Men will be boys

The truth is out… boys do cry!  But seriously, most girls want a guy who can be both strong and sensitive.  I don’t want a guy weeping on my shoulder, but it’s nice to know that boys have feelings too.  Valenti is something else!  She’s certainly a force to recon with.  She has many valid points on the way society constructs boys into men, or more often now men into boys. 

It’s very frustrating because I just don’t understand why we allow ourselves to be socially constructed/ continue to socially construct the following generations.  We imbed these ideas of what girls or in this article, boys, are suppose to be like.  Why does it matter?  Shouldn’t we just be who we want to be?  Can’t we remove the stereotypes and stop trying to mold people into what we “think” boys and girls are suppose to be like.  I worry that we will never actually see that type of equality because so many people are brainwashed into thinking that this is the way things are suppose to be.  We are a very judgmental culture.  We love to analyze other people’s lives.  We like to criticize their faults, when in reality their faults are probably the same as ours.  

On another note, Christina Hoff Sommers’ The War against Boys discusses why it’s a bad time to be a boy in America.  Girls have surpassed boys in the classroom; they are getting better grades.  Girls are the leaders of the clubs and activities.  They are more engaged in school and more concerned with achieving success.  More women attend college than men.  This information shows that women have come very far and that our interest in achievement is paying off.  In middle school and high school, I always assumed girls were more ambitious because we were the ones making the grades and filling the leadership positions.  The idea that boys were less interested in these types of things seemed normal.  So I guess I am not surprised that the statistics are confirming this.  What I am concerned about is why boys are disinterested in school and extracurricular activities.  Sadly, I hear parents condone boys disinterest in school with the “oh you know how boys are” comment.  I also believe that being competitive, if a boy cannot easily beat a girl in something he will pretend it doesn’t matter and not apply himself because of the fear of failure.  I guess this is something that needs some further research.