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A protester holding a placard saying, educate your sons, during the vigil for Sarah Everard being held at Clapham Common
The hysteria generated over a small minority of badly behaved, violent boys has gone too far. Teaching them 'gender neutrality' and to resist 'macho, heterosexual' maleness is not the answer.
Fake news about men is making the rounds and at times it seems that young boys have become the target of a veritable crusade designed to tame them. Since the eruption of anxiety about a supposed rape culture afflicting British schools, the mantra of 'Educate Your Sons' is constantly echoed by politicians, campaigners and media influencers.
Leading the way is Police Minster Kit Malthouse, who declared that schools should teach boys how to treat girls and women with
respect. Numerous
commentaries in newspapers and on websites, with titles like:
"Schools are the best place to educate boys about how to respect women," echo a sense of urgency about what they present as a national crisis.
Unfortunately, the demand 'Educate Your Sons' is closely linked to the understandable outrage surrounding the
murder of Sarah Everard and a media focus on the apparent
rape culture haunting schools. In these circumstances
, the moral status of boys has been called into question and the insinuation that they are all potential abusers is frequently conveyed.
Comment: It's notable that, despite quite different situations, and irrefutable proof that lockdowns don't work - and worse - numerous countries throughout Europe are also reimposing livelihood destroying restrictions: