Article here. Excerpt:

'Employers must create work environments that celebrate both ends of the masculine and feminine energy spectrum.

While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg used US podcaster Josh Rogan's platform to call for more masculine energy in the workplace, our planet was literally on fire, thanks in part to the ego-driven thinking popularised through toxic masculinity.

When you Google the most powerful CEOs, Zuckerberg’s name is often accompanied by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. It’s no coincidence that each of them was present during Donald Trump’s second inauguration and subsequently have announced the dismantling of ESG and DEI initiatives across their companies.

These powerful men are standing by while our planet is faced with existential crises surrounding climate change, extreme economic disparity and global conflicts that have all arisen under a corporate climate forged under toxic masculine energy qualities like unfettered ambition and a winner-takes-all mentality.'

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'With Netflix smash hit Adolescence highlighting the devastation that can be wrought by toxic masculinity, a school dads club has been showing what positive role models men can be.

Jessop Primary School Dads and Male Carers Club provides a space for men to connect, learn new skills, and spend quality time with their children.

It is celebrating its first anniversary having doubled attendance since opening - with an average of 57 dads, carers, and kids at each session.

According to the club it wants to counter the negative influence of harmful online content.

It was started by parents after the murder of Elianne Andam by teenager Hassan Sentamu in a row over a teddy.

Club founder Scott Leonard said: "Primary school is so informative for young people, where they shape much of their thinking and behaviour."

Just 14% of primary school teachers are male according to the Office for National Statistics.'

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'Thorne has called for the introduction of a “digital age of consent” by banning smartphones for under-16s. Pundits have suggested that social media giants should do more to regulate algorithm-driven extreme content. A recent survey came to the depressing conclusion that more than half of young women are now frightened of their male peers.

The debate was further fuelled by former England football manager Sir Gareth Southgate delivering a televised lecture this week, warning about the dangers of “callous, manipulative and toxic influencers” and demanding better male role models. His pleas were echoed by feminist writer Caitlin Moran, author of What About Men?, on Channel 4 News. She said toxic masculinity was “very joyless and very depressing”, expressing the hope that Southgate’s speech and Adolescence would be a watershed moment.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Fast-forward to the 21st century, and it is the male of the species who is now routinely diagnosed with ‘toxic masculinity’, another uniquely gendered problem attributed to ‘too much testosterone’.

Intriguingly, we have only discovered lately — thanks to popular culture — that this evolutionary ‘flaw’ is not only responsible for uncontrollable anger, violence and an irresistible urge to dominate and ‘mansplain’, but it also makes men laughably stupid when it comes to domestic chores, multitasking and parenting (as adverts and rom-coms show us every night online and on TV).

So the story of young Jamie may be a parable for our times, insofar as it exposes the deplorable online recruiting sergeants (like the infamously misogynist Tate brothers), but the Tates and their ilk are catering for a much more worrying underlying — and burgeoning — male resentment, and its alarming ramifications.

Article here. Excerpt:

'One listener texted into the show to say that the phrase ‘toxic masculinity’ is a “truly horrible, nasty, anti-male term".

Mr Bidwell acknowledged that the use of the term can imply that all masculinity is toxic.

“A true, healthy male is really not toxic,” he said.

“He is a protector; he is someone who will provide huge value to this world.

“I think this is the part of the challenge we’ve got with kids growing up, young boys growing up, is that they’ve had this term brandished.

“They felt that masculinity is bad, or they’re being told masculinity is bad and they’re wondering what they’ve ever done to be labelled that way.”

Mr Bidwell said that while there are definitely masculine traits that “are being displayed in a very toxic way”, that we should be careful to brand all masculinity as toxic.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'When it comes to empowering books for boys, there is a gaping hole in children’s literature, according to New York Times bestselling author Francesca Cavallo. With the English-language launch of her first book for boys on March 20, Stellar Stories for Boys of the Future, she hopes to begin to fill that void.

The book uses 12 illustrated stories set on imaginary planets to explore topics like self-acceptance, rejection, friendship, and consent. Its goal is to immunize boys against the constraining and sometimes harmful messages about what it means to be a man in the world.

“[Male characters] are very often portrayed as emotionally immature individuals who must save others because they are incapable of saving themselves,” Cavallo tells Parents. “So I felt strongly that boys needed to be inspired to conquer themselves.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Starmer said it was difficult watching the drama with his 14-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. But showing the drama widely in schools will "help students better understand the impact of misogyny, dangers of online radicalisation and the importance of healthy relationships," his office said.

"It seems like the whole nation is talking about Adolescence and not just this nation," Starmer said. "As a dad, I have not found it easy to watch this with children, because it connects with the fears and worries that you have as parents and adults."

"There isn't one single policy lever to pull. It's actually a much bigger problem than that," he added. "And that’s the devastating effect that the problem of misogyny has on our society."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'"Adolescence" promotes a political agenda, and the narrative is built around that. It's a screed about toxic masculinity with a 13-year-old child at its center. Through vignettes about his home life with two flawed but loving parents, school friends and interviews with professionals about his behavior, "Adolescence" makes boys and men out to be problematic, susceptible to toxicity online and seemingly destined for violence.

As a mom of boys, I reject that depressing conclusion. Boys like Jamie do exist, but the data doesn't support it as a widespread trend.

Men are more likely to commit violent crimes than women, but only a small percentage of men are guilty of violence. We should be cautious about passing sweeping laws, like social media and smartphone bans, based on the actions of a relative few.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will issue a memo setting equal standards for men and women in combat roles across the armed services, he announced on X Monday.

The memo aims to implement the same set of standards for all service members involved in combat, regardless of sex, Hegseth said on X. Hegseth said the services would review the guidance to ensure the “highest and equal standards for men and women in combat.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'I think another difficulty is that it’s just hooey to think that the main threat of violence posed to women and girls, particularly girls, is white working-class boys brought up in stable two parent families. Total hooey. The main writer of the series claimed that he based it on three real life cases. In every case, the perpetrator was not a working-class teenage boy from a stable family background. You can see why, you know, the appalling murders by Axel Rudakubana, has prompted a kind of moral panic about this. But this is a complete misdiagnosis of what the causes of that episode were.

Article here. If the genders were flipped the whole tone would be different. It'd go on about how educational inequality needs to be addressed, etc. Instead the tone fairly settles gleefully for the status quo. Excerpt:

'Once upon a time, it was fairly common for highly educated men in the United States to marry less-educated women. But beginning in the mid-20th century, as more women started to attend college, marriages seemed to move in a more egalitarian direction, at least in one respect: A greater number of men and women started partnering up with their educational equals. That trend, however, appears to have stalled and even reversed in recent years. Gaps in educational experience among heterosexual couples are growing again. And this time? It’s women who are “marrying down.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Adolescence is the new hit Netflix series everybody’s talking about, based on several instances of teen boys stabbing their female peers in the UK. The murderous protagonist, 13-year-old Jamie, is a white boy from the north of England—a fact many commenters are crying foul over. They say it’s fashionable to demonize white boys as racist, homophobic, or in this case, misogynistic.

But my problem isn’t that white boys are the villains. It’s that the four-episode series demonizes masculinity in general.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Sir Keir Starmer today said he was "disappointed" with the Sentencing Council's refusal to change guidance and that "all options are on the table" over how the government might respond.

Ms Mahmood expressed her "displeasure" at the body's recommendations, arguing that "as someone who is from an ethnic minority background myself, I do not stand for any differential treatment before the law".

She had recommended that the guidance be reversed, but because the Sentencing Council is independent, she cannot order them to do so.

Responding to the news that her requests had been rejected, Ms Mahmood said: "I have been clear in my view that these guidelines represent differential treatment, under which someone's outcomes may be influenced by their race, culture or religion.

"This is unacceptable, and I formally set out my objections to this in a letter to the Sentencing Council last week.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The prime minister has signalled he is prepared to change the law to stop the introduction of “two-tier” sentencing guidelines, after an arm’s-length body resisted pressure to scrap them.

Keir Starmer said “all options are on the table” after the Sentencing Council for England and Wales refused to back down despite pressure from ministers.

The row concerns new guidance aimed at tackling bias and reducing reoffending, which puts more emphasis on the need for pre-sentence reports, which give details of the offender’s background, motives and personal life before sentencing.

Under the change, due to come into force on 1 April, magistrates and judges would be asked to consult the pre-sentence report before determining whether to imprison someone of an ethnic or religious minority, as well as young adults, abuse survivors and pregnant women.

Critics including Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said the guidelines amounted to discrimination against white men.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Britain’s got a problem, and it’s not the one the chattering classes are bleating about. It’s not climate change, pronouns, or gaslighting Netflix series probing what’s gone wrong with boys. No, the real crisis is a hole in the nation’s heart—a gaping wound where loyalty, pride, and (dare one say it) the willingness to defend this Sceptred Isle used to reside. The white working-class lads who once formed the backbone of Britain have had enough. Derided, scorned, and blamed for every ill under the sun, they’re no longer signing up to die for a country that’s made it clear it doesn’t want them. And who can blame them?