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Boys to Men

Two views of what it's like to be young and male in the United States today. How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men. By William S. Pollack with Todd Shuster. e are asked now by two writers, one a philosopher, the other a psychologist, to consider the contemporary fate of America's boys -- how they have been faring in recent years. The philosopher, Christina Hoff Sommers, tells us right off, through the wording of her title, that we ought be concerned, even alarmed: there is a ''War Against Boys''; then in a subtitle we learn that ''Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men.'' The psychologist, William S. Pollack, offers, with Todd Shuster, ''Real Boys' Voices'' and immediately summons ''the Boy Code,'' defined as ''old rules that favor male stoicism and make boys feel ashamed about expressing weakness or vulnerability.'' Indeed, before any of the boys' voices are given ample presentation, the writing listener makes this insistent and conclusive summary: ''Although our boys urgently want to talk about who they really are, they fear that they will be teased, bullied, humiliated, beaten up and even murdered if they give voice to their truest feelings.'' This in a democracy -- but the author is not a sociologist or a political scientist, so he quietly calls upon his own profession: ''Thus, our nation is home to millions of boys who feel they are navigating life alone -- who on an emotional level are alone -- and who are cast out to sea in separate lifeboats, and feel they are drowning in isolation, depression, loneliness and despair.''

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