AN ONLINE furore is erupting between Sydney Girls High School and Sydney Boys High School in response to a viral video released by the boys’ school last week to celebrate International Women’s Day.

The video, which has made headlines around the world, features male prefects from SBHS reciting statements written by women and girls about why feminism matters to them. The clip has been shared thousands of times, and has attracted countless comments and accolades, praising the boys for their efforts.

In reaction, the school prefects at Sydney Girls High School have penned an open letter, published by Fairfax, slamming the video and calling out the “culture of misogyny present in boys’ schools” including Sydney Boys High School.

“As female students we experience first-hand the objectification and devaluing of women by male students,” reads the letter.

“The fact that a tokenistic video, which appropriates women’s voices and reinforces the idea that women’s experiences must be voiced by men in order to be validated, has gained international praise is troubling.”

“We do not wish to discourage further support of feminism. But we believe the question must be asked of why it is that male voices are needed, even on International Women’s Day, to bring attention to these issues that, if expressed by women, would be disregarded.”

The letter also accuses the boys’ school of papering over “the toxic subculture of masculinity in boys schools” and says that “simply making or sharing a video” is no substitute for “proper education on the issue”.

SEXISM, ONLINE TROLLING, RAPE THREATS

Indeed while Sydney Boys High School has produced several viral videos spouting gender equality in the last decade, the behaviour female students have allegedly experienced in private in the past is at direct odds with the public image projected by the school in these videos.

In June last year, for example, female students at Sydney Girls allege they were hounded, harassed and threatened with rape after helping to organise a feminist bake-sale to raise awareness about the gender pay gap.

The controversial bake-sale offered girls a 20% discount off the cost of cupcakes, in recognition that across their lifetime women will earn significantly less than their male counterparts.

When male students found out about the proposed discount, the retaliation was swift and severe.

“We knew that a high school initiative such as this was always going to stir up a debate and discourse — something which we encouraged — but the backlash we found ourselves facing was unexpected, immense and extraordinary in its sexist intensity” said the 2016 Sydney Girls High School prefects in a statement to the media at the time.

“When our bake sale was first announced via a Facebook event, the page was immediately flooded with nasty jokes, ‘bantz’ and memes — all of which aimed to make a mockery of both the organisers of the event and the event itself.

“Online, a fake account was set up which shared the personal information of several of the bake sale organisers … At school, [our own posters were torn down or defaced and] posters which attempted to ‘debunk’ the ‘mythical wage gap’ mysteriously appeared.”

“Verbally, rape threats were made towards the Sydney Girls Captain. This behaviour made it clear to us that sexism is alive and thriving amongst Sydney’s academic elite. Even those who were supposedly ‘neutral’ turned on the organisers.”

That wasn’t all.

Male students soon proposed a counter bake-sale in protest, with a description that read “Too long have men been oppressed by dominant women so come along this Friday for our bake-sale to support our cause.”

Next a letter was sent threatening legal action if the “discriminatory” bake-sale went ahead. (It did go ahead and the students raised $1,400 which they donated to a local women’s shelter and the Indigenous Literacy Foundation).

While it is not alleged that the boys in the current video were responsible for the various events in 2016, the current girls’ school prefects say that the “outcry from the Sydney Boys student body” last year and the “intimidation against students of Sydney Girls [is] emblematic of the broader culture of misogyny present in boys’ schools”.

Nina Funnell is a freelance writer and author. Continue the conversation on Twitter @ninafunnell