UK: Teach boys how to be feminists to stop culture of abuse towards girls, says Labour

Submitted by Mastodon on Tue, 2014-07-08 04:26

Article here. Excerpt:

"Schoolboys need to have lessons in feminism to help teach them out to treat women, Labour claims.

Compulsory sex education classes should be held in all schools to tackle the rise of sexist abuse fuelled by internet porn, Yvette Cooper said.

The shadow home secretary warned a culture is spreading in schools where girls are subject to verbal abuse and have their shirts undone and skirts lifted by boys who do not respect them.

Schools, colleges and universities are to be consulted on changes in rules – or the law – which are needed to tackle the problem.

Labour warns too many boys believe abuse is ‘normal’ and it is fuelling a culture of violence against women and girls.
...
She recalled one teacher describing how teenage girls face vile verbal abuse on a daily basis. 

Girls are 'heckled if they dare to speak in class, their shirts forcibly undone, their skirts lifted and held by groups of boys'.

She added: 'It would be easy and, let’s be honest, more comfortable, to dismiss this as a one off. Or the inevitable, temporary, rite of teenage passage. 

'After all, we all remember that hormonal mix of over-excited boys, irritated girls, and clumsy flirting that gets a bit out of hand.

'Sadly it’s rather more than that; it’s certainly not temporary, and the evidence shows it’s getting worse.'"

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"Girls are 'heckled if they dare to speak in class, their shirts forcibly undone, their skirts lifted and held by groups of boys'."

Is this even remotely believable on its face? If a teacher saw this behavior, would they not in fact call the police, esp. if the bad actors were old enough to know better?

Forgive my lack of more familiarity with UK party politics, but as I understand it, Labour is the self-billed more populist party, akin to the Democrats here in the US. Looks like Labour's taken a page from the Dem playbook and are trying to make themselves out to be the great defenders of women and girls.

This plot line's gotten old, yes?

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Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2014-07-08 04:52

I would create a cartoon...

A feminist (I will not say "woman") breaks her nail while, in the background, a man falls from a lifting crane. And she looks at her nail and says "Damn, this war on women."

A feminist (I will not say "woman") breaks her heel from her shoe while, in the background, a boy is admonished by a teacher. And she looks at her shoe and says "Damn, this war on women."

A feminist (I will not say "woman") steps back when a man does not hold a door for her. Meanwhile, in the background, a newspaper reports on 100 miners dead in an accident. And she looks at the door and says "Damn, this war on women."

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Submitted by ThomasI on Tue, 2014-07-08 06:41

Open a Kickstarter project. I'll be your first donor. :)

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Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2014-07-08 13:19