The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men

by Christina Hoff Sommers

Book Overview

Argues that boys have become the primary victims of American society, showing how boys' weaknesses are aggravated by anti-boy prejudices and offering constructive suggestions on how to help young males.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684849569
• ISBN13: 9780684849560
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

This teacher comments: One of the best non-fiction books I've read all year!

I graduated from Indiana University in 1990 - just as the 'girls are fragile' movement was gaining momentum. I was taught the 'facts' that Sommers refers to in numerous in-services (for all of you non-teachers, in-services are attempts at teacher training in which a speaker comes and entertains or horrifies us with a speech that usually has little or no practical value - when I taught in the inner city it was usually the horrifying type: "these kids are all failing and blah-blah percent of them will end up dead or in jail and it's all because you didn't teach them how to multiply fractions or diagram a sentence correctly!"). Anyway, I did buy into some of the stuff about girls being fragile and being overrun in the classroom. I have heard the statistics Sommers skewers so completely and thoroughly and I swallowed many of them hook, line and sinker because it was early in my career and as a young person I foolishly believed that if a Harvard PhD researched the facts they must be right. As a more jaded professional, I appreciate Sommers' meticulously endnoted work. She embarrasses the 'fragile girl' theorists by burying their under-researched (and sometimes un-researched) theories in a blizzard of relavent studies and facts from responsible and trusted sources (for example, I've had the '4 million women die from physical abuse from a man' stat thrown at me in a diversity seminar. Yes, verbally thrown at me - as if I were the man who personally beat them all to death! Well, if it happens again, I'm armed with the REAL facts from the Centers for Disease Control, thanks to Sommers). Sommers overwhelmingly makes the point that our 'touchy-feely' self-esteem oriented schools are a great big turn-off to most of the boys. (in my experience as a high school teacher, the girls don't buy into it much either). Schools are not designed for most boys, especially as we take away physical activities and recesses. Male boisterousness is seen as wrong - a mental disorder and/or a sign of ADHD. Boys have to be medicated specifically for their built-in attributes that they possess as boys. Special interest groups such as NOW and the ACLU will fight for the rights of women since they are oppressed, despite the fact that their grades are better, they are much less likely to be in special education classes (4-1 ratio of boys to girls), girls are more likely to go to college (55-60% of college students are female) and boys are much more likely to be punished in school than are girls. As I read this book while enjoying the first few days of my Christmas Break from school I found myself resolved to take a look at how boys are treated in my class and in my school. I also found myself thinking of ways I can provide the specific needs of young men that Sommers' experts identify. I'll refer back to those recommendations often and make a few changes in my classroom and lobby for changes in the school. ***This is a must-read for any serious-minded and open-minded ed

I've seen what she shows data to prove

I have a 13yr old daughter and a 10 yr old son. What Ms Sommers writes is true. We have deserted our boys. Labeled our girls as weak and confused and taken away the power of the teachers to help. My daughter talks to me often about how she really hates everyone talking to her like she has a problem. She makes straight As, has 4 close friends, is well mannered, and happy. She says, " I feel great, but every now and then school counselors and other people, try to make me feel like, I'm on the edge of destruction." My son does not enjoy school. Its not the teachers, but the material. He would rather play games or play with friends. He has a B average. I've also seen great teachers lose their careers because of a lawsuit taken against them. The schools in all cases settled out of court and fired the teacher as part of the settlement. The main reason these teacher got in trouble, because they cared about more than the child's learning. They cared about the child. This book puts facts to what I've seen. It make me worried and guarded about what will happen to my children and the others after them. If you have children, this book is a must read. If you care about the future of children in this country, you really should read this book. You will not be disappointed.

Excellent! A must for All Parents

First, get past the provocative title and try to read this objectively. It's really not just a book for conservatives, although it will drive some feminists and folks in the education establishment nuts.Sommers illustrates in a clear and direct style how some women's groups and institutions have furthered their own political agendas by promoting shoddy research and disseminating information that is untrue. Consequently, these groups have made boyhood in the year 2000 pathological--something that must be changed.Luckily most parents of boys have more common sense than the feminists and educators being influenced by them. Yet, every parent with a son should read this to develop awareness and to protect their child. Parents with daughters would also be well advised to read this book, as Sommers shatters the popular notion that girls are confident at 11 and have shattered self esteem by 16. Sommers investigates the research herself and relies heavily on facts and statistics in drawing her conclusions.When you've finished reading this one, you'll be convinced it's time to protect our boys from the heavy boot of propoganda.

Right On The Money

I think this book hits the nail right on the head: American boys ARE being neglected in school in favor of girls. I'm an 18 year old male that just graduated High School, and I know for a fact that girls are given more opportunity to succeed in school than are boys: ie, special girls-only classes, special attention to women's issues in the classroom, etc. According to the feminists that post here, (hmm... mostly from the People's Republic of Vermont...) if you don't believe in women first, women always, women only, you aren't a feminist. I think that women in our society are mistreated far too many times, but that kind of radical feminism is no longer necessary. For years feminists railed about equality, and then turn the other way when the roles are reversed. How hypocritical. Fortunately Ms. Sommers realizes both sides to the situation. Excellent read, I highly recommend.

A cautionary tale for every man and every boy's mother.

Next time you see a man holding open a door for a girl, remember that according to feminists women/girls are one of America's most oppressed groups. They are dissed in the schools, bounced agains the glass ceiling in business and raped, beaten, riduculed and ogled nasty by men in the streets. Now Sommers balances the scale by showing how feminism's big lies have become the bedrock of an unjustified war against males that begins in the elementary school, if not earlier. Read this calm, well-reasoned book and you will learn how society has been turned against men. How it's been done with millions of dollars in government support for "gender education" materials and how real lies and false, unsubstantiated statistics have been used to justify attacks on any and every manifestation of malesness whenever and wherever found. Everyone should read this book just to learn how persistence in lying can create an aura of truth. In short, real statistics show that men are not nearly as bad as the feminists paint them.In fact, little boys and young men are even more in need of help when it comes to self-esteem etc. in school than girls. The real statistics will, well, shock you.