Vulnerable young men, masculinity and extremism | The Strategist
Vulnerable young men, masculinity and extremism | The Strategist
Elements of society continue to apply subtle and not-so-subtle pressure on boys to be ‘real men’, which can have negative impacts on their development and on social cohesion. Australian researchers who interviewed 1,374 young men ...
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There’s a need to identify this as a problem for society and to call attention to the importance of boys expressing emotional vulnerability. Expressing vulnerability comes with the risk of humiliation and shame, which can be uncomfortable for boys and young men. Efforts to counter violent extremism must therefore take gender seriously and devise gender-sensitive approaches. This is no easy task.
How to help boys if helping them hurts them
The answer is in the article I think.
These groups thrive in the void that is self help for men.
The classic feminist discourse doesn't speak to men as it was designed by and for women to allow emancipation.
The disconnect with classical feminism is best evocked by the trans community where trans men explain how surprised they were at the reality of being a man in today's world.
There isn't much if anything around to help young men learn how to be a man in the 21st century, so they are inevitably drawn to the simple but toxic solutions people like Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson provide.
This void used to be filled with the pick-up artist community, so this issue isn't new.
The obvious counter would be for feminist groups like ours to also provide non toxic solutions to the issues boys and men face so that they can go into the world.
There is a way to be manly and tolerant and express your needs and wants healthily. We're learning it the hard way. We need to make it easier for the next generation. I'm saying this as a father of 3 boys.
Pet peeve, but even the name feminism is going to be a hard sell when you're trying to explain to boys how to be men.
Then we can call it Emancipatory Masculinity. My takeaway from reading The Will to Change by bell hooks was that boys and men should be free to be who they are and to freely explore what that means. As you say, classic feminist discourse allowed emancipation for women, and the same should be true for masculinity based on feminism.
Emancipatory Masculinity, I like it :) .
Thanks