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'Young men are being drawn to toxic masculinity because schools are not “boy-positive”, a report has claimed.

Research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) has found men are being left behind in society because they underachieve at school.

It estimated that about half a million men have missed out on higher education in the past decade.

The report warns of the risk that these “undereducated men” will be driven towards “political extremes” if male underachievement in schools is not resolved.

It comes as the Netflix series Adolescence receives critical acclaim for its plot, which centres on a boy, 13, who is arrested for stabbing a teenage girl after being “indoctrinated” by misogynist influencers.'

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'Parents should consider delaying access to smartphones for their children due to the “alarming trend” of alpha-male influencers promoting toxic masculinity among boys online, Tánaiste Simon Harris has said.

He was speaking at an event in his hometown of Greystones, Co Wicklow, where all eight primary schools and parents' associations have agreed a “no smartphone voluntary code”.

“The Conor McGregors, the Andrew Tates – these are figures that exploit insecurities and reinforce outdated and dangerous narratives,” he told a gathering of principals, teachers and parents.

“If we don’t get on top of this, the result is a generation of boys who struggle to form healthy relationships, who are less emotionally resilient, and who are at risk of internalising damaging ideas about gender and identity.”'

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'Four-part British drama 'Adolescence' debuted last week on Netflix to wide-spread acclaim. It follows the events after a 13-year-old boy murders a girl in his school year. Each episode is a one-take insight into different aspects of the murder’s fall-out: from the initial arrest, to the investigation at a school, a psychological assessment of the boy, and his parents’ response.

Hanging over the drama is the question of how a culture of toxic masculinity has led to the tragedy. Particularly in the school episode, the influence of male content creators like Andrew Tate on young boys is highlighted as a dangerous radicalising force in British society.

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'Dozens of Labour MPs have joined forces in an effort to steer young men away from “toxic influencers” and the manosphere with positive messages about fatherhood and the promise of better paternity rights, the Guardian has learned.

The new group of predominantly male MPs, many with seats in “red wall” constituencies, are urging Labour to speak to men directly, warning that by “leaving a void” they are allowing figures on the right to dominate the discourse around masculinity.

It comes as a report called for a “boy-positive” learning environment to be developed in schools, while on Wednesday the former England manager Gareth Southgate spoke of his fear that “callous, manipulative and toxic influencers” were taking the place of traditional father figures in society.

The Hepi report calls on the government to develop a strategy for men’s education, overseen by a new minister for men and boys.'

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'Iceland’s minister for children has abruptly resigned after shockingly admitting she had a baby more than 30 years ago with a 16-year-old boy — who ended up coughing up child support.

Ásthildur Lóa Thórsdóttir fessed up to the secret relationship, which started when she was a 22-year-old counsellor at the church group the teen attended, on Thursday after Icelandic news outlet RUV was tipped off about the saga.

The 58-year-old politician, who is a member of the country’s center-left People’s Party, confessed that she gave birth to the teen’s baby when she was 23 — and that the boy was in the birthing suite during her labor.

The teen, identified as Eirík Ásmundsson, even paid child support for the next 18 years — despite Thórsdóttir allegedly denying him frequent access to their child after she met and went on to marry her husband, according to the outlet.

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'The International Council for Men and Boys (ICMB) proudly announces the launch of the New York Declaration for Men and Boys, a significant document addressing crucial global issues impacting males. Released on the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which focused on women and girls, this declaration marks a pivotal moment. It emphasizes the need for genuine equality by highlighting the perspectives and challenges faced by boys and men.

You can read the declaration below, or follow this link to the ICMB web site. Many thanks to both Ed Bartlett and Larry DeMarco for their leadership on this important document.

Please share this.'

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'Hilaria Baldwin has fired back at critics after her recent red-carpet appearance with husband Alec Baldwin in New York City went viral.

The couple were discussing their TLC series “The Baldwins” with “Extra” at the Planet Hollywood Times Square opening party when Hilaria, 41, snapped at her beau, 66, for talking over her.

After a clip of the exchange made rounds on social media, the yoga guru has now set the record straight.

In a video on Instagram, the pair — who have been married since 2012 — were in bed together as they playfully mouthed along to the audio of the viral clip.

Hilaria then asked her husband, “And that is called, what’s the word of the day?”

“Manterrupting,” the “30 Rock” alum responded.'

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'Christina Formella, a 30 year-old teacher, said she did not assault the teenager while tutoring him at Downers Grove South High School in December 2023 after the student’s mother uncovered the alleged assault through text messages on his phone.

The teacher, who is married, reportedly told investigators that the student had used her phone to send himself inappropriate text messages to “blackmail” her.

“She claimed that one day, [the boy] had grabbed her phone unattended, had entered her passcode… had sent the message to his phone, had then deleted the message from her phone, and had saved it to his phone as blackmail,” court documents detailed.

Formella has claimed that her looks and caring “too much” made her an easy target of blackmail.

DuPage County Attorney Robert Berlin said, “The allegations against Ms. Formella are extremely disturbing.”

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'Teenage boys today have witnessed the #MeToo movement rightly calling out misogynistic men, but perhaps they haven’t fully grasped the nuanced arguments about masculinity’s place in the movement. These boys are growing up in an environment where consent is discussed as if they are already guilty – or potentially guilty – of heinous behaviour towards women. The tone feels personal and, at times, accusatory, as if they alone are the problem rather than society’s entrenched patriarchal views of ownership over women.

I think this has left many younger Gen Z boys confused, provoking a sense of powerlessness in the face of vocal feminism. I am not blaming feminism per se – women have needed it more than ever to express what they face in society – as patriarchal structures need to be continually challenged.

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'The number of men becoming secondary school teachers in the UK has fallen to a record low - sparking fears boys are turning to toxic male role models in their absence.

Shocking figures show the proportion of male secondary school teachers has dropped from 46 per cent in 1994 to just 35 per cent today.

Experts are concerned this could leave impressionable young minds susceptible to the twisted ideologies of figures such as self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate.

They are now calling for a targeted recruitment campaign to bring more positive role models for boys into the classroom, reports The Sunday Times.

While staff rooms were once closer to an even split of men and women, the number of male teachers has been gradually declining since the early 1990s, according to figures from the Department for Education (DfE).

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'While the discourse around gender equality is gaining momentum, mental health crises among men and boys are being ignored, according to a UK-based psychology expert.

In his latest book, Benjamin Hine, Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of West London (UWL), UK, argued that men struggle to negotiate harmful notions of masculinity and are not included in conversations around gender.

Hine stated that body image, fatherhood, and sexual relationships are the key reasons stressing out men and boys. He called for addressing their concerns without framing them as “the problem”. The book also explored a range of other issues like education, gaming addiction, and homelessness - most of these issues are often ignored because men are too readily seen as ‘the problem’ rather than ‘having problems’, Hine said.'

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'Harley Watson was on a path to what he calls a "gangster" life.

The 17-year-old, from Clacton, in Essex, was a "lost and troubled kid", having grown up without a dad.

"I was behaving very badly in school and, if I'd carried on, I would almost certainly have been excluded."

His experience is echoed in a new report, which says young men who lack a positive male role model are in crisis.

Fatherlessness has a significant impact on boys' mental health, education and future prospects, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) report found.

Aged 14, Harley joined Lads Need Dads, a local programme that equips boys with life skills and confidence.'

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'She’s got a joke about Carr, a fair few about her “current husband” and childhood sweetheart Bobby, a good line about their son Fred — whom the doctor pronounced not neurodivergent but instead “diagnosed as ‘boy’”. And if she jokes about how white and well-off all three of her kids are, she has great lines too about how a man like Dave Grohl — “who looks like he sleeps in his car” — can father a love child. The gag is usually that men have somehow inexplicably been allowed to think they are better than second-class citizens.'

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'We have to examine why the manosphere’s predominantly young male audience is engaging with its content, what about it connects with them, and how it works. We must look beyond the noise and disregard our own reactions to truly grasp its power.

Boys and young men today feel ostracised by what they see as the dominant conversations in society. They find themselves problematised in gender narratives, framed as perpetrators of problematic behaviour, and portrayed as potential aggressors – before they have so much as made friends with a girl.

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'Many commuter train lines in Japan operate trains with women-only carriages on a daily basis during the morning and evening rush hours, as a countermeasure against gropers, or chikan, as they’re called in Japanese. Chikan use the crowded conditions onboard commuter trains as cover for their heinous acts, making it difficult to identify or confront the perpetrator before they exit the train and make their escape, and so women-only cars are offered as an option for female passengers who feel more at ease with no men in their vicinity.