Dear Mr. Dad: My husband and our boy-girl twins love to wrestle, but I’m worried that all that physical activity and getting revved up will make them—especially our son—see violence as acceptable. Should I be concerned? A: Not at all. In fact, the evidence supports the exact opposite conclusion. In their book, The Art of Roughhousing, Anthony...Continue reading
Manhood today is maligned and misunderstood. Some believe maleness itself is inherently destructive and should be eliminated. In his book, The End of Manhood, John Stoltenberg says that the notion of manhood “is a sham, a trap, and those who would redeem it are kidding themselves, for manhood is a mask, incompatible with truly human selfhood.” Others...Continue reading
As I was preparing for our international fertility meetings, and being the guy I am who likes to think big and help others, I embraced this year’s theme: “Focus on the Next Generation.” And then my mind began to wander. If I were given stupidly large sums of money, where would I invest in men’s health...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: In one of your columns a month or so ago, you took a swipe at Title IX, which most people think has done a great job of bringing equity to college sports. You even called it “dangerous.” I don’t see what there is to complain about. Please explain. A: Thank you for asking....Continue reading
It’s been a decade since Lehman Brothers collapsed, careening America deeper into the Great Recession that led nearly nine million Americans to lose their jobs. Although the official unemployment rate is low, the proportion of men who were working last month was actually four percentage points lower than it was a decade ago, according to...Continue reading
Despite the decades-long drumbeat for gender equity, young American men still feel strong social pressure to adhere to traditional male roles to be tough, sexually aggressive and controlling, even though most personally don’t believe in the tenets of old-style masculinity. This disconnect between how they feel they should act and how they say they want...Continue reading
Jemal has had four daughters with two women—two of his daughters in their 20s, two in preschool—but is living with none of them. A thoughtful 47-year-old African American man in a large Eastern city, he knows he “made mistakes” and said “I don’t want to repeat them with my younger daughter.” Jemal is among about...Continue reading
Amid all the largely disconnected discussions about angry white males, stagnant wages and inequality, fatherless families, and polarized politics, several striking linkages among these issues have largely gone unnoticed. Tens of millions of white men have been expelled or checked out from mainstream American life – a reality with profound consequences for our economy, our...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: You’ve talked a lot about kids and sports. Why are sports so important? A: Kids these days have it tougher than we did when we were their age. Today’s kids live in a world where social media puts every aspect of their lives under a harsh microscope—something we and our parents and grandparents...Continue reading
A far left bias on campus has led J. Haidt and others to argue for free speech. Whatever media you look at, whatever Internet sites you frequent, whatever social media you are on, you cannot escape the fact that in the last decade or so, our country has become more and more polarized. The election...Continue reading