Jess Phillips's plans to put boys as young as 11 through “anti-misogyny” behavior change courses have triggered a fierce backlash, with critics warning the state is overreaching into parenting and risking a legal collision with faith schools. The proposals, part of the government's new strategy to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade, include mandatory healthy relationships lessons, specialist teacher training, and intervention programs for pupils showing “concerning behaviour”.
While primarily aimed at secondary schools, the Home Office has indicated that pilots could extend to the final years of primary school. During a discussion on the Daily Expresso podcast, host JJ Anisiobi branded the scheme a dystopian overreach.
Mr Anisiobi said: “This proposed Orwellian-sounding behavior change program is going to target what's been described as 'challenging, deep-rooted misogynistic influences'. It was announced by Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips… Now, Ms Phillips wasn't even able to look after the grooming gang issue.”
Mr Anisiobi and fellow commentator Gawain Towler, a Reform UK board member, insisted that schools cannot fix cultural problems that belong in the home. Mr Towler questioned who these “deep-rooted” influences were, suggesting: “Parents, I guess. And religious institutions of various sorts.”
The pair predicted a “clash of civilizations” within the classroom, warning that the policy would face heavy resistance from strict Catholic, Orthodox Jewish, and Muslim communities where traditional gender roles are central to their way of life.
Mr Towler warned that the Government is unprepared for the cultural pushback: “People will say: 'It's our culture. We like to segregate women… It's our culture that they should wear a full veil, and the men impose that.' To tackle that on a governmental level—starting at primary school—is going to be extremely difficult.”
Mr Towler added that the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, was effectively “walking into” her own government's emerging definition of Islamophobia by targeting practices rooted in faith. Both men argued that classroom instruction would be powerless against the “vile” influence of drill music, online pornography, and social media. Mr Anisiobi added: “If a boy is misogynistic, he's surely learning it from home.”
The discussion hit back at the “nanny state” trend of contracting out parenthood to teachers. Mr Towler fumed: “The more the state decides it is our parent, the less civilized we seem to become… We've moved away from an Enlightenment style of education to a 'these are the right things to think' style. It's teaching them what to think, not how to think.”
Mr Anisiobi agreed, noting that school reports should be a wake-up call for fathers, not a mandate for state intervention. He explained: “If my son comes home and a letter says he's been displaying misogynistic behavior, that's a note to me. It's on the parent.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has defended the measures, declaring: “Too often toxic ideas are taking hold early and going unchallenged.” However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed the focus on 11-year-olds as a “complete distraction”, accusing Labor of being swayed by the Netflix drama Adolescence rather than focusing on what she described as the actual perpetrators of violent crime.