There is a risk associated with any effort to talk about policies relating to boys and men on their own terms – that is, without reference to women and girls. It is understandable that until recently, sex inequality has focused primarily on females, and of course, women and girls can still experience very real disadvantages. But there is a sense that any focus on men and boys is acceptable only when it positively impacts the lives of the opposite sex. This is because many policymakers view masculinity through a feminist lens, and the assumption is that it is only possible for sex inequality to run one way.
The reality is very different. The attainment gap at school is well documented. The latest Government data release (2022/23) shows a similar picture to the years previously. At the end of reception, under two-thirds of boys had a ‘good level of development’ at age five, compared to approximately three-quarters of girls. By the end of compulsory secondary education, girls did better at every Department for Education measure than boys. Boys are twice as likely to be suspended, and more than twice as likely to be permanently excluded from school. Within Higher Education, 54% of women attended university compared to 14% of males. White male British pupils eligible for Free School Meals were among the least likely to progress to university by age 19 in 21/22. Young men are more likely to be Not in Education, Employment or Training. Suicide is still the biggest killer of men under 50.
The status quo is not getting any better. Yet over the past decade, an ideology that frames masculinity as destructive or ‘toxic’ has crept into mainstream thinking. ‘Toxic masculinity’ refers to the notion that there is something inherent to masculinity (traits relating to manhood and by extension boyhood) that is socially destructive. If masculinity is toxic, all boys and men must be too. Rather than addressing the challenges boys are facing today, these beliefs suggest the issue lies with boys themselves. Arguably it is not a coincidence that extremist figures such as Andrew Tate have become more popular, with a minority of boys and young men turning to dark corners of the internet in search of an identity which has been deemed as toxic from inception elsewhere.
There has been growing concern over the last several years regarding Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RSHE) in schools. The content children are being taught, and the age at which they are taught it, has been the subject of an intense public debate. These concerns have generally arisen due to the fact that a contested set of beliefs about sex and gender have become embedded within many schools.
That is why the Family Education Trust sought to understand the extent to which this approach to masculinity is emerging within the classroom. In July 2024, we sent out over 300 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to schools in England to assess the prevalence of schools teaching ‘toxic masculinity’.
We found that 3 in 10 schools surveyed are teaching pupils about the concept of toxic masculinity. We also found that 5 per cent of schools are teaching that men and boys possess traits that are toxic for society, and that 4 per cent of schools surveyed teach pupils that young men as a category are problematic.
Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RSHE) is unique from most other subjects taught at school. This is because of its nature as containing highly sensitive and personal material which deals with contemporary issues that bear societal significance far beyond the remit of the schools in charge of teaching it. Although outside of the scope of this report, there is a legitimate question to be asked as to the extent to which the State should yield any responsibility at all for matters which relate so intrinsically to private and family life. However, this paper contributes to a growing body of literature which aims to think critically about the content our children are being taught, regardless of the good intentions of the education system discharged with teaching it. Children and young people should be encouraged to view themselves beyond the narrow confines of their protected characteristics. We start from the premise that equality of opportunity for every child should be prioritised, without imposing on them partisan ideas that atomise people into separate groups.
Relationships, Health and Sex Education must stop imposing partisan ideas on kids that atomise people into separate groups
