How Aussie schoolboys are being pulled out of class to paint their fingernails pink in 'nutty and weird' lessons about toxic masculinity
Boys are painting each others' fingernails red and pink in school time as part of 'wellness' workshops aimed at reducing 'toxic masculinity'.
The nail-painting sessions have been hosted by public schools in Victoria and New South Wales as part of workshops run by men's suicide prevention group Tomorrow Man.
The workshops have been run at several schools including Kyabram College in Victoria and in NSW at Bulli High, Kogarah High and Narrabeen Sports High, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Private school Newington College is also believed to have hosted the sessions.
Fingernail-painting sessions for boys have been hosted by public schools in Victoria and New South Wales, in school time, as part of workshops run by men's suicide prevention group Tomorrow Man
'How the hell is this education?' NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham wrote of the sessions on social media.
'How has the NSW Government allowed a small army of consultants without any accreditation or evidence base to come into our schools, like the nutty Tomorrow Man program painting the fingernails of boys pink?'
Kyabram College is one of the Victorian schools to have hosted the finger-painting sessions as part of Tomorrow Man's workshops
Latham claimed a boy from Chatswood High complained to him about the workshops, saying they claimed boys were 'privileged' and 'violent'.
'I feel like the aim for the whole thing was to make us feel sad or show remorse for stuff we didn’t do,' the unnamed boy was reported as saying.
A spokesman for NSW Education said Chatswood High ran the workshop with 'parental consent'.
'We trust the judgement of the Principal and parents,' the spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.
Latham called the nail-painting 'a nutty, weird practice', adding that he could not see how it improved boys' mental health.
Latham, who claims to be investigating the running of extra-curricular classes in schools, raised the sessions in NSW Parliament.
Tomorrow Man says it is creating 'training grounds to build emotional muscle and spaces free of judgement, to start conversations about the man of tomorrow'.
It runs programs in 'secondary schools, TAFE, universities, amateur and professional sporting clubs, male dominated workplaces' for teenagers aged over 15 and claims a '97 per cent' approval rate.
One of its education modules includes a session that aims to 'Redefine masculine and feminine energies, practice balancing and accessing both sides', according to its marketing material.
The group's two-hour sessions are 'a non-judgemental environment to build emotional muscle'.
'Our entry level two hour experiential workshop disrupts old-school male stereotypes and redefines a more positive version of masculinity to live by'.
Tomorrow Man's CEO and founder Tom Harkin is an ambassador for the Polished Man charity.
NSW One Nation Leader Mark Latham says slammed the fingernail-painting sessions
Mental health and suicide prevention training group Tomorrow Man runs education courses in schools that 'Redefine masculine and feminine energies' and include boys painting each other's fingernails. The group's CEO is a supporter of another charity Polished Man, which encourages fingernail painting as a conversation starter
Polished Man encourages people to paint a fingernail as a conversation starter to raises awareness about violence against children.
'We're a huge fan of painting a nail to stick the finger to old school stereotypes and starting conversations,' Mr Harkin said on his Instagram account.
Daily Mail Australia also approached the Victorian education department, Tomorrow Man and Newington College for comment.