In a feature for Cosmopolitan UK, Tender CEO Susie McDonald commented on feminism and toxic masculinity in schools. The features explores new research from Vodafone which found 70% of teachers report witnessing a rise in sexist language in the classroom over the past year. One in five parents, moreover, say they’ve also noticed a gradual change in the language their sons use to talk about women and girls.

My ambition would be that every child has a really high-quality relationship education.

Susie said: ‘As a charity, we focus on preventing domestic abuse and sexual violence and because we’re focusing on prevention, we mainly work with children and young people to enable them to build the skills, knowledge and language to be able to articulate what healthy relationships are.

‘While the focus has always been on intimate and romantic relationships, the work can and does begin in primary school where children can be looking at friendships. The skills that they can be equipped with at primary school can be used to inform the way that they then choose to have romantic relationships – and you can build on that as they mature into young adults who might be thinking about romance and intimacy in those relationships.

‘My ambition would be that every child has a really high-quality relationship education. There is the relationships and sex education curriculum which is quite broad; it’s not really fit for purpose in the way that it is delivered. Often the feedback from the sessions we run in schools is ‘Oh, I thought that most people thought the same as me but it turns out actually people have quite different opinions about what is healthy behaviour and what is unhealthy behaviour’.

‘We’re doing a massive disservice to our young boys and men by not looking at how to protect them from the vulnerabilities of being a young boy and man.’

Read the full article at Cosmopolitan UK.

Help us support more children and young people. Donate to Tender now.