Instructions: Watch the documentary, “The Mask You Live In” and participate in the discussion assignment below. (Google movie)
“Boys really buy into a culture that doesn’t value what we’ve feminized. So we’ve made feminine: relationships, emotions, all those critical things, empathy, and so boys begin to devalue their relational parts to themselves, their relational needs, their relational desires.” (Niobe Way, The Mask You Live In)
Answer each question based off the movie. Write 1 to 2 paragraphs answering each question.
1. What are some of the ways boys are taught to devalue what our culture deems as feminine? What can society do to help place value on these traits?
2. As teachers and other professionals working with children and/or families, what can we do to prevent boys from becoming emotionally constricted? What strategies can we invoke to promote healthier forms of masculinity?