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Students to be taught about "male privilege" in Victorian classrooms.

The Victorian government is introducing a new mandatory school subject in an effort to end family violence.

The state’s “respectful relationships” curriculum will be rolled out in primary and secondary schools next year.

In primary years, the focus is on “respect and dignity” and secondary students will be taught about the relationship between gender and power.

Year 11 and 12 students will learn strategies if they witness sexual harassment occurring among their peers.

Students will also be taught about “male privilege”, but critics say the $21.8 million education program is “indoctrination of children”.

“The idea behind this program – that all men are latent abusers by nature of the ‘discourse’ – is an idea that only cloistered feminist academics could love,” Jeremy Sammut, a senior ­research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, told The Australian.

“A lot of evidence suggests that like child abuse, domestic ­violence is a byproduct of social dysfunction: welfare, drugs, family breakdown,” he added.

However Minister for Education James Merlino says education is the key to ending “the vicious cycle of family violence”.

“This is about teaching our kids to treat everyone with respect and dignity so we can start the cultural change we need in our society to end the scourge of family violence,” he said.

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‘Meat market mentality’

The launch was announced as a principal for select-entry Melbourne high school condemned a “meat market mentality” at his school’s social.

In a newsletter, Melbourne High School principal, Jeremy Ludowyke, said the school had put a stop to a strip show tradition held at the Year 12 formal known as the “House Captains’ Strip”.

Mr Ludowyke said the strip show stemmed from “locker room” culture and female staff members and guests felt “very uncomfortable and offended by it”.

“Student commentary about the event on social media had increasingly descended into sexist and misogynistic puerility,” he said.

The principal said the consequences of “locker room mentality” has been highlighted by the media several times across the course of this year.

“It is the responsibility of all men to redress this uncomfortable truth about our own culture.”

It is hoped the new subject  in Victorian schools will provide students with clear improvements in attitudes on violence, equality and respectful relationships.