Sexism, Misogyny & Sexual Harassment Workshop

This week Peter Radford talked to students in years 11, 12 and 13 about society's views towards women and how 'influencers' like Andrew Tate are creating entrenched and harmful gender stereotypes which need to be challenged.

There has been a rise in disrespectful behaviour towards females across the UK since the pandemic, and Peter's interactive workshops encouraged debate around sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment, whilst also challenging preconceived ideas and stereotypes so that students could make informed choices going forward. 

The workshops focused on:

• unconscious bias and systemic discrimination
• sexual harassment and how to address it
• the portrayal of women historically and in modern media
• masculinity and what it means to be male
• power and consent
• rape culture and its effects
• the impact of pornography
• what it means to be feminist

Students were shown how assumptions that aren't true can easily become stereotypes. If these are not questioned they can then lead to prejudice (a negative thought) and in turn discrimination (a negative action). This concept was perfectly illustrated when students were shown the 'throw like a girl' commercial.

Further discussions asked the female students to share times when they had experienced misogyny and how it made them feel, alongside pressures experienced by male students to act a certain way and 'be a man'. 

Freedom of speech was brought into the mix, as students discussed the views of Andrew Tate, and Peter reminded the students that each and every one of them has the power to change negative views and create a fair and just society.

Peter explained after the first workshop that his experience of being bullied at school led to his passion for justice, and that during his time as a teacher of Religious Education his approach to child and human rights education led to his school being recognised as a Rights Respecting School.

We would like to thank Peter for creating such an informative and impactful workshop which our students thoroughly engaged with.

UNITY RESPECT EXCELLENCE