Research from the Children’s Commissioner for England has found that 79% of children have encountered violent pornography before they are 18. One-third of young people have reported receiving nude videos or photographs, with more than half sent from strangers.
There has also been a dramatic rise of hyper-masculine social media influencers, causing alarm among teachers and teaching unions. These influencers are exposing boys to violence against women as a form of biological entitlement, based on their view that males are an inherently superior sex.
Access to this online material has been linked by teachers to increases in sexual assault and misogynistic behaviour.
Research by two of us (Mullany and Trickett) investigating misogyny hate crime recommends education as a key way to tackle the root causes of misogyny. There have been calls from the National Police Chief’s Council to teach younger children in primary school the risks and harms of online misogyny, which aligns with our recommendations. Improving communication between schools and families is crucial so that messaging and advice about online misogyny is consistent.
