The Department for Education of England has released an updated statutory guidance on health, sex, and relationships education for primary and secondary state schools in July 2025. This has notable differences from the draft guidance proposed by the previous conservative government in May 2024 and the earlier guidance adopted in 2019.
Specifically, under the new statutory guidance, content and themes that were previously missing or omitted were added. These include legal issues around strangulation, sextortion, upskirting, deepfakes, suicide prevention, and bereavement. It also now mandates tackling the issue concerning involuntary celibacy or incels and misogynistic ideas.
Tackling Toxic Masculinity: England Revamps Sex Education Curriculum by Tackling the Issue Surrounding Incels and Misogyny
Central to this curriculum is the promotion of healthy masculinity. These include using inclusive language and avoiding framing boys as inherently problematic, and providing male role models who reflect values of kindness, respect, and emotional openness. The purpose of these is to uproot rigid gender roles and norms and offer boys a sense of belonging.
Moreover, to tackle the emerging communities of young and adult men who are banded together to advance discriminatory and divisive narratives, the new statutory guidance requires educators to understand the psychological appeal of such communities. Certain ideologies are regarded as behind the rise of involuntary celibates or incels and misogynistic behaviors.
Extremist ideologies often provide simplistic solutions to deep emotional struggles like loneliness and rejection. The guidance urges schools to validate emotional experiences while rejecting hate-based explanations. Below are the specific measures intended to promote healthy masculinity and address discriminatory and divisive gender ideologies:
• Clear Focus on Incels and Misogyny: Incels are subcultures and communities of young and adult men who express frustration over not having romantic or sexual relationships and who frequently blame women for their situation. These are known for breeding extreme misogynistic views. The curriculum now directly tackles these ideas by helping students identify and challenge harmful narratives associated with the subcultures.
• Introducing Students to the Concept of Misogyny: The term is named and analyzed in the classroom context for the first time. Students are taught how misogyny functions in both offline and online spaces, including how it is propagated via social media, forums, and influencers. This includes discussions about sexist memes, violent rhetoric, and the normalization of abuse under the guise of masculinity or truth-telling.
• Critical Thinking About Online Influencers: It also aims to equip students with the tools to question harmful messages from misogynistic online influencers. This includes online personalities who promote gender-based hatred under the language of male empowerment or conservative values. Students are encouraged to critically analyze the emotional appeal, manipulation tactics, and long-term harm of these messages.
• Encouraging Positive and Healthy Masculinity: The guidance communicates that most boys and young men are respectful, rather than framing all boys as potential threats. This framing is crucial in preventing alienation. This alienation is a risk factor for radicalization into misogynistic communities. Teachers are encouraged to use language that uplifts respectful masculinity and provides positive male role models.
• Safe Classroom Dialogues Around Gender and Power: Educators are advised to create safe spaces where students can talk openly about emotional struggles, insecurities, or confusion around gender roles. These conversations aim to prevent the emotional isolation that often drives youth toward extremist online spaces like incel forums. Lesson planning is expected to involve student voices and make them active participants.
• Addressing Psychological Drivers Behind Misogyny: The statutory guidance recognizes that incel culture thrives by offering simple answers to complex emotions such as loneliness, rejection, or lack of control. Teachers are therefore encouraged to unpack the psychological appeal of these communities in ways that validate emotions but reject hate-based solutions. The focus is on understanding without excusing.
Note that the Department for Education acknowledges that professional development for teachers is essential to the success of the new curriculum. Many educators may feel unequipped to guide students through sensitive discussions about online misogyny, incel ideologies, and gender-based violence in both digital and real-world environments without adequate training.
Some education experts also warn that limitations remain. The curriculum is not mandatory for students aged 16 to 18 in further education, despite facing heightened exposure to radical messaging online. Transgender and non-binary experiences also receive limited coverage. There is minimal attention given to students with special educational needs.
However, despite the aforementioned limitations, the new statutory guidance signals a bold shift in addressing the root causes of gender-based hate. It aims to reduce misogyny among youth and prevent radicalization by focusing on education, empathy, and inclusive dialogue. The results of this approach will depend on implementation and teacher readiness.
FURTHER READING AND REFERENCE
- Department for Education. July 2025. Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health Education: Statutory Guidance for Governing Bodies, Proprietors, Head Teachers, Principals, Senior Leadership Teams, and Teachers. Department for Education, United Kingdom. Available via PDF