One in three Aus boys believe gender equality has 'gone too far'

Survey Reveals Extent of Misogynistic Attitudes Among Young Australians

A major new study has found that a significant minority of Australian boys and men hold hostile attitudes toward women, with one in three saying gender equality has gone too far and one in four believing feminism should be resisted with violence.

The research, conducted by the University of Melbourne and funded by the Office of National Intelligence, surveyed 3,429 Australians about their attitudes toward women, gender roles, consent, violence against women, and a range of extremist ideologies. The findings, reported separately by ABC Australia and 1News, paint a detailed picture of how these attitudes are distributed across age groups and what may be driving them.

According to ABC Australia, the study also surveyed 1,122 young people aged 13 to 17 and 2,307 adults, with three-quarters of respondents identifying as white, 13% as Asian, and 8% as Aboriginal. Teenagers and young men were much more likely to express hostile views when compared with both young women and older men, the study found.

The generational gap extended to girls as well: Generation Z girls were twice as likely as millennial women to believe that marriage entitles a husband to sex even if his wife does not want to, as reported by 1News.

Misogyny as a National Security Issue

The study's most striking finding, emphasized by ABC Australia, is that misogyny is the clearest warning sign of violent extremism. Dr. Sara Meger, the report's author, said the research was the first of its kind to show that misogyny is not an isolated prejudice but a robust, cross-cutting predictor of extremist violence.

"The number one thing predicting whether or not somebody is going to hold extremist attitudes is whether they think violence against women is acceptable," Dr. Meger said.

The study found that misogyny can predict support for extremist violence "way beyond" where someone sits on the political spectrum, what religion they belong to, or how much time they spend online. Misogyny and anti-feminism account for approximately 70 to 80 per cent of all the explained variants in how someone answers extremism questions, according to ABC Australia.

Dr. Meger's team examined six extremist movements: incels, far-right, white supremacy, far-left, anti-feminism, and religious extremism. Misogyny was the key ideology that cut across all six, the study found.

Online Influences and Their Limits

The research also delved into the role of online content in shaping these attitudes. 1News reported that misogynistic attitudes were strongly associated with online engagement in manosphere content, pornography, and online dating.

The report recommended that the federal government consider platform regulation targeted at algorithms, as "manfluencer engagement" was one of the strongest online predictors of hostile gender attitudes.

However, ABC Australia reported a more nuanced finding: social media, gaming, and online forums lost all predictive power when testing if these environments directly drove extremism. The only online variable that still had an independent relationship with extremism was pornography, according to the ABC.

This complexity was echoed by Dr. Meger's caution against "securitising" misogynistic views, a point ABC Australia highlighted, even as the study's recommendations call for policy changes.

Teachers Witness 'Manosphere' Language in Children as Young as Six

1News reported that more than 500 school teachers were also quizzed for the study. Teachers said students were quoting male influencers and repeating "manosphere" language in class to female staff, and this behaviour was witnessed in children as young as six.

This finding underscores the report's recommendation to invest in primary prevention from the age of six, as well as recognising misogyny as a form of violent extremism in national counter-extremism frameworks.

Experts Weigh In on Structural Causes and Solutions

Dr. Meger framed the problem as systemic rather than individual. "This study shows that the problems with misogyny are structural, not individual," she said, as quoted by 1News.

Ben Vasiliou, chief executive of Man Cave, an organisation that delivers workshops to boys and men aged 12 to 18, described toxic masculinity as "structural and insidious." He told 1News that parents have been reaching out to Man Cave "in inordinate numbers" over the last six months, seeking help for their children's attitudes.

The eSafety Commission runs webinars for parents and has resources for those concerned about their children's behaviour online, 1News reported.

Policy Recommendations and Official Responses

The report put forward five recommendations, the first being that misogyny and anti-feminism should be recognised as a form of violent extremism in the national counter-extremism framework, according to both ABC Australia and 1News.

The Australian Federal Police confirmed to ABC Australia that some individuals charged with possessing or creating violent extremist material have also had misogynistic material. The AFP is exploring how it can improve the capture of information specifically relating to gender, sexual orientation and/or identity to better inform the identification of matters arising in its work.

The Office of National Intelligence, which funded the research, did not specifically comment on the findings or whether it would take up the recommendations in its advice to government.

Lucy Nicholas, an associate professor, noted the University of Melbourne findings were in line with other research, such as their own study around misinformation. Commenting on the aggrievement expressed by young men, Nicholas said, as quoted by ABC Australia: "What they're aggrieved about is a loss of entitlement and privilege and that's not actually reasonable."

The study's authors stressed that most Australians do not harbor these problematic attitudes, as the majority of respondents strongly disagreed with them.