Raising Feminist Boys: How to Talk with Your Child about Gender, Consent, and Empathy

“An important starting point is this idea that it would be wrong to do nothing. Neutrality is a myth. You can’t just think if you don’t talk to your children about these issues, then they’re just going to turn out not to be non-racist and non-sexist. Actually, Wegner says, in a culture of toxic masculinity, it becomes extremely important to raise boys who are consciously aware of the pervading sexism and taught to challenge it. One thing that I really like about all the books that that I’ve recommended, all of the more practical books, is that they talk in age-specific steps. There’s a combination of the psychology, and the need to do this, with the recognition that how we do this has to be age-appropriate. This goes all the way through from avoiding gendered toys right through to talking to teenage boys about sexual consent. I find this very valuable because it focuses on the importance of building up empathy. And again it comes back to that all-important parent-child relationship: it’s about how you build that up so it’s possible to have these discussions.” Read more...

The best books on The Ethics of Parenting

Elizabeth Cripps, Philosopher