The reanimation of normative manhood acts in schools: teachers’ accounts of boys’ manosphere-aggravated misogyny

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative survey data from 107 Australian teachers, we analyse how boys perform masculinity in schools through dominance, derision, defiance, and harassment, in ways that constitute reanimated normative manhood acts (Schwalbe [2014]. Manhood Acts: Gender and the Practices of Domination. Routledge.). Teachers describe a noticeable shift around 2022, coinciding with the rising visibility and popularity of the manosphere, when some boys’ misogyny became more explicit, emboldened, and unchecked. Building on Moloney and Love’s work on ‘virtual manhood acts’ (VMAs), we determine five normative manhood acts now visible offline: (1) backlash misogyny; (2) homosocial harassment; (3) humour-as-baiting; (4) sexualization of women; and (5) disinvestment in schooling. Highlighting the inextricable relationship between online misogyny and gendered power dynamics in physical educational settings, we underscore how certain boys’ increasing disregard for consequences reflects a renewed model of masculinity rooted in backlash politics, manosphere ideologies, and a broader far-right, anti-establishment orientation toward selfhood, community, and society.