(Note: I do not know Peter Zohrab, but his commentary seems largely sexist and reactionary to me. I do not condone his beliefs. I am just commenting on some of his writing.)

This post argues that boys are being messed up by female teachers, administrators, television personalities, psychologists, etc. . . basically, he says that women everywhere are causing insecurity and mental issues in adolescent males. While I agree with certain aspects of his argument, it seems a lot more like he just has a grudge and wants to complain and not at all recognize the merits of sometimes talking out problems and discussing feelings.

Yes, boys get emasculated now and then when they are treated as if they’ve done something unnatural when they try to deal with problems (or life in general) in ways that seem normal to them, but as the post states, boys and girls are different and shouldn’t be treated as if they all need to deal with their problems in the same way because there is only one healthy way to do that. But, rather than stop there, the poster argues that female school administrators are loony and forcing their beliefs on their pupils.

He makes a few valid points and overlooks a number of logical counter-arguments, but all in all, at a time when men are more likely than women to commit suicide and four times more likely than women to suffer physical abuse at the hands of another, I have to say that I agree that too many boys lack healthy male role models and are forced to conform to societal standards that praise, at least in word if not also in deed, a more naturally feminine way of interacting with the world. I’m not saying that the way that female teachers deal with their students is necessarily wrong, but rather that their, let’s call it, style has potentially become too heavy-handed as a result of a lack of an opposing male style of leading, role modeling, education, etc. The scale is weighted too far in one direction, but probably due to one side being largely absent.

I know that discussions of this nature take place all the time and that, at the same time, the problems that girls have to face should not be overlooked, but where does the largest responsibility for such things lie? With parents? Teachers? Television executives? I don’t know. I suppose that I’m just glad I don’t have any children so that I don’t have to deal with any of this.

Tags: commentary, education, emasculation, female administrators, new zealand, peter zohrab

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Criticism, found. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.