Teachers describe a deterioration in behaviour and attitudes that has proved to be fertile terrain for misogynistic influencers

“As soon as I mention feminism, you can feel the shift in the room; they’re shuffling in their seats.” Mike Nicholson holds workshops with teenage boys about the challenges of impending manhood. Standing up for the sisterhood, it seems, is the last thing on their minds.

When Nicholson says he is a feminist himself, “I can see them look at me, like, ‘I used to like you.’”

Once Nicholson, whose programme is called Progressive Masculinity, unpacks the fact that feminism means equal rights and opportunities for women, many of the boys with whom he works are won over.

“A lot of it is bred from misunderstanding and how the word is smeared,” he says.

But he is battling against what he calls a “dominance-based model” of masculinity. “These old-fashioned, regressive ideas are having a renaissance, through your masculinity influencers – your grifters, like Andrew Tate.”

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
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    9 months ago

    This comment is somehow both extremely misogynistic and misandrist at the same time.

    Men and women deserve respect. Men and women are responsible for their own actions. These two statements should not be controversial

    • maness300@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Literally nothing about my comment said or implied that men or women do not deserve respect or that either aren’t responsible for their actions.