Sex education curriculum must address 'toxic masculinity', say students

Woman hand writing 'Sex Education' on green blackboard

The relationship and sexual education (RSE) school curriculum must address "toxic masculinity", the term used to describe how certain masculine traits cause harm to men, women, and others.

The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) told the Oireachtas committee on gender equality on Thursday that the current RSE curriculum is outdated and too focused on biology over consent. 

David Byrne, a researcher from the Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), told the committee that toxic masculinity is still evident in the classroom for certain male-dominated subjects. 

“I think beginning in primary, or even before that but beginning with education, we need to teach boys to not be that way," he said. 

We need to teach them there’s another way of behaving.

"It really is that simple, but it's extraordinarily complex. It will be very, very difficult to break that mould because it's such an ingrained habit." 

When asked by Fine Gael senator Regina Doherty about addressing this "culture", Emer Neville, ISSU president, said it's also a wider societal issue. 

“I think it's definitely something that the RSE curriculum could cover. It's something that should be taught at home and I think it should be taught at every level from primary to third-level as well." 

Examples of toxic masculinity affecting students include "young girls walking into a classroom and comments being made about their appearance" or sexist jokes being made about women belonging in the kitchen, she added. 

It’s not just in a classroom setting, it’s also 'men don't cry'. 

"Men need to be hard men and you have to act and look a certain way to be a man in Irish society."

Saoirse Exton, ISSU equality officer, said that education is crucial to what society will look like in the future. 

“Once it begins in the classroom, it can develop into much more serious things in adulthood," she said.

“Young men often learn from a young age that this is acceptable, that they can get away with certain things and this can be really, really harmful.” 

Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll O’Neill asked for examples of where "toxic masculinity" spills over outside school.

Intimate images shared

The sharing of intimate images is happening “everywhere”, Ms Exton said. “I  know girls that have had images shared among the boys in the classroom.” 

Statistics from the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland found that almost 50% of adolescents don’t know how to report sexual harassment.

“So, they just don’t [report it]," she said.

“Teen discos are the worse things that ever happened to Irish society. There are young women and men assaulted at those and again, nobody knows how to report them.

"I would know of several women that had been assaulted at teen discos on the same night."