OK, it’s not really a shelf and it is definitely not a library, but we didn’t know what else to call this post. It is a list of articles that have recently caught our attention.
The first two things we share are important to our work with youth. First, it seems that Tile and AirTag have become a safety concern. Read the article. Then, this blog post in Psychology Today states: “Although boys are resistant to many of the negative and stereotypic portrayals of manhood, they feel significant expectations and even pressure to accommodate them because violating these stereotypes can lead to social isolation.” Read the blog.
This guest essay is important to our work with fathers: “All this [research] suggests that fathers are made, not born: Time with infants is a key ingredient in building the fathering brain.” Read the essay.
While we prefer to stay away from language that blames, we were glad to see the UN speaking out about violence against against women: “’We cannot accept a world in which one half of humanity is at risk in the streets, in their homes, or online. We must end violence against women and girls—now.'” Read the article.
Forbes recently explored studies that shows that when gender identity is threatened at work, men are much more likely than women to act defiantly. “The authors highlight how masculinity has traditionally had a status that needs to be both earned and maintained, whereas womanhood has often been viewed as rather more stable.” The authors also suggest that “the rise in phrases such as ‘toxic masculinity,’ may inadvertently be worsening the problem.” Read the article. We ourselves are trying to use positive language to describe masculinity.
The author of this guest essay in the New York Times feels that toxic masculinity is ofter replaced by what they call “petulant vulnerability”: “Petulant vulnerability … uses the language of vulnerability as a cudgel. If true vulnerability means accepting change, personal fallibility, and the human condition of reliance on others, petulant vulnerability feigns emotional fragility as a means of retaining power.” Read the essay.
Every day, millions of male-identified people engage in behavior along the continuum of violence that cause harm to self and others. When we work with youth and adults, we try to talk about the social construct of masculinity and how it has promoted and celebrated aggression and violence as a way to solve problems. We need to transform that way of being. We partner with individuals, schools, and communities to courageously create a safer, more empathetic and humane world for all people. This is our introduction to the one piece we will share about the incident at the Oscars. Read Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash