Pringle: Misogyny must be tackled with Donegal Domestic Violence Services supporting 100 families per month

Transcript

00:00In my constituency, the Donegal Domestic Violence Service receives five to six new calls every

00:05week from people seeking access to their services.

00:08They say they work with an average of 100 families each month to offer support with

00:12court, child access, accessing homeless supports, and providing emotional one-to-one support

00:17for victims of domestic abuse.

00:20Many TDs have called for this to be addressed in the classroom, but I would look at the

00:23new HEE specification.

00:26You will see that many issues such as gender equity, gender stereotypes, sexual imagery

00:30online, unhealthy and abusive relationships, setting and respecting healthy boundaries,

00:35seeking, giving and receiving consent, the influence of popular culture and the online

00:38world, and the influence of pornography on young people's understanding, expectations

00:43and social norms in relation to sexual expression are already part of the curriculum.

00:47What exactly are we calling for?

00:49We cannot vaguely state that it is the responsibility of schools.

00:52We need to be active and analytical in addressing this issue.

00:56We all play a role in addressing gender-based violence.

00:58We should be asking, how is this curriculum being used and taught?

01:02Can one class once a week counter hours of misogynistic content that young boys are seeing

01:06on social media every day?

01:08Can anything?

01:09Why does the government refuse to demand transparency from social media companies about their algorithms,

01:15which we know are contributing to this rise in misogyny?