The Adventures of Soy Boy and Friends follows fictional characters Soy Boy, T-Bone, Avo and Pot Noodle as they navigate the challenges of university life, one algorithm and creditable source at a time.
The first edition, launched during 2025 Respect at Uni Week, explores real students’ lived experience of the pressures that some young men feel when fake news becomes truth amongst their peers and in their classrooms.
Respect at Uni Week (17-21 March) is a sector-wide initiative which provides an opportunity for students and staff to come together as a community, deepen their understanding, and take meaningful action to prevent gender-based harm, while fostering a culture of respect and safety.
The term ‘Soy Boy’ is often used as an online slur, directed at men who are perceived to be lacking traditional masculine characteristics. It is more prevalent in online spaces labelled the ‘manosphere’, where individuals, communities and influencers provide both helpful but also sometimes harmful or misleading content.
The first comic dispels the myth that soy milk is not an appropriate choice for men because of misleading information about testosterone levels, by promoting creditable sources (RMIT nutrition expert Dr Sharayah Carter). It encourages conversations that normalise seeking the truth in the age of algorithm flooding, and sharing knowledge in a respectful and safe way with a mate.
The Adventures of Soy Boy and Friends is a project more than 12 months in the making, which began as an innovation pilot created by RMIT’s Prevention and Respect team, led by Shelley Hewson-Munro (Manager, Prevention, Masculinities and Learning).
In early 2024, workshops and campus pop-up sessions engaged 29 male students who shared their insights and explored questions related to outdated stereotypes and how to engage other young men on campus to address common issues.
“Through these workshops, students explored possible ideas to engage other students, ranging from street theatre, flash mobs, podcasts and short stories. These sessions provided an engaging space for young men to reflect on their lived experiences both online and in the challenges of modern university life,” said Hewson-Munro.
“From these discussions, the idea took hold to create a comic series about a bunch of friends navigating uni life, in the age of digital misinformation and unhelpful algorithm flooding.
“Like all great creative stories, someone had an idea. One person shared it, the next person brought a skill, and together we made it happen.
“This project highlights how, although the university environment and students’ lives have changed from the romanticised notion of how university life used to be, students, educators and researchers are still working together to challenge how we care for one another, and how campuses can be safe and respectful places where we all can thrive.”
The Soy Boy comic designs were created by Millie Ovenden, a recent graduate of RMIT’s Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media. Students in the 2024 cohort were offered the opportunity to illustrate the comic as an alternative assessment, with Millie’s adaptation selected as the winning project.
New Soy Boy comic stories are set to be released throughout the year.
Explore the first edition of The Adventures of Soy Boy and Friends comic series.
Find out more about RMIT Respect at Uni Week.
