‘We need to understand how the rules and norms of masculinity affect how boys and young men feel and behave’

The following is an excerpt from Boys: What It Means to Become a Man, by Rachel Giese, which has been shortlisted along with four other books for this year's Writers' Trust of Canada's Shaughnessy Cohen Prize, the best political book of the year. The winner will be announced in Ottawa on May 15.

Author Rachel Giese: 'If we believe in gender equality, if we want to eradicate gender-based violence and discrimination, and if we want a world in which everyone feels safe and feels encouraged to be their full self, then we need to understand how the rules and norms of masculinity affect how boys and young men feel and behave. The last few years, with the rise of #MeToo, we have seen an opening up in our conversations about sexual assault and sexual discrimination. But our proposed solutions won't be effective without engaging boys and men in this important work.'

Feature

BY RACHEL GIESE

May 13, 2019

When I began my research on Boys in 2015, gender progress seemed to be marching, slowly, forward. A 2014 Pew Research Center survey of American millennials,

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