We've convinced young girls to embrace their masculine sides. Now it's time to encourage our young boys to be more feminine, writes EmTSuss.
Slogans proclaiming “Strong is the new pretty” and “The future is female” cover the T-shirts and notebooks I buy my daughters. Toy stores are brimming with books about “little feminists.” There is no doubt that, after far too long, American girls are empowered to embrace the characteristics stereotypically reserved for boys: strength, power, assertiveness.
But the corollary has not happened for our sons. When boys exhibit qualities stereotypically reserved for girls—sensitivity, care, compassion—they are often undervalued or, worse, mocked. Boys who show emotion other than strength could face ridicule. It’s past time that weThis isn’t just theoretical for me; it’s personal.
My young son is about as sensitive as kids come. When his friends were playing a violent game in the playground, he didn’t feel comfortable with it. He asked them to play grocery store with him instead, but it was no match for the aggressive alternative and, as a result, he felt left out. The game became a go-to with his classmates; he began to feel so excluded, he developed an eye twitch. A physical manifestation of his sensitivity.
This attention to emotions makes me proud to be his mom, and I want to encourage him to nurture the side of himself that is sensitive. But, like other parents with sensitive boys, I lack the tools to do so. All of the picture books about sensitive boys are about how toit. Failing to find archetypes in books and popular media that reflect my son, I rely on my own imagination to craft stories for him.
Our society’s tendency to overlook—if not openly deride—boys’ sensitivity leads to real-world consequences. Only
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