How Not To Be a Boy

by Robert Webb

All she said was: boys should not disrespect girls because people should not disrespect people.

People who do a lot of walking away from Human Interaction are called ‘unsociable’ or sometimes ‘writers’.

Men in trouble are often in trouble precisely because they are trying to Get a Grip and Act Like a Man.

Feminists are not out to get us. They’re out to get the patriarchy. They don’t hate men, they hate The Man.

All the most harmful and self-harming aspects of masculinity are busily performed: the need to dominate others, the weaselly interest in hierarchy, the confusion between cruelty and strength, an impatience with nuance and the moronic idea that inflexibility is a virtue.

We should remember what we knew all along: that we are allowed to be fully human, fully compassionate, fully alive in the moment and fully committed to friendship and love.