Addressing the influence of online misogyny and the manosphere through RSHE/PSHE

You may have noticed that misogyny, toxic influences and other related issues have seen increasing media coverage recently.

This is partly due to the TV show ‘Adolescence’, which has garnered a lot of media attention and concern amongst those who may not otherwise have been aware of the extent of the issue.

While we have heard some suggestions that the series itself might be worth showing in class, we would be very wary of doing so given the issues it covers would need careful unpacking.

Aside from the fact that it carries a BBFC Age-15 rating (and therefore wouldn’t be appropriate for viewers under that age in schools), the practicalities of showing a four hour series in class without sufficient time to explore these themes would leave a lot of questions and concerns unresolved.

For some it may also prove shocking or triggering, although the issues it explores will be all too familiar to many young people already.

Instead, we would recommend addressing the underlying issues (including misogyny and toxic influences) via your planned PSHE/RSHE curriculum. And we’ve highlighted some of our most relevant guidance and resources below.

Firstly, we’ve made our ‘Addressing misogyny, toxic masculinity and social media influence through PSHE education’ guide free to all, as it includes practical advice on how to approach this difficult topic. It also includes links to useful teaching resources and relevant guidance you can draw upon, as well as key considerations of what to cover, and what to avoid. So please share widely, as we know schools are looking for advice in this area.

It’s also important to consider the complementary factors and related issues in your approach — not covering misogyny in isolation, but as part of a planned programme that may cover factors such as consent, harmful sexual behaviours and the impact of pornography.

Our Programme Builder tools will support you to do this and save you time in the process.

Don’t miss our new on-demand training course on effectively teaching about the harms of pornography, available as part of our School Plus membership package. This is in addition to our existing lesson packs on consent for KS1-5 as well as the 'Talk Relationships' lesson pack we worked on with the NSPCC that explores harmful sexual behaviour and other relevant topics.

We’d also encourage you to listen to (or read) 'Manosphere in the Mirror', a podcast episode from Fully Human, our research and development arm, which investigates what’s actually happening in the manosphere; how it’s affecting children and young people; and how we might respond.

This episode features our CEO Jono, in conversation with Professor Harriet Over and Dr David Zendle (both from the University of York) as well Fully Human's Research Director, Dr Elly Hanson, exploring and comparing their deep research into these questions.

It links to our wider work with the University of York, digging even deeper into this issue informed by teachers’ invaluable experience and unique perspectives of seeing this play out in schools — including in relation to misogyny against teachers themselves prompted by online influence.

76% of secondary school teachers and 60% of primary school teachers reported that they were extremely concerned about the influence of online misogyny in their schools.

(See the ‘Understanding the influence of online misogyny in schools from the perspective of teachers’ paper for further insights and latest research on the issue.)

The government’s ‘Education Against Hate’ initiative also has useful guidance on incels and online misogyny, which links to our guidance on supporting mental health and emotional wellbeing, as this too is an important factor to consider when supporting young people to resist the attraction of these destructive online cultures.