Week of January 6, 2014

The Roundup contains information about all of the latest news, commentary, reports, surveys, issue briefs, charts, and fact sheets related to boys' issues collected by our staff during the preceding week.

News Clips

  • There's Something Absolutely Wrong With What We Do To Boys Before They Grow Into Men
    I can't even begin to describe the toll that the concept of masculinity has taken on my life. And it's felt everywhere. It's time we make changes, starting from within ourselves.
    Upworthy
    January 2014

  • Young Men and Shootings: Man Enough?
    But we overlook one aspect of these violent public outbursts: in every case where a suspect is known, the shooter is male. (Notice how the word "gunman" fits comfortably within our vernacular, unlike its feminine counterpart.) 
    Aspen Times, January 3, 2014

  • Why Doctors Don’t Talk to Teenage Boys about Sex
    The researchers also found that female patients were twice as likely to discuss sexual matters with their doctors. While this might seem like par for the course (as ob/gyns tend to discuss issues such as birth control, the HPV vaccine, and more), it also shows that we are doing teenage boys a glaring disservice.
    Everyday Health
    January 3, 2014

  • RELATED
    Doctors Fail To Have 'The Talk' With Teenage Patients, Study
    The experts found that physicians brought up these topics in 65 percent of visits and each conversation regarding sex lasted for an average of 36 seconds only. It was also found that in none of the visits did adolescents start the sex conversation, reinforcing the need for physicians to initiate such talks. The study, published Dec. 30, 2013, in JAMA Pediatrics, found that less than two thirds of doctors and teenage patients talk about sex, sexuality or dating during annual visits.
    hngn.com
    December 31, 2013

  • Colo. Teen Addiction Centers Gear Up for Legal Pot
    While many Coloradoans rang in the new year by lining up outside marijuana dispensaries for a celebratory toke, some rehab centers are prepping for an increase of marijuana-addicted patients in 2014, especially teenage users.
    ABC News
    January 3, 2014

  • The Boy Scouts and the Secret Policy of Inclusion
    January 1 hails not only a new year, but also a new era for the 104-year-old Boy Scouts of America (BSA). It's the day a new policy allowing openly gay boys to join took effect. While gay adults are still prohibited from troop leadership, this historic first step toward inclusion serves as an invitation to all boys to join in the fun, friendship, and challenge of scouting.
    Huffington Post
    January 2, 2014

  • Is The Sensitive Boy Doomed From The Start?
    We are raising our boys to become better than their macho-male predecessors, a noble endeavor indeed. We teach them to be sensitive, that crying in public is nothing to be ashamed of, that they don’t need to "suck it up," that the weight of the world is not riding on their shoulders, and no matter what others might say, they are special and should be respected for being special. We just keep forgetting to tell them that everyone else thinks they are special too. 
    Good Men Project
    January 1, 2013

  • Snapshot of the U.S. uninsured: Young, male, family working
    A large fraction of the United States' uninsured are young, men who are either working or have someone in the family working, white or Hispanic, officials say.
    UPI
    December 29, 2013

  • Study Identifies Health Risk Facing Boys Raised By Single Parents
    Growing up in a single-parent household can lead to high blood pressure later in life for African-American males, according to a new study from the National Institute of Health.
    Huffington Post,  December 26, 2013

  • CDC: Diagnoses of ADHD Are on the Rise
    According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6.4 million children, or 11 percent of children between the ages of 4 and 17, have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. - 
    News Register
    December 26, 2013

  • How to raise boys to be good men
    Boys, like girls, have complicated feelings. They struggle with their identities. They have no idea how to approach females. The anything goes sexual mores of teen sexuality create pressure to perform as well as pressure not to violate.
    CNN
    December 25, 2013

International News

AUSTRALIA

  • Baby Boys Prefer Dolls To Cars
    After showing four-month and five-month-old babies pictures of objects, people and dolls, Australian researchers at the University of Western Sydney found that baby boys favor objects with faces over machines.
    Counsel & Heal
    December 23, 2013

CANADA

INDIA

  • Why girls are preferred over boys by IVF parents
    A new research has found that a majority of IVF parents undergoing embryo screening are choosing girls over boys in order to decrease the child’s risk of autism, as male babies are about 4 times likely as girls to develop the medical condition.
    India.com
    December 26, 2013

IRELAND

  • Teen boys have ‘negative view’ of depression in peers
    This test also showed that teenage girls did not have negative attitudes towards their peers with depression but that some teen boys did. Dr Hennessy said: If we were to think about intervention, the group that we need to target are adolescent boys and depression.
    thejournal.ie
    December 23, 2013

UK

  • Tristram Hunt: 'White British boys are not getting the education they want'
    "It doesn’t matter that these are white boys. It’s not about the colour of their skin. It is a grouping that we know we have an issue with." While London schools have been transformed "and that has particularly impacted on other race communities, we have a problem in other parts of the country that particularly affects white British boys".
    The Telegraph
    December 28, 2013

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