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A vital and sweeping examination of today's "boy crisis," demonstrating the ways in which we raise boys into a culture of toxic masculinity and offering solutions that can liberate us allWhether they're being urged to "man up" or warned that "boys don't cry," young men are subjected to damaging messages about manliness: they must muzzle their emotions and never show weakness, dominate girls and compete with one another.Boys: What It Means to Become a Man examines how these toxic rules can hinder boys' emotional and social development. If girls can expand the borders of femaleness, could boys also be set free of limiting, damaging expectations about manhood and masculinity? Could what's been labelled "the boy crisis" be the beginning of a revolution in how we raise young men? Drawing on extensive research and interviews with educators, activists, parents, psychologists, sociologists, and young men, Giese--mother to a son herself--examines the myths of masculinity and the challenges facing boys today.