"It's certainly clear that the issues of boys and men haven't gone away in the last few years. If anything, they're getting even more attention, which is good when it's the right kind of attention. And what I've noticed is that, perhaps as a result of videos like this and of the broader conversation, is that the permission space to talk about the issues of boys and men seems to have broadened, whereas it felt like a very difficult thing to talk about."
"That doesn't mean that it isn't still a difficult conversation. I think that a conversation about the challenges of boys and men should be difficult. I think that if you don't find it an uncomfortable conversation, given some of the challenges that we still have to deal with for women and girls, then maybe you shouldn't be in that conversation."
"So it's still a difficult conversation, but it's a possible conversation. And I'm really pleased to see many more people now being willing to say, "Okay, we should address this issue." I think the key to that is to make sure that it's not seen as zero sum. As soon as people are reassured that looking at the challenges of boys and men, trying to fix those problems is not at the expense of continuing to do work for women and girls."
Issues affecting boys and men continue to matter and have attracted increasing attention, broadening the social permission to discuss them. The conversation remains difficult and appropriately uncomfortable given persistent challenges facing women and girls. Treating male-focused problems as non-zero-sum, and assuring that addressing them will not undermine work for women and girls, creates space for cooperative solutions. Once conversations shift from an 'or' framing to an 'and' framing, many people engage, motivated by concern for sons, husbands, and brothers. An inclusive framing unlocks widespread interest and willingness to act on problems facing boys and men.
Read at Big Think
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]