J
I think it's worse than that: the failure to address this in school acts as a quiet endorsement. That 'well that's just what men are like' kind of endorsement.
We need strong voices in school saying: these behaviours aren't OK. Other people have bodily and mental autonomy and it is not acceptable to abuse that. Here are the consequences, boys, of this behaviour...
Because without those voices, we continue the status quo.
Oh - 100%. I had to go into my daugher's school to chat to the head to ask why they were teaching the girls to be careful, but not teaching the boys to behave properly. He didn't understand my point. 'But we have to keep the girls safe'.
It's depressing.
@JugglingWithEggs I am one of many men, I suspect, who found out way too late in life that many women walk round in defensive mode in public.
That public spaces which are safe for us, are not safe for them.
That walking back to a bus at night means holding keys in your fist ready to hit a stranger if necessary - even in a well lit, urban street.
I wish we were taught this stuff at school - coz my parents' generation either didn't know or didn't care.