Misogyny is often defined as contempt or hatred of women, but this has been critiqued for positioning misogyny as something that is too individualistic (Manne, 2017). Instead, misogyny has subsequently been conceptualised as something that is used as a tool to enforce the dominance of a patriarchal society (Manne, 2017). This can be enacted in physical or affective ways (Wrisley, 2021). In more contemporary times, in the wake of the #MeToo movement of 2017, online communities that display highly misogynistic attitudes have been created, operating under the umbrella of the so-called “manosphere” (e.g. Dickel & Evolvi, 2022). Many of these communities seek to provide a sense of belonging for disillusioned men who perceive themselves as victims of a “feminised society” (Bellerga & Zurbriggen; Botto & Gottzen, 2024). In an educational context, misogynistic cultures have been found to be normalised across schools (e.g. Gilander Gådin & Stein, 2019), where females experience a high level of hostility daily (e.g. Zhao et al., 2024). Schools are provided with guidance on approaching this topic, but research indicates that this is currently ineffective in responding to misogynistic incidents (Ging et al., 2024; Lloyd & Walker, 2023). This research explores how school staff understand misogyny, its impact on children and young people, and how their current policies influence their approach to the issue. Eight participants participated overall, where six contributed to a focus group, and four had semi-structured interviews. Two participants who had semi-structured interviews also participated in the focus group. Using a critical realist and feminist positioning, a reflexive TA approach (Braun & Clarke, 2022) was used to analyse the data in relation to the research aims. The first question sought to explore how staff understood misogyny and its impact on children and young people (CYP), where four themes were created: (i) misogyny is not a tangible issue, (ii) female experience in school, which has two sub-themes: the shame of being a female, and would this happen if I was a man?, (iii) it’s not your fault you think like this, and (iv) boys are scared they will be forgotten. The second research question explored how policies influenced staff approaches to responding to misogyny and also had four themes which were: (i) schools function on evidence and policies only, (ii) the disempowerment of staff, (iii) experiencing tensions which has two sub-themes; staff expectations vs. their values, and school vs. society, and (iv) positive relationships across the eco-system make a difference. The strengths and limitations of the research were considered, as well as the implications for schools and the EP profession, before concluding with future research possibilities.
