"Boys' poor mental health stems from feminism."

[Whattheduckery]

Just been in a training session at my school and this is what the trainer has said. She followed with "because they don't have a club to be part of..."

It's made me so mad.

100% of male violence is committed by people. Don't you see the problem?

The world men have built?! Fuck me 🙄 I tell you what we probably wouldn’t have done, banned men from holding a patent, or finance, or property or the right to claim their work as their own and then claimed it all as ours.

That’s the opposite of the case. Studies tend to show that women work collaboratively and men prefer hierarchies - which is why they have always created them.

There is no real equality yet in our society though….

As a teacher, i have to say I am so grateful to the male teachers who deliver equality and sexism workshops and assemblies on days like IWD. Boys will switch off immediately if I talk about issues like VAWG, or give me the "what about domestic violence against men? why dont you care about that"... but will listen with an open mind if male teachers talk about it.
I just wish there were more male voices in the media talking about this, its so noticeable that the only people discussing these issues are women

I see what you mean. There are about 8 teachers in my close and extended family. 6 are female. They all say that boys are being left behind educationally but also in being valued “their words”.
I don’t think the trainer was talking literally but metaphorically when talking about clubs.

Given that we live in a society where separating people into distinct groups/identities and basically rating their importance (which in my opinion is ruinous for societies) means boys/young males come way down the pecking order.

The type of feminism I follow simply means I value my femaleness as distinct from maleness,but that in no way means I’m inferior and doesn’t mean I want women being more like men (off the subject a bit sorry). But I also have room and am not threatened by allowing we may not be doing the best by young boys.

Completely agree with you.

I think today’s feminism too often ends up almost trying to turn women into men and ‘abolishing’ men.

Different but equal is what I believe in too.

I'm surprised MRAs are agreeing with each other.

Total contradiction. If it was turning women into men, it would be abolishing women, not men.
You don't seem to have much of a handle on what feminism is about.

Are they really being "left behind" or are is it just that they aren't having as much of a unfair advantage as they once did? Nothing else has changed. Children have basically been educated the same way for a very long time, except that now girls aren't being discouraged from things like speaking up in class and taking leadership positions on class projects as much as they used to be. They aren't being discouraged from studying advanced math and science as much.
What if it's just that boys cannot compete when it's an even playing field because, on average, they aren't as competent?
The same thing is happening in universities- more women are entering and more women are graduating than men.
To me this is evidence that when girls and women are treated fairly, some kind of a natural advantage is revealed that perhaps makes them better learners.

Children have basically been educated the same way for a very long time

I thought one of the supposed reasons for boys struggling was that education has become more coursework based over the years - boys being said to perform better in exams and girls in coursework?

I don't know if it's actually true but I've defo heard it said growing up.

Coursework was always the biggest part of it when I was growing up, and that was a very long time ago. Definitely before adolescence, where the emphasis shifted more to exams. Younger kids have trouble sitting still for exams and their attention tends to wander. Presumably educators know that.
Maybe it was different in the UK back in the day?
Yet I hear the same complaints about boys and education in other countries as well.

Not quite sure what your meaning is?

I imagine they got mixed at the end but they have a point. Look what happened in the 80s particularly. Women started to emulate men, dressed more like men, behaved more like men. I think what’s being said is that’s unnecessary and devalues what women are fundamentally.

The 80s? The fashions of that decade were hyper- feminine, not masculine. The pencil skirt was everywhere, as were very high heels. It was in the 90s grunge era when young women started wearing Doc Martens and baggy clothes.
What do you mean by behaving like men?

I was a teenager in the 80s and didn't dress like a man. Do you mean the big shoulders? Women had big shoulders pads in the 80s but didn't dress like men.

How did women behave more like men?

How long ago are you talking. There was never any coursework it was all exams when I was at school. Whilst that certainly isn’t the case now and definitely favours girls.
I’d agree that it’s possible that having a more level playing field in the sense of opportunities for girls, will make a difference but there are a whole myriad of reasons boys aren’t doing as well. For example teachers tend to prefer girls, teachers are more likely to label boys troublesome, boys are more likely to be vulnerable to certain disabilities. I could go on, but I’m not trying to labour the point, simply suggesting that things are a lot more complex than one blanket reason.

Yeah, they were big shoulder pads on dresses that were often either frilly, made of shiny satin and/or had rhinestones on them. Then there were the two piece suits with the boxy jacket paired with a pencil skirt. Always with high heels. So hardly masculine. It was hideous stuff.

I remember wearing drain pipe jeans and large shirts with a loose belt. The 80s really was the decade that fashion forgot. Ra Ra skirts, bubble skirts, pencil skirts, kilts and tartan.

Okay perhaps the wording should have been aspired to be on an equal pegging to men, in the workplace. In that sense they had to become more like men otherwise they’d have got nowhere. It was a big turn around in the 80s and I’m talking about the workplace specifically. They fought to be partners and high level execs in a very male dominated world. As for clothing the theory behind shoulder pads is all about broadening the shoulders to look more manly.

I was talking about the 60s, 70s and 80s.

This Australian research found that gender bias of teachers is split and actually does not have a lasting affect on boys in terms of higher education, but does for girls.

https://economics.uq.edu.au/article/2021/12/teacher-gender-bias-has-lasting-effects-on-student-marks-and-study-choices

Think you’re all talking about the romantic era. I was referring to women in work.

You went to school in the UK? I don’t remember any coursework.
As regards the research, that’s only one aspect of as I said the myriad of challenges.
Look I’m not saying it’sa completely unequal playing field now. My original comment was simply recognising and commenting about what the teachers in my family feel in response to another post.

But how does looking for career success, as you said, devalue femininity?

I would think shoulder pads were to make your waist look smaller, not to make you look masculine, because they were being paired with heels. Shoulder pads were in vogue in the fourties as well. Fashions come back around and don't necessarily say anything about social change. Fashion really isn't that deep for the most part.