Excellent review. As a fellow mother of two boys who has ALSO never hashtagged myself as a #boymom, I agree with a lot of your reactions to the book. The chapter on FACE also made me deeply uncomfortable, particularly the story about the boy who came onto his long-time female friend and was then accused of assaulting her ... my own son's best friend is female and I cringe to think of some sort of similar confusion or miscommunication arising for him. We need to do so much better by our boys in preparing them for this fraught landscape, and I consider Ruth Whippman's book to be an excellent resource in that journey.
Maggie- if you haven't read @Jo-Ann Finkelstein Phd's book Sexism and Sensibility you should- it looks at all of these issues but from the perspective of raising girls. Highly recommend.
Excellent review. As a fellow mother of two boys who has ALSO never hashtagged myself as a #boymom, I agree with a lot of your reactions to the book. The chapter on FACE also made me deeply uncomfortable, particularly the story about the boy who came onto his long-time female friend and was then accused of assaulting her ... my own son's best friend is female and I cringe to think of some sort of similar confusion or miscommunication arising for him. We need to do so much better by our boys in preparing them for this fraught landscape, and I consider Ruth Whippman's book to be an excellent resource in that journey.
thank you so much, Lacey.
Oh wow Maggie- this is such a lovely surprise. Thank you so much!
I was working on it before your other piece blew up, but maybe it ended up being good timing!
I was thinking the same thing —perfect timing!
Maggie- if you haven't read @Jo-Ann Finkelstein Phd's book Sexism and Sensibility you should- it looks at all of these issues but from the perspective of raising girls. Highly recommend.
It’s on my list!!
it was just what I needed, and I truly appreciate it!
I'll have to read this! I see/hear a lot of these conversations with and between my students at the high school level.