HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle

Stossel: How Government Caused 'The Boy Crisis’

Views: 1027
Author Warren Farrell says welfare programs encouraged fatherless households.

---------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
---------

Warren Farrell, author of The Boy Crisis, was once associated with the feminist movement. Then he changed his views. "I don't agree with the part of feminism that says, 'Men are the oppressors and women are the oppressed,'" Farrell tells Maxim Lott, a senior producer of Stossel on Reason.

For example, men die five years earlier than women, have more dangerous jobs, and are often passed over for custody. Boys are two times more likely than girls to commit suicide. Boys are 29 percent less likely to get a college degree than girls.

So why do men earn more and have more influence in government and business? A big reason, Farrell argues, is that men are filling social expectations to become the family breadwinner.

"Our dads and our grandpas, they made sacrifices...to make more money, and then the feminist movement turned all of that sacrifice on the part of men against men," Farrell says.

Both sexes struggle, but Farrell thinks the feminist movement's single-sided focus on women's inequalities has led to an atmosphere that harms boys. A dramatic increase in fatherless households—which Farrell believes is largely responsible for boys' problems—goes ignored.

Study after study finds that having both a mother and father is best, at least for straight families. (Gay families may do just as well; Farrell notes that the overall evidence is inconclusive.) "Even when we control for the amount of money a father and mother earn, children with dads still do much better," Farrell notes.

The rate of fatherless households has increased partly because of welfare programs that "tear the family apart by giving the money to mothers when fathers are absent," Farrell argues, "and not giving money to mothers when fathers are present."

Why would fatherless households hurt boys more than girls? "Boys tend to not have as many skills at developing friendships, at developing emotional connections," Farrell says. "So when the family connection breaks apart, it affects them more profoundly than it does their sisters."

Farrell says fathers are critical for several non-intuitive reasons. One is roughhousing, which teaches kids boundaries. Fathers roughhouse more than mothers, and when they do, "the father is creating a bond with the child, so the children don't mind discipline....The discipline is the price they pay for more fun with dad."

Many people think that mothers tend to be better parents because women are, on average, more empathetic and pay more attention to a child's needs. But Farrell says this by itself is not enough, because "an empathetic parent does not create an empathetic child. An empathetic parent is someone who's always thinking of the children's needs, which teaches the children to always have his or her needs thought of."

Requiring a child to think of others' needs is what actually build empathy, Farrell says.

Finally, Farrell says that mothers are more likely to express their love for a child by doing things like homework for the kid. They're more likely to engage in "helicopter parenting," which leads to overly dependent kids.

What's the solution to "the Boy Crisis"? Farrell says that society should offer more respect to men who focus on fathering rather than career success. He wishes there were more men in classrooms, and that schools would bring back things like recess.

The views expressed in this video are solely those of John Stossel, his independent production company, Stossel Productions, and the people he interviews. The claims and opinions set forth in the video and accompanying text are not necessarily those of Reason.
@ReasonVidsfollow
Thumbnail for Owen Wilson Got Fat! And More Fake News That Shouldn’t Be Regulated6:25
Owen Wilson Got Fat! And More Fake News That Shouldn’t Be Regulated
ReasonVids
1039 views
Thumbnail for P.J. O'Rourke, R.I.P.3:39
P.J. O'Rourke, R.I.P.
ReasonVids
969 views
Thumbnail for How Obama and Democrats Can Appeal to Libertarians2:02
How Obama and Democrats Can Appeal to Libertarians
ReasonVids
834 views
Thumbnail for Demonizing DDT: Challenging The Scare Campaign That Has Cost Millions of Lives9:16
Demonizing DDT: Challenging The Scare Campaign That Has Cost Millions of Lives
ReasonVids
838 views
Thumbnail for Immigrants DREAM on: Neither Obama nor Romney will help you2:37
Immigrants DREAM on: Neither Obama nor Romney will help you
ReasonVids
879 views
Thumbnail for Mexicans and Machines: Drew Carey on Nafta7:44
Mexicans and Machines: Drew Carey on Nafta
ReasonVids
974 views
Thumbnail for How Kurzgesagt Cooks Propaganda For Billionaires | The Hated One24:13
How Kurzgesagt Cooks Propaganda For Billionaires | The Hated One
invidious
481 views
Thumbnail for #StandWithRand: Rand Paul, Barack Obama, Drones, and Presidential Kill Lists2:46
#StandWithRand: Rand Paul, Barack Obama, Drones, and Presidential Kill Lists
ReasonVids
1018 views
Thumbnail for Should the Government Break Up Big Tech? A Soho Forum Debate1:24:26
Should the Government Break Up Big Tech? A Soho Forum Debate
ReasonVids
764 views
Thumbnail for We really need to do something about vaccinces. 1:15
We really need to do something about vaccinces.
bestofupgoat
406 views
Thumbnail for Lance Armstrong Cheated to Win. Is that Wrong?3:27
Lance Armstrong Cheated to Win. Is that Wrong?
ReasonVids
880 views
Thumbnail for EPA Rulemaking Matters! Video: Let Your Robotic Voice Be Heard! Let Your Robotic Voice Be Heard!1:29
EPA Rulemaking Matters! Video: Let Your Robotic Voice Be Heard! Let Your Robotic Voice Be Heard!
ReasonVids
784 views
Thumbnail for Transformers Beast Wars Episode 1 – Beast Wars, Part 121:06
Transformers Beast Wars Episode 1 – Beast Wars, Part 1
pirate
506 views
Thumbnail for The Navy Yard Shooting & Gun Control1:45
The Navy Yard Shooting & Gun Control
ReasonVids
816 views
Thumbnail for Check out this video from France where fuel rationing is taking place and chaos just ensues. Feelin like it’s about to get weird1:06
Check out this video from France where fuel rationing is taking place and chaos just ensues. Feelin like it’s about to get weird
bestofsaidit
670 views
Thumbnail for Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper on Ending the Drug War9:52
Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper on Ending the Drug War
ReasonVids
1059 views
Thumbnail for Individual Mandate is Unconstitutional and a Threat to Liberty says Ilya Somin9:38
Individual Mandate is Unconstitutional and a Threat to Liberty says Ilya Somin
ReasonVids
913 views
Thumbnail for Stossel: The End of Tipping?5:19
Stossel: The End of Tipping?
ReasonVids
896 views
Thumbnail for Battling Nancy Pelosi: Candidate John Dennis on Why Libertarianism is the GOP's Only Hope5:33
Battling Nancy Pelosi: Candidate John Dennis on Why Libertarianism is the GOP's Only Hope
ReasonVids
929 views
Thumbnail for Ron Paul says the rEVOLution is just starting2:51
Ron Paul says the rEVOLution is just starting
ReasonVids
744 views
Thumbnail for Remy: Horrifying Tweets Resurface1:47
Remy: Horrifying Tweets Resurface
ReasonVids
753 views
Thumbnail for The Flaw of Averages: Sam L. Savage On Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty4:31
The Flaw of Averages: Sam L. Savage On Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty
ReasonVids
830 views
Thumbnail for These Innocent Cumberland Residents are Living in Fear of Being Kicked Out of Their Homes4:39
These Innocent Cumberland Residents are Living in Fear of Being Kicked Out of Their Homes
IJvids
767 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian, reason magazine, reason.com, reason.tv, reasontv, feminists, john stossel, warren farrell, the boy crisis, helicopter parenting, fatherless, boys, roughhouse
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle