The War Against Boys: How Misguided Policies are Harming Our Young Men Hardcover – August 20, 2013

The author writes (p. 199): "The public has given no one a mandate to pursue a policy of privileging girls." And yet, as Christina Hoff Sommers repeats in the revised edition of her 2000 book, a small group of ideological feminists have claimed that Americans should do that, and from many quarters there is evidence that they have. This "New and Revised Edition" of "THE WAR AGAINST BOYS" is a welcome return of an important book. Sommers, a philosopher by education and a mother of two boys, shows that the trend she identified in the late 1990s to see boys as defective girls and therefore somehow in need of retooling has continued, and its effects have spread. The importance of Sommers' book lies especially in pointing out the misrepresentations of fact by leading advocates of making over boyhood. She takes to task the reputation of a major research institution for having missed oversight of assertions presumably based on scientific investigation that are, in fact, wishful thinking on the part of high-profile faculty. Her target is Carol Gilligan in particular, who managed to convince important activists, journalists and others in the media about the presumed defectiveness of boys that results from the dominance of patriarchy in American society. Go to this book if you are a parent. Take it to school administrators especially if your children are in grade school but realize that contempt for men and masculinity is now pervasive in higher education as well. If you are paying $50,000+ a year for a son's education, check out what courses are being taught that are disparage the young men in class. Sommers is a feminist in the way anyone who is clear-thinking is a feminist: someone who supports women in having access to education and employment opportunities of every kind. She is, however, a potent opponent of ideological feminists (contemporary "gender equity" feminists). As Sommers points out, regardless of the claims of social constructivists, boys and girls are different, and they cannot be refashioned to feel and experience and act in ways that are not part of their disposition (her word). There are biobehavioral realities that are well-documented but simply ignored by a small group of feminists (male and female) who insist loudly that even the possibility of basic differences between the sexes exist. She is a fan of masculinity in the traditional sense. It is pretty obvious that so are MOST women, too. Sommers provides examples of schools that harm boys and schools that support them. She points out that federal government opposes many initiatives in public and private schooling that would support boys in their growing up. She notes that in Australia and the UK such efforts to do better by boys are under way, but they are nipped in the bud in the States, mostly by virtue of the threat of law suits. She points to the complicity of all three branches of the federal government in standing in the way of even trying boy-friendly practices in school. Finally, she repeats that the tendency of thinking of boys as somehow psychologically ill as a result of being raised as their bodies tell them they must experience the world must be distinguished from the consequence of real harm suffered by boys in an environment that tells them there is something wrong with them for being boys. This is an important book for speaking out on behalf of boys and cutting through the rhetoric and false claims of so-called gender specialists who have taken over academe and whose pronouncements resound in the echo chamber (her metaphor) of the media.

Brave Mrs Hoff-Sommers will go down in the history of gender science as the one who first highlighted the disadvantages boys face in modern western education. Her book was a wake up call to all those who believed in that brand of man-hating feminist ideology which deviated from the traditional women's movement, and who wondered why boys' performance at school was plumetting. Now she's updated her groundbreaking work to show why, although in other parts of the world, there have been some fundamental changes to address this problem, the US is in a rather unique situation, where any attempts at reforming this discriminatory and prejudiced educational system are stymied by self-interest groups out to protect what doesn't need protecting - the right of girls to receive a decent education.

If our boys suffer, we all suffer, including or especially girls and women. Therefore, it is in the interests of everyone that we remove prejudice from our schools, and remove the spirit of male hostility so detrimental to learning. This book is highly recommended for home readers and public libraries. It was necessary that a woman write such a book, as if any man had written it, he would immediately have been labelled a mysogynist by the misandrist organizations referred to above.

Synopsis: From Goodreads:

Despite popular belief, American boys tag behind girls in reading and writing ability, and they are less likely to go to college. Our young men are greatly at risk, yet the best-known studies and experts insist that it's girls who are in need of our attention. The highly publicized "girl crisis" has led to many changes in American schools, politics, and parenting...but at what cost? In this provocative book, Christina Hoff Sommers argues that our society has continued to overemphasize the troubles of girls while our boys suffer from the same self-esteem and academic problems. Boys need help, but not the sort of help they've been getting.

My rating: 4 Stars

My opinion: I couldn't believe how well documented with short and long term statistics from multiple sources, including the Brookings Institute and DOE this was. It was very clear that they author had done her homework on the topic. On that note, it was a very concise and slower read to ingest the details and statistics. It took me a good week to read a just over 200 page book d/t absorbing and cross referencing data.

While the author calls it so, I wouldn't call it misguided feminism, but an attack on our young men by feminist groups with their own agenda. Misguided infers that it was done mistakenly or with no ill intent. Author gives many direct quotes from organizations, such as the AAUW, where this is the direct intent of an unapologetic organization to sabotage the educational opportunities for males, including the demasculinization of the education of our young men or how they learn best. We continue to see examples of this EVERY DAY in media reports with no apologies by our public school systems for a zero tolerance crime policy (targeted towards males), such as the flippant use and abuse of school suspension for chewing a pop tart into a gun or the state of Florida. Really? I would hate to get shot with that thing. I may not survive!

I have read other reviews of this book that states the author doesn't take into account a "myriad" of reasons on why boys fall behind. One notes that girls participate in higher numbers or even the selection of a book for required reading. Any excuse can be given, but numbers don't lie. Furthermore, isn't this a teacher and/or school system's job? A job that given numbers isn't taken too seriously.

This book is a must read for any parent of a son. I would expect a huge number of "masked" 1 and 2 star reviews with little meat to reviews by "feminists" who are being called to the carpet on their not so subtle agenda.

Source: Simon and Schuester

Would I recommend? : To EVERY parent of a son!

updated version of an earlier book. Love it. GET THIS BOOK for everyone who has boys, or cares about boys, for those who want good men for their daughters to marry. Young boys need help today