docile male) and ‘body count‘ (how many women a man has slept with) are regularly discussed in classrooms.
Decent social status
The really strong statements in class often come from just a small group of boys (one to three students), but their influence is great. These are the students with a considerable social status who encourage macho behavior in others. The behavior is also not limited to fellow students: about forty percent of teachers notice that boys are more likely to question the authority of female teachers than that of male colleagues.
The manosphere increasingly influences the atmosphere and safety in classrooms, the teachers see, but at the same time they do not know how to counter this. If a misogynistic comment is made ‘half-jokingly’, should you, as a teacher, say something about it? In practice, this turns out to be complicated, the researchers note.
State Secretary for Education Judith Tielen (VVD) is concerned about the impact of the manosphere on schools. “We need to make young people, and especially boys, more resilient to the misinformation that plays a role in this,” she says in response to the research. “Teachers need to feel well equipped to have those difficult conversations about these and other themes. That is why I want to see what other support and training is needed for this.”
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