Labour vows to deal with rising tide of sexism in lecture rooms
Labour will forge a generation of boys and young men who grow up respecting women, the party’s education spokesman has promised.
In an exclusive interview with the Mail, Bridget Phillipson warned there would be a ‘generation of misogynists’ without urgent action to stem the ‘rising tide’ of sexism in schools.
She said a Labour government would train boys to support classmates in challenging unacceptable attitudes and behaviour through a peer mentoring scheme.
Ms Phillipson said she was ‘really worried’ that the rise of people such as Andrew Tate, the controversial social media influencer and self-styled ‘king of toxic masculinity’, is affecting the actions of young people in schools.
‘I want to make sure that we have a generation of boys and young men who grow up respecting women, rather than the growing levels of misogyny we are seeing at the moment,’ she said.
Bridget Phillipson (right) made the comments as she visited a school in north London with reality TV star and campaigner Georgia Harrison (left)
Ms Phillipson said she was ‘really worried’ that the rise of people such as Andrew Tate (pictured), the self-styled ‘king of toxic masculinity’, is affecting the actions of young people in schools
‘I believe that young men have to be part of that solution. We’ve seen some great work that has been under way about making sure that young men have peer-to-peer mentoring so that young men can support one another in challenging unacceptable attitudes towards women.’
She said comments by Tate, who has millions of followers online and shows off a lavish lifestyle, are ‘influencing the behaviour and actions of young people within their schools’.
‘We’ve got to see tougher action on making sure that our young people aren’t being exposed to such hateful and harmful material.’
Tate is currently awaiting trial in Romania on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, which he denies.
Ms Phillipson made the comments as she visited a school in north London with reality TV star and campaigner Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn.
Ms Harrison, a former star of series The Only Way Is Essex, said that while tech companies must make it harder for children to access porn, boys need to be given role models to ‘teach them what truly is right’.
‘Because at the moment we can’t stop them from seeing this content which is influencing them to not only treat women in a disrespectful manner but […] it will eventually lead on to violence against women and girls – either domestic abuse in adult relationships or image-based sexual abuse which we’re seeing so much of in schools,’ she said.
Georgia Harrison (left), Yvette Cooper (centre) and Bridget Phillipson (right) talking to pupils at Whitfield School in Barnet
Harrison and Ms Phillipson were joined by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper as they sat in on a healthy relationships workshop at Whitefield School in Barnet, where pupils used drama and theatre techniques to understand when behaviour is harmful.
The shadow education secretary said she wanted to replicate this work across the country, and warned that without it ‘we risk a generation of young men who don’t respect women’.
She said there was a ‘rising tide of misogyny which then tips over into attitudes later in life’ – leading to violence against women and sexual abuse.
‘We’ve got to take action early to make sure that we aren’t storing up these problems for the future.
‘We already have rates of violence against women that are far too high, and we will work across government to bring that down.
‘It has to be about prosecuting and preventing, but we have to start when our children are younger to make sure they have healthy attitudes towards women, else we risk a generation of misogynists.’
She also said she wanted online giants to ‘do more to clamp down on some of the misogynistic content that is being shared’.
‘But also increasingly it is a risk to national security as hostile states will use it to pump out misinformation.
Bridget Phillipson and Sir Keir Starmer visit Nursery Hill Primary School in Nuneaton on June 10
‘I believe it is really important that young people have the critical thinking skills to be able to look at what is in front of them and make an assessment of that, which is where schools have to come in.
‘I am really worried about reports I hear both from young women in schools about the harassment and abuse they experience, but also increasingly staff, too, who are having to deal with it.
‘Its part of the pressure that lots of teachers are experiencing at the moment – unacceptable behaviour and that sadly does extend to sexist and misogynistic abuse.’
