Female teachers at South Australian schools say they are targeted by male students making porn noises, sexist comments

A surge in this alarming behaviour in the classroom is leaving some teachers feeling ‘sick’ about returning to work.

Boys as young as 11 are making moaning noises in class and telling teachers they look like “a porn star”, confronting new research reveals.

Female teachers say harassment by young male students leaves them feeling “sick” at the thought of returning to the classroom.

And at one South Australian school three female staff reportedly quit on the same day in response to what they felt was a lack of action or support by school leaders.

The cases have emerged in anonymous surveys of 160 teachers at public and private schools across SA and 70 staff at university campuses around the country.

University of Adelaide and UniSA academics also held more than 20 in-depth interviews as part of the research, conducted last year.

University of Adelaide Associate Professor Samantha Schulz told the Sunday Mail about one woman who was subjected to repeated “sexist taunts” and had “sexually suggestive things said to her” by 17-year-old boys.

University of Adelaide Associate Professor Samantha Schulz. Picture: LinkedIn

“You can be a very good teacher, but if you’re facing gendered-abuse, how are you supposed to teach?”

“She got to the point where she felt sick thinking about coming to work,” Dr Schulz said.

Another female teacher “had been told multiple times by kids as young as year 7, so that’s age 11 or 12, that she looked like a porn star”, Dr Schulz said.

The teacher told the researchers that her school’s female principal said to her: “Just because you say it’s harassment it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is”.

At a third school a group of year 8 and 9 boys, aged 13 or 14, “would make moaning sounds whenever (one female teacher) walked by and then started playing sexualised moaning sounds from YouTube (video) clips on repeat inside her classroom”, Dr Schulz said.

The teacher said she raised the issue “in earshot” of the school’s male deputy principal but told the researchers: “Leadership did nothing, there was no support, and a couple of other young female teachers left too”.

Female teachers have told university researchers they are facing sexual harassment in the classroom.

Dr Schulz said such stories were not “an anomaly” and too many female teachers were being left in “a really problematic and dangerous situation”.

“They’re ending up burnt out, unsupported, harassed … (some) are either moving from school to school in search of safety or are leaving the profession altogether,” she said.

Dr Schulz said the spike in misogynistic language and behaviour among school-aged boys was “very heavily being influenced by the manosphere” – a term for online discussions about men’s rights and interests, often at the expense of women.

She urged politicians to put a greater focus in the national school curriculum on understanding gender and digital literacy.

Patty Kinnersly, CEO of Our Watch. Picture: Supplied

Patty Kinnersly, who heads national violence prevention body Our Watch, said “one-off classes here or there” were not enough.

“There needs to be messages that are very clear across the whole school that this is not accepted,” she said.

“Parents need to know that as well. You can be a very good teacher, but if you’re facing gendered-abuse, how are you supposed to teach?”

Education Minister Blair Boyer. Picture: Emma Brasier

Education Minister Blair Boyer said the SA government had banned mobile phones in class and launched a new respectful relationships program to address “the kind of toxic masculinity promoted by (influencers like) Andrew Tate, and gender-based violence and disrespectful behaviour that can often lead to violence”.

Originally published as Female teachers at South Australian schools say they are targeted by male students making porn noises, sexist comments