Art and Activism… Challenging the Manosphere: Changing Perspectives on Relationships From a Boys and Young Men’s Perspective

Teaching relationship education (RSE) can be a challenge in schools, and teachers in England are being encouraged to challenge “incel” culture and misogyny through the relationship, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum within schools (Adams et al 2023). One in six boys aged six to 15 in the UK have heard of Andrew Tate, a social media influencer and self-styled "king of toxic masculinity", and 23% of boys aged 13-15 have a positive image of him (YouGov, 2023). Educational policy recommendations around Prevent and surveillance are designed to counteract boys’ and young men being radicalised into the ‘manosphere’. However, there’s limited research how effective this is (Stahl, et al 2022), and how able teachers are to raise questions about toxic masculinity within a school environment. Between 2012 -2020 we delivered relationship education in schools in Greater Merseyside, UK. This paper presents findings from three all boys schools, working with 72 boys aged 14-15 on a domestic violence and abuse (DVA) prevention project, after the project the boys delivered school assemblies on health and unhealthy relationships to 550 of their peers. The paper presents a case study based on our experiences of using arts and drama to deliver workshop sessions that challenged negative gendered perspectives of relationships. We gathered rich qualitative data during the project which enabled us to explore and understand how the boys’ perceived gender and relationships. We argue arts-based methods can be an effective form of activism to engage boys and young men in discussions of masculinities, relationships, consent and gendered violence. Art enabled the boys and young men to express themselves through creative methods, and workshops explored issues around consent, clothing, and victim blaming, domestic abuse, football related violence, and male rape. We explored the role social media plays in reinforcing, and challenging, negative gender stereotypes and future relationships. It demonstrates the value of the arts as a tool for exploring the social world, especially sensitive topics such as domestic abuse and relationship education.