Confronting our terror about raising boys in a patriarchy

Learning to manage the fear is critical to parenting well

Feminist mothers of boys are terrified. They see the harm men cause in the world, and they want their children to be an antidote to that suffering—not its cause. Yet endless harmful influences target boys as early and aggressively as possible. The manosphere is working over time to turn them into monsters. Often, bad coparents deliberately undermine good parenting. And even when parents can somehow perfect the home environment, a world of problematic peers and harmful culture waits.

This is an installment of my new, limited-run, daily series, Feminist Parenting. This series will feature reflections on parenting in a more liberatory way, as well as practical guidance on topics such as raising boys, resisting sexualization, and more. This is a bonus for paid subscribers, and I’ll still be keeping up with my usual editorial calendar on top of it.

Find other installments in this series here. You can also find other feminist parenting advice here. Jeff and I also tackled the prospect of raising feminist boys in our podcast here.