National Post Comments Section Blames ‘War On Boys’ and DEI Policies for Gender-Based Harassment in Schools

Canadian Anti-Hate Network

Source: Anything Goes with James English

On July 3rd, the National Post published a story about a research study showing that teachers and students were facing gendered and sexual harassment inspired by Andrew Tate and other male supremacist influencers. In one example, a teacher shared that a student wrote a graphic paper about how sexual assault victims “deserved it” and that “all women were asking for it.”

Rather than condemn this, the comments section of the National Post article predominantly justified or defended harassment, with many commenters suggesting this was a deserved result to a ‘war on boys’ or ‘woke’ policies.  

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network collected the first 265 original comments (and no replies) one week after the National Post article was published. Those comments were then assigned themes by two members of the CAHN team, led by a sociologist. 

Just over 50% (134) of all comments either defended or justified gender based harassment as a kind of backlash to a war on boys (27%), expressed opposition to ‘woke’ or diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, or feminism (40%), or were explicitly misogynistic (10%). These themes frequently overlapped.

The comments section was also overwhelmingly male. 80% of all commenters had typically male names, and only 4.5% had typically female names.

“Men and boys are sick of being scolded by far left women who label them alt right for having conservative views, or as toxic males for being physical, taking risks, being cocky etc., or try to ram the… woke language of the woke radicals down their throats,” writes username Joey Adanac. “Maybe that's why they've tuned women teachers out and why they have no respect for women. They've had enough of the emasculating, scolding, wokism and safetyism that today's women ooze from every pore of their bodies.”

Many of the comments justified this gender based harassment in schools due to an alleged decline in the societal status of young men and boys – the so-called “war on boys” – which can also be understood as a backlash against contemporary feminism.

Some comments celebrated the disturbing findings, such as username Brian Smith who wrote, “Boys will be boys. It's about time.” and username Jason Folgrim who wrote, “Best news all day.” 

“The pendulum is FINALLY being reset HALLELUJAH, it's been a long time coming and if Tate helps to reset it in some small way, good on him: someone had to do it,” username Mark Lance wrote. 

Username Bill McGrath wrote, “Happy to hear that these boys will grow up to [be] men and not the soy-boys our left wing teachers are trying to create.”

Other comments decried the lack of male teachers as an issue contributing to the rise in virulent misogyny in schools. “Part of the problem is the fact that in Canada, only about 11% of elementary school teachers are male,” wrote username James JC. 

Some comments focused on a perceived lack of violence perpetrated and misogyny by Tate against women. “I have never heard Tate advocate for or promote violence against women,” wrote username Jeff Spicolli. 

Andrew Tate is facing charges in Romania of rape, sex with a minor, human trafficking and forming an organized group to sexually exploit women. Two women told BBC that Tate “raped and strangled” them. 

“Give us an empirical comparison of the misogynistic rhetoric from Mr Tate to the misandrist rhetoric from the Teachers and the Liberal government, and then we'll listen to you. Until then, it's just more anti-male fear-mongering.” said username Bradford Northern.

Comments like these reflect a well-recognized explanation of radicalization to misogyny and male supremacy—aggrieved entitlement. This concept refers to the way groups with social privilege react with rage and humiliation, often violently, when their “entitlement to elevated status over others” is “threatened by others’ calls for justice and equality.” The term was originally coined to explain the fact that “almost all violent extremists share one thing: their gender.”

“While we will often focus on the likes of Tate and other influencers as the harbingers of this type of content,” says researcher Luc Cousineau, co-author of the original study cited by the National Post, “it lives in members of the population. It is not isolated to direct consumers of misogynist content (although they are likely captured here as well) but is a latent social undercurrent.”

An additional major theme in the comments was the prevalence of discourse critiquing feminism, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Approximately 40 percent of comments were critical of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and ‘woke’ politics, such as “Marxism,” pronouns, and/or feminism. This also fits in the framework of aggrieved entitlement in that policies and practices that seek a more just and equitable society are viewed as sinister and even as provoking or justifying harassment and violence.

“The story would have more credibility if written by someone of the masculine gender,... and I don't include woke beta males in that reference,” wrote someone using the name BL. 

Username DW Thompson said, “Oh the horror, young boys acting out being strong and masculine. It's only been a natural behaviour trait since the beginning of recorded time. Ninny state/DEI woke agenda, will be a thing of the past in another year or two.”

“The inevitable result of woke, DEI and political correctness. As you reap, so shall you sow. Glad to see that consequences are being seen for past egregious actions. Now, all that has to be done is manage those consequences and bring things back into a rational balance. Boys will be boys as they HAVE to be - and that does NOT make them evil!,” said username Peter Ray. 

These comments, Luc Cousineau told CAHN, “certainly indicates a willingness to overlook, downplay, or dismiss the violence against women inherent in the situation. To distort research showing sexualized verbal violence against women into an “attack” on the boys perpetrating that violence tells us that sexual violence against women is simply less important or doesn’t matter at all.”

“The boogeymen of DEI/Woke/Marxist/Feminist/Pronouns… provide a convenient scapegoat for people’s discomfort and cognitive dissonance,” Cousineau added.