International Day of the Boy

This Sunday, October 11 will be International Day of the Girl.  On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

Who can argue that girls are not unfairly disadvantaged in non-Western regions of the world?  In many of these places sex selection abortions favor boys over girls - especially in China where boys are selected based on their later-in-life obligation to care for their elderly parents. Some girls are also denied education with reasons stemming from a simple lack of girls' washrooms at school, or as complex as issues related to poverty and social expectations.

So we get it.  Having a day dedicated solely to girls is important and the western media and Ms. Obama are unrelenting in their pursuit to ensure the public doesn't forget that any time soon.

So, what about boys?

The government of Canada's "Status of Women Canada" branch provides information and resources to ensure International Day of the Girl is effectively taught within the Canadian school system.  On their website's educational resources you can find a link that addresses boys.

The government’s post asks:

What about boys? Of course, poverty, violence, discrimination and lack of education do not just affect girls. Boys around the world also face these barriers and they too need help to overcome them. While the issues themselves may appear similar, the causes are quite different. Many of the challenges and injustices experienced by girls are directly related to their gender.

But is that correct?  Are only girls discriminated on because of their sex?  Or more simply stated are there any issues that affect only boys because of their sex?

Problems that (only) Boys Face

Boys face problems in today's world that girls simply do not.  Unlike the issues that girls face many of the problems that boys face are not limited to third world countries but instead have spilled over to the west.

Here are just a few:

Education

By far the biggest driving force for an International Day of the Girl is the large number of girls who are uneducated.  According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics, 63 million girls in the world are uneducated.  To put it into perspective the entire population of Canada is about 35 million – so this is no small number.  However, again according to UNESCO statistics, there are ALSO 61 million boys who are uneducated. A better campaign could address education for all children (not just girls)...but that's for another time. 

Nevertheless, the educational basis for an International day of the Boy wouldn’t be based solely from lack of education.  Instead there is a more well-known reason that affects more boys than girls and which is a world-wide phenomenon and is more prevalent in western nations. I am of course referring to the worsening literacy rate for boys.  The problem which has also been called the “boy crisis” stems from boys' nature to learn differently than girls.  The problem may be based on the boys’ mechanism for taking in and learning from the information provided in schoolroom environments.   This is a disturbing trend that progressively worsens each year.  Despite the problem very little has been done to combat let alone recognize it as an issue altogether..  Each year more boys (than girls) drop out of school or fail to move on to college. 

Suicide

The high rate of suicide is not only a man’s issue, in the US boys are five times more likely to take their lives (than girls).  Despite this, very little impact has been done in helping our sons.

Circumcision

Baby boys are routinely mutilated in the name of tradition or religion without any anesthetic, and with high degrees of pain and risk of infection, with no (or very little basis for) medical benefit or reason. On the other hand female genital mutilation is outlawed and aggressively monitored for compliance.   

War

In developing countries boys are  forced to fight wars. In many cases they are kidnapped for the sole purpose of having them indoctrinated into military exercises.  Though girls are also recruited, boys make up the vast majority at 70-90% of child combatants. 

Gangs

The growing lack of a family father figure has many boys forming or joining gangs in an attempt to bond, explore themselves and society, and release energy. This activity leads many boys (especially minority boys) to die in gang fights or eventually end up in prison.

Rape and Sexual Assault

A CDC study in 2005 showed that 1 in 6 boys experienced unwanted sexual contact by the time they reached the age of 18. The number for girls was a bit larger at 1 in 4.  This appalling statistic wouldn’t in itself justify an International Day of the Boy.  What does qualify them is the double standard in both identifying the problem and helping boy survivors.  Female-centric media has focused the problem solely on women and girls while simultaneously avoiding the recognition of the issue for men and boys.  Recent trends on the news often hold female perpetrators of such crimes against boys as insignificant and unworthy of jail sentences for the perpetrators.   Very often boys are perceived for “wanting” it and are deemed "lucky".

Health

In the US 1 in 7 boys (almost 20%) will be diagnosed with ADHD before they reach high school.  Shockingly, many of these boys are wrongly diagnosed.  The growing movement to demonize normal boy behavior is causing clinicians (who act on the concerns of parents and educators) to incorrectly render a diagnosis of ADHD.  Even more troubling millions of these boys are given powerful stimulants (like Ritalin) in an attempt to make them “normal”. 

Despite the specific problems that boys face a day dedicated to them to specifically raise awareness doesn't appear in the works  . With an International Men’s Day coming up this November 19 and a Women's Day in the Spring, boys are the only group left lacking in a special day they can call their own.  This week (maybe next week) boys all across Canada and the US will be hearing about the International Day of the Girl from their teachers and asking when is it boy’s day? Only to hear there isn't one.

Why it's Important to have a Men's Rights Movement?

How many times have we heard the same old - same old...that feminism is ALSO for men?  This is usually done in an attempt to kill discussion about men's issues.
Feminists will often state that you don't need a men's rights movement because - of feminism.  But does feminism really help men's rights progress?
Feminism was initially created to help women. Period.  It was a creation of the post industrialization movement.  Men were always the main bread winners not because of patriarchy but because of biological differences.  Before the onset of advanced technology and capitalism most jobs were based on hard labor.  Men had to labor hard in mines and on farms to provide for their families.  Boys were often indoctrinated into early child labor to assist while women and girls served an equally important function of caring for the home.

Providing for the family was 

tantamount to survival of the human 

species. Men's aggression was not 

necessary for hard work - but it 

was important for survival.  

His aggression was important 

(not for beating his wife) 

but for protecting her. 

Men's strength had evolved (or for the creationist was created) for this purpose.  Providing for the family was tantamount to survival of the human species. Men's aggression was not necessary for hard work - but it was important for survival.  His aggression was important (not for beating his wife) but for protecting her.  This idea of protection was critical to the survival of not only his family but of the immediate society he lived in.  Since the survival of the community is limited by the number of children born into the next generation it was paramount to protect women.  A single man can impregnate an incredibly large number of women and therefore if only one man survived that was "okay".  If only one woman survived it wouldn't make a difference if you had one man or a million men - the next generation was directly dependent on the woman's fecundity.  Hence the concept of male being disposable became entrenched in everyone's psyche.  It still is today.  If a man dies there is very little news.  A woman's death however makes for great news and sympathy.  Even incarceration rates takes this idea of disposability to new heights.  Who cares if we throw a man in jail to rot but putting a women there is a tragedy.  Its the ingrained idea of disposability why more men are put to death by capital punishment and why many more women have their sentences commuted to prison time.  Disposability goes hand in hand with the concept of gynocentrism.  Women were never oppressed by in fact the complete opposite because of their importance to the continual survival of the species.

Fast Forward a Few Thousand Years

With the onset of technology strength had become widespread.  Capitalism and competition made it necessary to create more efficient means for productivity.  As technology improved men's strength became less and less necessary in society's ability to survive.
The printing press also made strides in communication as did the telegraph, radio and television which went hand in hand with the evolution of policy and law enforcement.  Civilization had lifted the requirement for individual men to defend their family.
In essence.  Men's and women's biological differences became less and less important in society.

As technology improved men's strength 

became less and less necessary 

in society's ability to survive.

With women and men no longer bound to their historical (required) roles they began to move out of their comfort zones.  Armed with their entitlement bestowed to them by society's gynocentric sentiment women sought out to seek better lives. Why? Because its only natural that we strive to improve and get better...have more money....more security.

Today, Women are Well Taken Care of

Today's world has numerous systems geared towards women.  Governments have whole ministries and divisions whose main focus is the betterment of women's health and well being.  And that is good!  We should care about women and girls.  They are important.  But doesn't that also beckon the question about "what about men and boys?"

This video (from Tom Golden) illustrates just how lopsided our gynocentric society is with regards to allocating resources between males and females:

The men's rights movement is a real thing.  

It raises awareness about the disparity.

The Men's Rights Movement

The men's rights movement is a real thing.  It raises awareness about the disparity.  But what we hear all too often is why doesn't the men's rights activists actually do anything about the issues they raise?  First, this is a loaded question.  It implies that "nothing" is being done.  Since when is raising awareness doing nothing?  With the numbers of men's rights advocates so low the best thing we can do is raise awareness.  Attempting to actually solve the issue will be futile.  Without resources including support in government how would you expect a small group of men's rights advocates to:

• reverse the failing trend in boys' education
• bring forth legislation to end male genital mutilation
• bring fathers back into the lives of their children
• solve the suicide epidemic

It also doesn't help that there are (feminist) groups out there who are specifically down playing these issues.  Like this excerpt written by James Fell (posted in time):

MRAs believe the traditionally oppressed groups have somehow seized control and taken away their white male privilege. They tap into fear and insecurity and turn it into blame and rage. Often the leaders of these groups are men who feel as though they got screwed in a divorce. They quote all sorts of statistics about child custody and unfair alimony payments, because in their minds, the single mother who has to choose between feeding the kids or paying the rent is a myth. They believe passionately in their own victimhood and their creed goes something like this: Women are trying to keep us down, usurp all our power, taking away what it means to be a man.


Besides being misleading and dead wrong, misandrists like James Fell make it difficult for awareness for men's rights to grow.  Mr. Fell and many others also make the mistake of linking men's rights activists in the same camp as Pickup Artists.  I can spend a lot of time debunking this false claim but I'll point you to number one best resource (in my opinion).  Bane666AU has spent many hours debunking this:

Michelle Obama Urges Girls to Focus on Their Education, Not Dating: "Compete With the Boys"

Recently, Michelle Obama urged Girls to focus on their education, not dating: "Compete With the Boys!" she told an audience at Glamour's The Power of an Educated Girl panel in New York.  What Michelle doesn't understand or worse does understand but fails to express is that it is boys who are seriously failing in school.  Girls have been doing well thank you.  Girls make up the ones with the highest test scores, girls are the ones who graduate with more honors, girls are more likely to finish school and go to college.  Out of every 100 students who go to college only 37 of them will be boys.

But Ms. Obama was directing her comments at minority girls, right?  Well what about minority boys?  They are in fact the bottom of the food chain.  Not only are the numbers for minority boys that far worse then any demographic but they are more likely to get involved in drugs, gangs and go to prison - many of them are killed in street gang violence.  An education for these boys would greatly increase their chances for a better life.  In turn the whole of society would improve - and yes even the lives of women and girls.

So I'm sorry but if you think we need to tell girls to do better - at least the girls here in the US and Canada - well that just isn't right.