- [re: the most noted women's groups centered Washington] They have not taken well to the idea that boys are in trouble. I don't think these groups are consciously warring against boys. But I do think they see the world as a zero- sum game: a competition between Venus and Mars. Their job is to defend Venus. In just wish they would see that times have changed. They're knocking down doors that are already open.
- If you look at the trends in school, many teachers and parents don't understand rough-and-tumble play. They confuse it with aggression and violence. In the U.S., it seems that hardly a week goes by without a little boy being suspended for playing cops and robbers.. Rough- and-tumble play helps boys forge critical social skills and friendships. Play is the basis of learning.
- Critics of my work say: well, even if boys are failing at school, eventually they will win in life. But the fact is that men tend to show up at the extremes of success and failure. And failure is far more common. There is a small coterie of men who prevail in the high echelons of industry, politics and academia. But millions of young men are poorly educated and disengaged from the workforce. In any case, I argue that ignoring the educational needs of men is not the way to help women.
- Gender identity is both biological and cultural. But we have had three generations of feminism encouraging children to enter different fields. And very little has changed. If you look at college majors, boys are still engineers and girls go into the helping professions. Many children will defy the stereotypes of their sex, but the majority seems to embody them. I think that's a reality.
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