Bluesky

Facebook

Illustration: Mr.Nelson Design

Last year, psychologist Lee Chambers set off across the United Kingdom to listen to boys. In his work training companies in equality, he had met hundreds of parents who said they were concerned that boys were struggling after the COVID-19 pandemic and being manipulated online. So he decided to go and find out what the lives of 12–16-year-olds are really like.

The results of this research, which included the views of more than 1,000 adolescents, revealed boys’ frustrations with the modern world1. More than 80% said there aren’t enough real-world spaces — such as parks or youth clubs — to be a boy. More than half found the online world more rewarding than the physical one. And nearly 80% said they were not clear what masculinity is. “It’s toxic, that’s all I ever hear,” said one participant.

The idea that boys and young men are struggling is not a new concern — but the hand-wringing has intensified over the past few years. Globally, more boys than girls are out of school and young men are less likely than young women to attend higher education. Boys and young men tend to have fewer close connections and less emotional support than do girls and young women, surveys suggest, and many feel under pressure to conform to stereotypical ideas of masculinity and body image. Last year’s hit Netflix show Adolescence triggered widespread concern that teenage boys were being drawn into the ‘manosphere’, a network of male-focused, often misogynistic online spaces. Some “people would say that boys are in crisis”, says Matt Englar-Carlson, a specialist in counselling and director of the Center for Boys and Men at California State University, Fullerton.

Can ‘toxic masculinity’ be measured? Scientists try to quantify controversial term

Are boys really in crisis? What the science says in the age of the manosphere