Quotes:
“To hear some tell it, there is a virtual war against boys
in America. Best sellers subtitles counsel us to ‘protect’ boys, to ‘rescue’
them. Inside, we hear how boys are failing in school, where their behavior is
increasingly seen as a problem. Therapists advise anguished parents about boys
fragility, their hidden despair and despondence. Boys, we read, are depressed,
suicidal, emotionally shut down.”
-First I would like to touch on the “protect” and “rescue”
aspect. What are we rescuing them from exactly? Feminism? Yes, because I’m sure
a young boy knows all about feminism. I also don’t like how in this quote, the
word “boys” is so broad. In the last sentence it says “boys, we read, are
depressed, suicidal, emotionally shut down”. Is this sentence applying to EVERY
boy? Or maybe perhaps just a small percentage of kids who happen to be male.
Also, a boy’s behavior is different than girls because of biology and other
factors as well. Maybe they have a behavior problem because of situations at home,
problems at school, problems with friends, etc. This opening paragraph was a
little bizarre to me and felt the need to argue against it.
"If all the boys are white
and middle class, at least they're not all straight. Most therapists treat
homosexuality casually, dropping in a brief reference, ‘explaining’ it as
biological, and urging compassion and understanding before returning to more
"important" stuff."
-
I read this quote first on Jessica’s blog, and
then when reading the article it really stuck out to me. I don’t like how it’s
just a “brief” topic. All too often, authors sweep homosexuality under the rug
and don’t acknowledge it the way they should. In my first quote and in the
beginning of the article it says how boys are depressed, suicidal, and
emotionally shut down. The author doesn’t specify if this means gay or straight
boys, since he uses the word so broadly, but I think this could potentially
apply to gay males in the sense that many struggle with their sexual
orientation. How often do we hear about bullying especially when it comes to
gay people? Bullying leads to depression, being suicidal and emotionally shutting
down. I think that is the small percentage of “boys” he was referring to in the
beginning.
“The real boy crisis usually goes by another name. We call
it “teen violence”, “youth violence”, “gang violence”, “violence in the schools”.
Let’s face facts: men and boys are responsible for 85 percent of all violent
crimes in this country, and their victims are overwhelmingly male as well. From
an early age, boys learn that violence is not only an acceptable form of
conflict resolution, but one that is admired.”
-
This quote I do agree with. It is
true that male’s respond quickly to violence and are exposed to it at such an
early age. But whose fault is that? Society’s. There are so many movies and
video games out there that target a young male audience so it’s not a surprise
that boys are the more “violent” type. I
feel better that within this quote it has a percentage narrowed down instead of
the general word use of “boys”. Lastly, I agree with the statement saying that
violence is admired in boys. The tougher you are, the higher up on the pedestal
you are in most cases.
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