Sunday, October 14, 2012

"What are little boys made of"

The author Michael Kimmel argues that boys are becoming more depressed, suicidal and emotionally shut down and that there needs to be a change. Feminism hasn't caused boys to grow up more violent by focusing on girls and making girls and boys follow girl standards but rather feminism helps boys to become more emotionally open and able to express themselves in a better manner. As he writes "Feminism encourages men-and their sons-to be more emotionally open and expressive, to develop empathic skills, and to channel emotional outbursts away from violence". Our society has made boys more aggressive by making them conform to what they believe all boys should be like such as keeping emotions bottled up, solving problems violently, and being obedient at home as well as in school he says "we must contend with the "culture of cruelty" that forces boys to deny emotional neediness, "routinely disguise his feelings" and end up emotionally isolated". Instead boys should be acknowledged as just that, boys, by allowing them to embrace the changes testosterone naturally creates and feel free to express themselves. Kimmel also talks about how all of the therapists that talk about this issue neglect the fact that boys are not all the same instead generalize and focus mainly on middle-class suburban white boys, "...the authors ignore large numbers of boys whose pain and low self-esteem may have to do with insecurities and anxieties that are more economically and politically rooted". To solve the issue at hand he believes "feminism offers the possibility of a new boyhood and a new masculinity based on a passion for justice, a love of equality, and the expression of a full range of feelings".

No comments:

Post a Comment