A lively classroom debate has spawned a teen feminist movement aimed at shaking up the curriculum.

The newly-formed Fitzroy High School Feminist Collective has now raised more than $12,000 for a Kickstarter campaign to fund a feminism teaching resource for the national curriculum.

The crowd-sourced curriculum reform was prompted by a discussion over the character of ‘Curley’s wife’, in John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’.

Curley's wife is well-known as a fairly two-dimensional figure of seduction and temptation, variously referred to as “jailbait”, a “tart”, “tramp” or “whore”, who is ultimately murdered amidst a mildly flirtatious interaction.

As English classes at Fitzroy High discussed Curley’s wife’s role, and the idea that she brought her death upon herself, students realised that they shared a common interest in the defence of women and their representations.

While raising the financial backing to create a new set of classroom tools for teaching feminism to teens, the group is looking to the Australian Education Union for support.

Some students have described the reaction to simply bringing up feminist ideals and the need for enhanced women’s’ rights with fellow students.

“I started really coming out with feminist ideals and discussing them with my friends and getting really negative backlash – sometimes online or in person and generally getting a lot of bad reactions to being a feminist,” one 15-year-old student told ABC.

“That’s when I realised people my age don't think feminism is relevant any more, and they just think it’s a bunch of man-hating angry women.”

This view has been exemplified lately in a social media trend, where young women post images of themselves with tags beginning “I don’t need feminism because...”.

Fitzroy Teacher Briony O’Keeffe says she is proud of the progressive push her pupils are making.

“There’s certainly reference in the Australian curriculum standards to looking at women in history, but there’s not really a strong focus on it, and it could be left out depending on the knowledge and passion of the teachers leading the class,” she told ABC.

“You certainly don't need ten years in feminist theory to identify as a feminist and that’s something I think these young women have discovered - you don’t need any qualifications other than wanting respect and equal rights.”

With Australian women currently earning about 83 cents to every 1 dollar for a man, working fewer hours in lower-paid jobs, it is clear that there are big gaps to be filled, and the classroom appears a powerful place to start.