Male Malaise

In a recent interview, President Barak Obama shared eight insights into what he called the “Male Malaise”

I am not a fan of the former president and would not give the article any credence at all except for the subject matter. In my judgement, it’s too little, too late. However, it turns out we do share some insights about the matter and I think that a quick review of the material may be helpful.

1. The idea that being pro-male means being anti-female.

   1. We discuss this at great length in our book “Boys Have a Dam Problem” There is no doubt that radical feminism has painted broad, nasty strokes over masculinity. We identify the problem as a ‘distortion and denial of masculinity leading to the demonization of manhood.’ The anti-male arm of feminism has been leveraging this idea for several decades.

   2. Obama said, “As progressives, Democrats, progressive parents, ‘enlightened ones’ (my favorite descriptive), we’ve made the mistake sometimes in terms of our rhetoric, where it’s like we’re constantly talking about what’s wrong with boys rather than what is right.”

2. We need more men in the lives of boys.

3. The importance of fatherhood.

   1. We believe these two things are closely tied together. It may take a village, but some of the people in that village have to be men.

   2. Mentorship models are great and wildly important, but it’s hard to take the place of a father and deprivation of intentional fathers in the home is one of the biggest contributing factors to the boy problem. Our model not only looks at the father figure but the company of men necessary to lead and guide boys into manhood. The place of ritual and recognition in the life of a boy moving into manhood is one of the most significant ‘missing links’ in their development and has directly contributed to the boy crisis.