Stop calling teen boys toxic – the problem might be us

Article here. Excerpt:

'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.

“We are at a tipping point for boys in history,” Chloe Combi, a podcaster, author, and researcher who is an expert on Gen Z, tells me. “We need to take this more seriously. The gender divide is the problem. Girls have been fed this idea that all boys are potential rapists; boys, in turn, were told feminism is dangerous, and girls are humourless.'