Why Women’s Voices Are Essential to Tackling Online Misogyny and Supporting Men’s Mental Health

Lisa Raftery is a charity sector funder and co-organiser of the Cross-Sector Taskforce on Online Misogyny and Men’s Mental Health. She is an FWN mentee (Cohort 10) and former Co-Vice Chair of the FWN Executive Committee.

In February, the Misogyny Policy Project, working alongside Fabian Women, Male Allies UK, Jess Asato MP and Alistair Strathern MP, hosted a roundtable and reception in Parliament to launch the Cross-Sector Taskforce on Online Misogyny and Men’s Mental Health. The initiative brings together organisations from across civil society, academia, education, politics, tech policy and the voluntary sector to explore policy responses to two challenges often discussed separately but deeply connected: the rise of online misogyny and the wellbeing of young men and boys.

The Fabian Women’s Network (FWN) was proud to take part in this work. For us, there are two clear reasons why women’s organisations must be involved in shaping these conversations.

First, online misogyny is not an abstract policy debate. It has real consequences for women and girls. The harassment, abuse and hostility that proliferate online increasingly spill into offline life, affecting safety, participation and opportunity. Women in public life are particularly exposed, and many are already reconsidering whether to stand for office or remain visible in public roles because of the scale and intensity of online abuse.

Second, if we are serious about finding solutions, women’s voices and experiences must be present in the conversation. Efforts to address misogyny and engage men and boys cannot succeed without the perspectives of the women and girls most directly affected.

At the reception following the roundtable, I spoke about why the Fabian Women’s Network believes cross-sector collaboration is essential to tackling complex social challenges. Having spent more than two decades working in and funding the voluntary and community sector, I have seen how no single organisation or even sector holds the full picture. Each brings a different piece of the puzzle.

This is why the taskforce model is so important. It enables organisations working on violence against women and girls, mental health, education, youth work, research and policy to sit around the same table and work through this complexity together.

Yet collaboration does not happen automatically. Too often funding systems inadvertently create competition between organisations rather than supporting the long-term partnerships needed to address structural problems. As part of this work, we will need to think seriously about sustainable funding models that enable collaboration rather than fragmenting it.

What struck many of us during the roundtable was the broad consensus that online misogyny harms women and girls directly but it also harms boys and young men themselves. Algorithms can funnel vulnerable young men toward grievance-based narratives that frame women’s progress as their loss. At the same time, many boys report feeling isolated, uncertain about their place in society and unsure how to talk about their emotions.

The taskforce therefore discussed a set of policy priorities that treat connection and belonging as essential social infrastructure. These include:

1. Better education around digital citizenship and emotional literacy in schools

2. Stronger regulation of online platforms and algorithms

3. Male-friendly mental health services

4. Pro-social spaces where boys and men can build identity and purpose

5. Economic pathways that restore dignity and opportunity for young men

Participants emphasised that these approaches work best when they are aspirational rather than deficit-based.

During the event we heard from Mike Nicholson, Director of Progressive Masculinities. Mike spoke about the importance of creating spaces where boys and young men feel able to engage in conversations about masculinity without immediately feeling judged or shamed. These discussions can feel “high stakes” for young men and boys. But when conversations are framed around aspiration what healthy masculinity can look like young men are far more willing to engage.

That insight resonated strongly with many participants. If progressives want to reach boys and young men before harmful online narratives do, we need to offer credible and positive alternatives.

At the same time, the roundtable grounded the discussion firmly in the lived experiences of women and girls.

Sally Rees, FWN mentee and teacher whose experience is documented in the FWN No Time to Lose report, spoke movingly about being up-skirted by a pupil at school. What followed was not only the shock of the incident itself, but a lack of support from the school and an absence of meaningful consequences for the pupil involved. The subsequent battle that Sally and her trade union, NASUWT, fought with the school exposed institutional misogyny at multiple levels.

Her testimony was a stark reminder that misogyny is not just an online phenomenon; it is already shaping behaviour in schools and communities. Hearing directly from women who have experienced these harms is vital if policy discussions are to remain grounded in reality.

Fabian women have played an important role in shaping this work. Katharine Roddy, a secondary school teacher, has helped inform the taskforce’s thinking, bringing the perspective of educators who work with boys every day. Baroness Sara Hyde, Chair of the Fabian Society, also attended the roundtable, contributing her expertise in the criminal justice system.

When boys and men feel isolated, alienated or without purpose, grievance narratives can flourish. When women are silenced by hostility or abuse, society loses voices that are essential to democratic debate. Addressing both challenges together is therefore not a compromise but a necessity.

The Cross-Sector Taskforce represents an important step towards a more holistic approach one that recognises the interconnected nature of misogyny, mental health and social belonging. For the Fabian Women’s Network, participating in this work is about ensuring women’s experiences remain visible while helping to build solutions that work for everyone.

Creating safer, healthier online and offline spaces should never be about silencing debate. It should be about ensuring those spaces are safe for debate, discovery, creativity and connection for all.