Dottie Lamm on recognizing the real at-risk youth of today.
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“My grand-daughter has just as much God-given potential as a boy born in that hospital today,” Hillary Clinton declared in a recent speech on the birth of her granddaughter, Charlotte, Sept. 26. “I just believe that; that’s just how I was raised.”
Well, yes. I would venture to guess that Charlotte Clinton Mezvinski will exhibit the “God-given” brains of both her maternal grandparents, as well as the charm of her grandfather Bill and the focused discipline of her grandmother Hillary.
And if raised with the message that “the world is open to your talents” as Hillary Clinton was, and not “spoiled” by being the latest addition to America’s most prominent public family, Charlotte will thrive. And to all the sexist pundits who pontificate about whether Hillary “will be able to run for president and be a grandmother at the same time” or if the grandmother status will “soften her image,” I say, please.
Right now I have another concern. Let’s focus on that little boy “born in the hospital” that day.
Let’s say he is an average little boy from a working- or middle-class family. What are his chances of living out his God-given potential? Not as good as Charlotte’s, even if she had been born in his humble circumstances. For in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, our boys are now at greater risk than our girls.
A national proposal to establish a White House Council on Boys and Men, headed by Warren Farrell, Ph.D., author of the book, “The Myth of Male Power,” documents the following factors as a few of the challenges that set up our boys for failure:
• Education: This is the first generation of boys in U.S. history who will have less education than their dads. Yet male teachers are scarce. Recess and vocational education are being curtailed. Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, drop out of school or be expelled than girls. By 2020, they are expected to receive only 39 percent of the total college degrees.
• Fatherlessness: A third of boys are raised in fatherless homes. This lack of a dad leads to poorer academic and behavioral results for them than it does for girls. A recent study of boys revealed that by the third grade, boys with absent fathers scored lower on every achievement test. Most gang members come from homes without dads.
• Emotional health: Depression remains hidden in boys because of the male taboo against the showing of feelings. Boys’ risky, anti-social or violent behavior often serve as a mask for depression. Usually that behavior is punished but the underlying depression not treated. Between the ages of 13 and 20, boys’ suicide rates soar to four times that of girls of the same age.Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free
None of this is to say that men at the top levels of society don’t still rule. “The myth of male power” co-exists with the fact that in many corporations, politics and in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math, barriers to females remain. We must constantly strive to break these barriers down as we strive to lift boys up. This is not an either/or dilemma.
Early in his first term, President Obama established a well-funded Council on Women and Girls to coordinate and build on already existing but scattered programs serving either or both. It was a brilliant idea, and well-activated.
Here’s hoping that President Obama or the next president will establish the same kind of commission for our boys and our men. Their programs are scattered and sometimes non-existent. Please, Mr. or Madame President, recognize that it is our young males who are now at most risk.
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Originally published in The Denver Post.
Photo credit: greg westfall/flickr
“A national proposal to establish a White House Council on Boys and Men, headed by Warren Farrell, Ph.D”
I’m a woman who is 110% on board with this as long as they find someone other than Farrell the child rape advocate to run it.
“The group to which Dottie Lamm refers,” Mark, what “group” are you referring to?
It’s a commission, headed by Warren Farrell, that has put together a proposal for the establishment of a White House Council on Boys and Men.
Here’s a relevant website: http://whitehouseboysmen.org/blog/
Thanks for asking about it, Tom.
Mark, thanks for the link …… Sad to see so few signatures.Why isn’t this out on the front pages? GMP have countless readers …. should be providing countless signatures.
I understand the frustration felt by those who have already commented. I feel it too, and I have been working on this issue – with my principal aim being the betterment of life for boys and young men – for more than 20 years. But even though I have three sons and four young grandsons, I wouldn’t have kept at it this long if I didn’t feel hope for a better future. The group to which Dottie Lamm refers, which is working for a White House Council on Boys and Men, continues to be very active and its membership is… Read more »
I have no idea who Dottie Lamm thinks she is fooling. Obama REJECTED the proposal for a Council for Boys to Men. Obama, and specifically his Majordomo Valerie Jarrett could not care less about boys or men. Obama finally, finally, came around to admitting that maybe, yeah, black and latino boys need help, which is why he set up My Brother’s Keeper, with some token private funding, and no serious government policy initiatives, and left poor white boys (of whom there are millions in the country) out on their own. Face it, the Democrats loathe white men and white boys… Read more »
I agree! But don’t be fooled into thinking that the republican Conservative party cares about boys and men either! The GOP is constantly teased and dubbed as being the party of “old white men” but religious conservatives tend to hold views that put women on a pedestal as pure little delicate flowers whilst seeing men as the disposable sex. For one, they tend to stubbornly adhere to the notion that women are the pure sex who are the gatekeepers of sex and that men are the roving inseminators who are addicted to porn and will have no sexual limits if… Read more »
This is about as far as I could get with your comment Amy … ” “….but religious conservatives tend to hold views that put women on a pedestal as pure little delicate flowers whilst seeing men as the disposable sex. ” … curios where you got that from Amy? I am a “religious conservative” and what you said here is NOTHING even similar to what I have experienced. And if you want to rant, it’s been the liberals who have us where we are, the liberals that set the stage MANY years ago. Just because you say it doesn’t make… Read more »
Perhaps you need to read the whole comment so you can see examples that I have outlined which support my conclusion. It is premature to reply to me without having read my whole comment. The Republican Party is often touted as misogynistic and sexist against women by the mainstream media but if we dig deeper, we see that their views on gender roles harm men in this day and age more than they harm women. This is in large part due to the fact that the rest of the world has moved on- at least as far as women’s gender… Read more »
Amy, I get the feeling that you’re still stuck in the 60’s given some of the things you’ve said. As much as I have enjoyed GMP, I certainly wouldn’t put them anywhere near the category of men’s rights activism. I mean, where were they at the International Men’s conference? Yes, they publish worthwhile articles but that’s about it. In so far as conservatives, you really need to stop relying on main stream media and latching on to the “front page” propaganda as being reality about conservatives. Hate to burst your bubbles but many women want to stay at home and… Read more »
More lies brought to you by your local alt right troll.
It is a stoned cold fact that women have a greater influence on society than men through many mediums… and lets face it this is also a media fueled and controlled world. In the last 10 years I have watch adverts where men are portrayed as simpletons, watch action films where male hero’s can only be strong as long as the female role is answered to first. I also watch male presenters being heckled by female co presenters and sometimes jointly guests. My point is that women it seems are ‘more’ equal than men…. so is this the age of… Read more »
Interesting ….. I guess if enough poop is thrown against the wall there is hope that something will stick. We live in a society that very few in power believe there is a real problem. How many years have we had clear data with respect to abused males? How many years have we seen clear data regarding male depression, suicide rates, homeless numbers. When are we gonna simply admit that we live in a society that simply doesn’t care? Men have been and continue to be disposable. With all the hoopla about women in the military, I hear nothing about… Read more »
@ Tom Brechlin “I hear nothing about requiring women to sign up for selective service. ” Funny thing is there were very effective calls to reduce standards for women when entering law enforcement fields. Women only have to do half the pushups men do to get into the FBI , but you didn’t hear any push back when the military refused to reduce standards to ensure more women could qualify for the infantry. There are demands to pay women for being in “combat zones” without acknowledging that in Iraq women suffered only 1/6th the causalities they should have relative to… Read more »
Actually, the Military did reduce standards for combat readiness. No sooner was the announcement made about women being able to ‘volunteer’ for combat (by the way,women in uniform can only be sent into a combat theater if they volunteer, men in uniform don’t have that option) then the Army cut 2 weeks out of it’s Basic Training (2 of the hardest weeks, according to my son who’s currently serving). Also, the standard in the Marine Corps of 3 pull ups to qualify for combat, well it still exists for males, Females however, just have to hang from the bar for… Read more »