Monash University: PL Opportunity: Supporting schools to tackle the harmful influence of the Manosphere
Overview
The Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre (Dr Naomi Pfitzner, Deputy Director, and Dr Sarah McCook, Research Fellow) together with colleagues from the Arts and Education faculties at Monash University (Dr Stephanie Westcott, Professor Steven Roberts and Dr Alex Phelan) have been awarded a research grant to develop and pilot a professional learning program to support secondary school teachers to address the harmful impacts of online misogyny and the manosphere on boys and young men in schools.
The pilot professional learning program has been developed with input from young people and school stakeholders. The pilot will be offered throughout August and September 2025. The project team will also be evaluating the pilot program with optional evaluation activities held between August and December 2025.
Background
Growing evidence shows that misogynistic discourses expressed in the “Manosphere”—a loosely incorporated group of websites and online communities characterised by anti- feminist rhetoric and gender-based discrimination—are gaining traction in Australian schools. Popular masculinity influencers, like Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson and others, promote content that challenges progress towards gender equality, reasserts traditional gender roles, and promotes men’s rights and sexist attitudes. Recent research shows that these ideas are influencing boys and young men and having harmful impacts in Australian schools for their peers and their teachers (Wescott, Roberts and Zhao, 2023). Students who view such content have been found to hold troubling views on relationships, including supporting controlling, disrespectful and violent behaviours. This is a critical juncture for Australian schools working to build gender equity and address gender-based violence.
Pilot opportunity
We are seeking support from Independent and Catholic secondary schools across Australia to promote the professional learning opportunity and facilitate recruitment of interested school staff to participate in the pilot professional learning program. The professional learning program will be delivered free of charge. Educators and schools will not have to pay to participate.
The professional development program will be delivered online over two 90-minute sessions. The sessions will be held over two consecutive weeks and scheduled after school hours. It is expected that participants will attend both sessions. The sessions will be co- facilitated by two members of the project team.
Agreeing to participate in the pilot does not mean that you are required to guarantee a certain number of educators from your school will participate in the professional learning program. We are simply seeking your support in promoting the opportunity among your colleagues and wider networks.
Please note: To help support the effectiveness of the training program, we are asking interested teachers and school staff to provide written approval from their school leadership to complete the pilot professional learning. This is in acknowledgement that existing evidence clearly demonstrates that best practice for gender equity initiatives and respectful relationships education means adopting whole-of-school approaches with leadership support (Our Watch, 2025).
Research opportunity
As part of this project, we will also be evaluating the pilot program. All training attendees will be invited to participate in the evaluation research as will representatives from leadership teams of participating schools. There is no reimbursement for participating in the evaluation research.
For further information on the evaluation activities, please contact the project team using the dedicated project email: SupportingSchools@monash.edu
Funding acknowledgement
This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services through a research grant from the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).
Contact us: If you are interested in this opportunity or have any questions, please contact a member of the project team using the dedicated email above or the following details:
Project Lead: Dr Naomi Pfitzner
P: (03) 9905 8048
Project Manager: Dr Sarah McCook
E: sarah.mccook@monash.edu E: naomi.pfitzner@monash.edu
