A "real man" never backs away from a fight...or does he?

Old school masculinity is harming our boys. Acting tough may seem like the best way for boys to stand up for themselves, but it's actually making boys more fragile and vulnerable.

We need to show our boys that there are better ways to handle hurtful words than with violence.

Transcript

We're going to show you that acting tough actually makes kids kind of brittle and fragile. And in actual fact makes them even more of a target, not less. Part of old school masculinity that is harming our kids is that a real man never backs out of a fight. We have had boys in primary school tell us that if someone ever insults them, they're going down. They're going to beat them up. These boys think they are being tough, but it's actually the opposite. How brittle and weak must they be if they can't withstand someone else's words? That the only way they can handle words that hurt their feelings is by hurting their bodies with violence. They think that in this situation they have the power, but they actually don't. If they feel like they are essentially being forced into a fight, because of the actions or words of another kid than it is the other kid who has the power, not them.