Misogynistic influencers pose threat to children in every UK school, says minister

Misogynistic influencers are a threat to children in every school in the UK, a minister has warned.

In an exclusive interview, Labour’s Alex Davies-Jones told The Independent teachers across the country are concerned about how the growing popularity of misogynistic influencers is colouring the views of pupils.

Ms Davies-Jones, whose portfolio includes violence against women and girls (VAWG), called for misogyny to be tackled in schools as she warned a “whole system approach” is needed.

“There isn't a school in the country where you won't go and talk to a teacher and they won't tell you that this [misogynistic influencers] is having an impact on their pupils,” the politician said.

She said the government would look into how they could change the curriculum to address misogyny in schools.

It comes after recent exclusive research, shared with The Independent, revealed almost two-fifths of young men think that women often claim they have been raped after having sex they regret.

Researchers at the anti-fascism charity Hope Not Hate, which polled just over 2,000 people across the UK aged between 16 and 24, found 20 per cent of younger women hold the view, compared to 39 per cent of younger men.

The study discovered the views of young men and women are becoming more polarised on a number of issues. Just under half of young men think women are still disadvantaged in society, compared with around eight in 10 young women.

The report, titled Plugged in but Disconnected: Young People and Hateful Attitudes, discovered 41 per cent of young men support controversial social media personality Andrew Tate, while just 12 per cent of young women do.

Ms Davies-Jones has previously spoken out about how she was inundated with rape and death threats after voicing criticism of Mr Tate – a self-proclaimed misogynist and influencer, who is facing trial in Romania on charges of rape and human trafficking.

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Between two and three women are killed by a current male partner or ex-partner every week in England and Wales, while data shows 68,387 rapes were recorded by the police last year but charges had only been brought in 3 per cent of cases by the end of the year.

Ms Davies-Jones, the MP for Pontypridd, said Labour had inherited a criminal justice system which is in a “mess”. She warned the system is broken and said what the new government has discovered in just three weeks has been “quite shocking”.

She said: “We are having to come in and clean up before we can actually come in and implement our policies and do it properly.”

Pressed on how Labour will meet its manifesto pledge to “halve levels of violence against women and girls within a decade”, the politician said different government departments will work together to meet the target.

She added: “It can't just be done in a vacuum or a silo with one government department leading on it.

“I think for far too long previous governments have tried to create policy and to create legislation, and tried to tackle this by operating in a silo or by looking at what works on paper but then isn't deliverable in practice and isn't workable on the ground.”

Ms Davies-Jones warned trust and faith in the police is low among women and girls, saying: “That is why women aren't coming forward to report their cases. People feel like nothing is working. They feel: why should they?”

She added: “People feel like they have lost faith in our policing system. They have lost faith in the justice system and that's what we need to rebuild.”