What about the boys?

Gender equality in the classroom

  • Target group: Contact teachers in upper secondary school and at STX/HF and teachers focusing on health and sex education and family literacy.
  • Purpose of the teacher course: The course supports The purpose of primary school and the purpose of upper secondary education.
  • The course includes:
    • A teacher-facing podcast.
    • Introductory background material.
    • Material foruse in staff meetingsand professional discussions in a collegial context.
    • Didactized material for use with students to enable you to discuss gender and equality.

“Give time! We have so much to do, but we need to give students time. The open-ended questions can be time-consuming, but it is in these that we sense the students. It’s about creating a good and trusting space where statements are grasped, respectfully unfolded and where we constantly change perspective. It is important that we as teachers takeup the debate and not wait for the students.“

– Statements from two secondary school teachers in connection with the development of the current teacher training course.

How you can use the course:

  1. Listen to the podcast (25 minutes)
  2. Read at least one of the attached articles in the background material – and preferably more (20-80 minutes)
  3. Discuss with your colleagues (45 minutes)
  4. Bring up the topic with your students (45-180 minutes)

Introduction to What about the boys? Gender equality in the classroom

During a series of visits to more than 200 middle and high school students across the country during the fall of 2022, we experienced some new challenges when talking about gender and equality. Several young boys did not want to participate in the discussion or withdrew if the discussion became intense. At the same time, we found that the conversations could contain strong attitudes and stereotypical gender norms, thoughts about boys being lost in the education system and girls getting high grades, dominating universities and getting good jobs. Thoughts of fear of false rape accusations appeared in several places. Finally, there was a pronounced skepticism about the equal pay challenge between men and women and a pronounced need to get “proof” with valid sources of information. The boys thus visibly indicated that there were elements of the gender, social and equality debate that they had difficulty finding their place in.

At the same time, we found that as a counter-reaction to these experiences, the boys turned to a number of influencers with strong anti-feminist and misogynistic attitudes. If these influencers were brought up, several of the boys were interested in discussing and signaling in the classroom that they either supported them or were fascinated by them. It became clear that the boys were not done discussing, but that they felt that there were other things at stake for them than what is usually discussed when the topic is gender and equality. Several of the students themselves pointed out that social media is not the best place to discuss and debate because the tone is harsh and polarization is evident. They asked for spaces and opportunities to discuss in the physical world and pointed to the classroom as an option. They asked for adults to help open such spaces, but also emphasized that they didn’t want to be taught right and/or wrong. They wanted to discuss it.

This material has been created based on the range of student reactions we encountered in the schools, where we ultimately experienced a large group of students who were very interested in discussing gender and equality, but lacked a facilitator who could set up a good democratic framework and ground rules for conversations like these. We therefore want this course package and the accompanying student-oriented teaching material to add more nuances to the palette for the important conversations about gender and equality, and for you as a teacher to be equipped for this.

Podcast – What about the boys? Gender equality in the classroom

In 25 minutes, we delve into the current issue of some young boys turning to current gender equality debates and becoming fascinated by controversial movements and influencers in response .

The experts: Mikkel Thorup, historian of ideas and author of the book Antifeminism, and Loke BisbjergNielsen, active at the organization DareGender, present possible working methods that can create a framework for good gender equality and gender discussions and that can contribute to an understanding of the boys’ thoughts. The conversation is facilitated by Education and Development Officer, Signe Slot Stauning, and the podcast is produced and edited by Marie Haaning. Rikke Lie Halberg is the project manager and the graphics are made by Katrine Bælum.

Listen to the podcast here

Inspirational material: Get ready to create gender and equality education

In addition to the podcast above, thecourse packagecontains a number of articles, films and methods that can be used in the preparation workprior to the training. Overall, theelementsare structuredaround material that can be read, watched, done or listened to. In this regard, we have spoken to teachers, all of whom have given their suggestions on how to best approach this topic and have incorporated their suggestions into the material. With this background material, it becomes possible to address gender and equality debates in the classroom and understand what moves the students.

Inspiration material

Read: International Men's Day - hey brother, can you feel yourself?

Signe Gissel Schmidt focuses on some of the structures and cultures that characterize the lives of boys and men.

Read: He is called the "king of toxic masculinity". And he has worshippers in every schoolyard

Frederik Kulager gives an overview of influencer Andrew Tate, his statements and his importance as an influencer.

Read and listen: The history of misogyny stretches from Aristotle to Incels - how do we make misogyny history?

Sara Kamna Rasted Suri presents the podcast Brainstorm 37 minutes) which puts today's trends into historical relief.

Read: How dangerous is Jordan B. Peterson, the rightwing professor who 'hit a hornets' nest'?

Dorian Lynskey provides insight into Jordan B Peterson's opinions and work as a psychologist. Jordan B. Peterson has not been the dominant figure in elementary schools, but has a following in high schools and universities.

Listen: Tik Tok Tate

Christian Mogensen, lecturer and special consultant at the Center for Digital Pedagogy, explains the (internet) phenomenon Andrew Tate and gives advice on how to meet young people who are caught by Tate's statements.

See: The feminist in Cellblock Y

Eugene Debbs explores how toxic ideals of masculinity are oppressive to men and boys. Show it to your students and use it as a starting point for a debate about what gender ideals the inmates encounter versus those that exist in Danish society.

Explore: The Democratic Pedagogy method

The method and approach can help you with a structure for conversations about gender and equality challenges that values individual learner opinions, focuses on developing students' personal values, democratic participation and their ability to think of alternatives to the status quo.

Elaborate: Democratic pedagogy

If you want to delve deeper into democratic pedagogy, you can be inspired by these exercises from the Democratic Pedagogy Knowledge Site.

Discussion guides for use in a collegial context

Below you will find exercises you can use with your colleagues to identify gender issues in the classroom and reflect on how you can address them together.

Discussion guides for use in a collegial context

Walk and listen

Let your school team members put our podcast on their phones and leave the school grounds on a walk for the 25 minutes of the podcast. Prepare them beforehand so they bring headphones. Along the way, they should consider whether anything they hear could apply to their students and whether they have experienced that their boys are sometimes crowded out or forgotten in the gender equality debate. They can write down their thoughts along the way. When everyone returns, collect the thoughts and considerations that have arisen during the trip. This is done on a whiteboard/smartboard or other place where everyone can follow along. This summary should help to highlight the places where you feel that your boys could use a democratic discussion space, which you should help to construct. Then let our suggestions for working with gender and equality debates in the classroom inspire you to have these discussions. If your colleagues are not interested in a walk and listen, you can listen to our podcast together and then continue as above.

International Men's Day - hey brother, can you feel yourself?

An alternative to the walk and listen is to read "Mændenes internationale kampdag - hej bror, kan du mærke dig dig selv?", where Signe Gissel Schmidt focuses on some of the structures and cultures that characterize the lives of boys and men. Then you'll have the same progress as if you had listened to our podcast.

Working with gender and equality debates in the classroom

We have selected a number of articles, films and methods that can be used to build a didactic framework for conversations about gender and equality. In the same way that the preparation material was built around material that can be read, watched, done or listened to, this is also the case for what we suggest you use with your students.In this regard, we have spoken to a group of young boys who have contributed their thoughts on how they would like to work with these topics.

Working with gender and equality debates in the classroom

Watch and discuss: Can an Andrew Tate fan and opponent meet in the middle? (4:33)

This video is suggested by the students themselves. Sebastian, aka Glorious Svend, meets Jesper, who is an Andrew Tate supporter. The two debaters explore their respective positions and contradictions in an alternative debate format. You can do the same exercise with the students.

Watch and explore: The feminist in Cellblock Y (1:15:00)

Use it as a starting point for debate. Together with the students, investigate which gender ideals the inmates encounter versus those that exist in Danish society and in the lives of the young boys.

Do: Make a list of all the male equality struggles that students can think of or that students think we should address.

Let them discuss the themes as they go. (Note: In our experience, after doing this exercise with more than 200 students, they can think of male maternity leave as the only example).

Do: Create a list of women's equality struggles that ultimately benefited all genders.

Examples include when women entered the labor market in the 1960s and secured a higher income for many families, or when abortion became a right and benefited both men and women. In this way, gender equality struggles are highlighted as actions that address society as a whole. (Note: In our experience, students are more trained and can think of more gender equality struggles).

Do: Have students create gender and equality-oriented dilemma cards in group work.

A dilemma card contains a story about a situation that the students find difficult to deal with and the group must work together to solve the situation. It is also possible for you as a teacher to create specific dilemmas regarding topics that you want the students to deal with. This is one of DareGender's favorite methods. Click on the arrow to get inspiration for dilemmas you can work with and possibly create new ones from.

Listen and analyze: When men cry (3:48)

Use the song as material for a conversation about modern male ideals. Talk with students about its content and what it says about male ideals past, present and future.

Read and analyze: Lovely Svend's Instagram post about Andrew Tate

Find the post by clicking on the arrow.

Read and analyze: It's time for men to cry out

Haidar Ansari writes about the lack of language for emotions and the trauma of minority Danish refugees. See for example: "I know I'm not the only one whose life has been ruined for long periods of time due to a lack of ability to understand and express difficult emotions. I've met many people, especially men, who are bad at it. In fact, it's as if it's traditionally been one of the traits that make us real men. Men need to man up, not be crybabies."

Read and analyze: I am a male rape victim and victim of a masculine culture. Today we fight for me

Hector Husum puts his own experiences into words and seeks to create a mirror that he was missing. This is a good one to work with if you also work with rhetoric and argumentation analysis.

Listen: Alexander Andersson, Chairman of the Danish Men's Society, thoughts on Men's and Women's Day and real equality for men, women and everyone in between.

Click on the link to listen to Alexander Andersson's thoughts on the men's and women's liberation struggle.

Invite: Get in touch with DareGender to explore these themes

Click on the arrow for link.

Invite: Get in touch with the Danish Men's Society who can unfold these themes

Click on the arrow for link.

Invite: Get in touch with Sex & Samfund who can unfold these themes

Click on the arrow for link.