Elite private schools must embed teaching about sex, violence and masculinity into everyday life of the students, experts warn

As frequent hothouses for misogyny, experts have warned that elite private schools need to eradicate toxic masculinity and embed teaching about sex and violence before it’s too late.

Elite private schools must embed teaching about sex, violence and masculinity into the everyday life of the students, a Monash University researcher says.

Dr George Variyan believes the only way to tackle hidden sexist behaviour and abuse is to “ensure counter measures are part of the fabric of the school”.

“This includes ongoing conversations about sex and violence, masculinity and harassment,” he told the Herald Sun.

“It’s not easy to change these profane practices. We have to understand how they occur.”

Dr Variyan’s research reveals the hidden world of ‘subterranean masculinities’ at elite schools. Picture: Supplied

His views run in opposition to the #notallboys movement which argues that it’s unfair to treat all boys as if they are equally part of a misogynist and abusive school culture.

But Dr Variyan’s research into elite private schools has found that although such schools are not completely “toxic”, male privilege is so deeply embedded that adding respectful relationship or consent on like another subject is inadequate.

His latest research paper on the topic is co-written with Lucinda McKnight and Claire Charles, who are also from Monash University’s School of Education. It is based on interviews with 13 male students who attended elite private schools between the 1980s and 2010s.

The article, in the peer-reviewed Journal of Educational Administration and History, reveals the hidden world of “subterranean masculinities” behind the “glossy facades” of such schools.

Dr Variyan said sexual misconduct and sexually transgressive acts were a form of hidden social currency used to shore up a boy’s status with his peers and distinguish themselves.

One student interviewed talked about a boy’s sexual encounter with a girl that was filmed and then shared with other boys, which he described as being seen as a “God-level act” at the time.

The student said such actions were “horrendous” but seemed “hilarious” back then.

These include what one student described as “sport, body-shaming and bullying” and “‘success’ with girls” to determine status.

The former students described settings where other students came from intergenerational wealth and were “born to rule”.

Experts say its time to confront social dynamics and pecking order practices in schools.

Dr Variyan said verbal — and at times physical — attacks between boys were part of the “microaggressions” used to determine status among students.

The student pecking order at one school had so-called “‘fags’, ‘badgers’ and ‘nerds’ at one extreme and rugged, sporting and sexually mature students at the other,” Dr Variyan said.

He said stepping up punitive measures may raises the stakes and further entrench such “clandestine schoolboy counter-practices”.

“School leaders must find the courage to confront these discomforting social dynamics in reflexive and honest ways,” Dr Variyan said.

His findings come as a range of state and private schools in Victoria have dealt with damaging sexual behaviour by boys, including the sharing of child pornography, sexual rating of female peers and hazing in a boarding house.

Originally published as Elite private schools must embed teaching about sex, violence and masculinity into everyday life of the students, experts warn