Moral panic about boys

Critics of feminism say that:

  • Policies that promote girls in education no longer needed

    • Girls have succeeded at the expense of boys, who are the new disadvantaged

Ringrose (2013)

Negative consequences of the moral panic

  • Feminist

  • Above views have contributed to the moral panic about ‘failing boys’

    • Reflect a fear that underachieving w/c boys will become a dangerous, unemployable underclass and threat to social stability

  • Moral panic has caused a major shift in educational policy

    • Which is now preoccupied with raising boys’ achievement

  • Educational policy now:

  1. Ignores disadvantaged w/c and EM pupils

  2. Ignores problems faced by girls in schools, such as:

    1. Sexual harassment

    2. Bullying

    3. Low self-esteem

    4. Identity issues

    5. Stereotyped subject choices

Osler (2006)

Neglect of girls

  • Focus on boys has led to the neglect of girls

Boys

Girls

Disengage publicly by displaying laddish masculinity

Disengage from school quietly

Attract attention from teachers and policymakers

Fly under the radar

  • Mentor schemes to reduce Black male exclusions ignore the rapidly increasing female exclusions

  • Girls are less likely to obtain places in PRUs

    • Official statistics mask the wider problem of self- and internal-exclusion