Talking to boys about feminism and misogyny...

It's bloody tricky! I think a lot of it is confidence in themselves: not being influenced by peers, porn and media. And, y'know, he's your boy - the fact you are even thinking about these things is giving you/him a head start.

As one of the trolls was female in the case currently on the news, and as there have been separate news stories this weeks about a male victim, this is a crime you can describe in the round IYSWIM showing that publishing hate speech, abuse and threats is always wrong. And that most people, male or female, are not criminals.

Then, I hope, he will get the idea that misogyny is just as wrong as anti-Semitism (and any other example you throw into the discussion). And that is a secure foundation for getting young people to think about fairness in society.

My DS is only 8 and fairly immature (ASD) so we havent really talked about the societal things yet. We have a very traditional set up at home so I talk a lot about how chores have to be shared out because everyone lives here - he's not seeing a very equal set-up (even though it's the right set up for us!) so I feel I need to balance that. I'm teaching him to cook, for example, although a lot of people feel he's too young for that I think it's important he sees that food doesnt magically appear on the table.

We do a LOT of work on consent and always have done - if someone says stop you stop, do you think X is having fun? How do you know? Why don't you ask them if they want to stop doing Y? No means no. Privacy and autonomy too. DS is very much on his own agenda so Ive always felt its vital to actively teach this.

Role modelling kindness, empathy, non-judgieness, presenting alternative povs in most situations.

And of course protecting him from the outside world as much as possible, although that's harder with a 12yo!