Following Chodorow, Gilligan claims that boys get the message that in order to be “male”—to become “one of the boys”—they must suppress those parts of themselves that are most like their mothers. Gilligan speaks of a “relational crisis” that very young boys undergo as part of their initiation into the patriarchy. In effect, says Gilligan, boys are forced to “hide [their] humanity” and submerge their best qualit[y]—their sensitivity.”14 Though this diminishes boys psychologically and morally, it does offer them the advantage of feeling superior to girls.
