This is a complicated topic because I can see both sides to some extent..
Society has for the last twenty years or so been working hard to suppress the boy out of boys. I’m not going to sit here and say that isn’t true. Boys that are “too active” or “too aggressive” are singled out in school as early as kindergarten, labeled ADHD or some other behavioral crap, parents are pressured to medicate them to make them more manageable and the kids are somewhat targeted for this school to prison pipeline for behaviors that used to be considered normal developmentally. Schoolyard fights have been criminalized but running your mouth is perfectly acceptable.
At the same time there’s nothing wrong with the message that you don’t have to be any one thing to be a MAN. That’s an important thing for kids to know, and it’s important for people to be accepted as they are regardless of some gender based stereotype of what they should be. There’s nothing wrong with promoting better conflict management skills then aggression and there’s nothing wrong on the surface with trying to help kids concentrate and succeed within the systems they need to travel through.
However, as with many things it seems maybe the pendulum has swung too far. In an effort to promote acceptance of all outside the stereotype those who naturally fit the stereotype have been left out. In an effort to try to reduce aggression normal developmental patterns of behavior that are biologically understandable have been criminalized instead of used as teachable moments as they once were. So I get the frustration.. it’s like the feminists who promote a woman’s choice but scorn stay at home moms. I get it. That doesn’t mean that you throw the baby out with the bath water and it doesn’t mean that those who don’t fit the original stereotype aren’t real men or real women. It just means humans are flawed fundamentally in general and maybe we should stay out of meddling with this kind of thing altogether and just let people be who they are
Society has for the last twenty years or so been working hard to suppress the boy out of boys. I’m not going to sit here and say that isn’t true. Boys that are “too active” or “too aggressive” are singled out in school as early as kindergarten, labeled ADHD or some other behavioral crap, parents are pressured to medicate them to make them more manageable and the kids are somewhat targeted for this school to prison pipeline for behaviors that used to be considered normal developmentally. Schoolyard fights have been criminalized but running your mouth is perfectly acceptable.
At the same time there’s nothing wrong with the message that you don’t have to be any one thing to be a MAN. That’s an important thing for kids to know, and it’s important for people to be accepted as they are regardless of some gender based stereotype of what they should be. There’s nothing wrong with promoting better conflict management skills then aggression and there’s nothing wrong on the surface with trying to help kids concentrate and succeed within the systems they need to travel through.
However, as with many things it seems maybe the pendulum has swung too far. In an effort to promote acceptance of all outside the stereotype those who naturally fit the stereotype have been left out. In an effort to try to reduce aggression normal developmental patterns of behavior that are biologically understandable have been criminalized instead of used as teachable moments as they once were. So I get the frustration.. it’s like the feminists who promote a woman’s choice but scorn stay at home moms. I get it. That doesn’t mean that you throw the baby out with the bath water and it doesn’t mean that those who don’t fit the original stereotype aren’t real men or real women. It just means humans are flawed fundamentally in general and maybe we should stay out of meddling with this kind of thing altogether and just let people be who they are