Myths that are damaging to our sons

Transcription:

The myth that boys don't cry is really damaging to our sons, and our teenage boys in general because they have to keep everything holed up inside. It just bottlenecks and explodes in various different ways. It can be violent or hateful. It is because these high levels of frustration result from not being able to just emote in any way that feels natural. For a teenage boy, if he wants to cry and he's upset, his reaction could be appropriate. He might go into his room and start slamming his pillows with his fists and get it out that way. Or -- I'm not exaggerating here -- he might get hold of a gun and shoot someone. This is a reality in America. This whole notion that men are not supposed to cry is just something that is a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode in our faces.

Video Categories: ALL PARENTS, Family Life, Gender Differences, TEEN, Parenting Teens

Malina Saval, Author & Journalist, explains how teenage boys are damaged by the stereotype that they aren't supposed to show emotion and explains why it is important that they do so

Transcript

Expert Bio

Malina Saval

Journalist & Author

Malina Saval is the author of The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens. As a journalist, her work has appeared in Variety, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, LA Weekly, Flaunt, Jerusalem Post, Forward, Heeb, Premiere.com, Moment and Fanzine, for whom she pens a monthly column entitled "Sponsored in Part." Her short fiction and essays have been included in Palehouse and The Truth About the Fact literary journals and in the anthology Now Write! Nonfiction: Memoir, Journalism and Creative Nonfiction Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers. She's lectured at several universities, including University of Central Florida and University of Eastern Michigan, and has appeared as a special expert guest on the Tavis Smiley Show (PBS), Fox News, NPR's "Talk of the Nation" and the Patt Morrison Show.