Not teaching boys absurd interpretations of what it means to “be a man” does not only make them feel less insecure about themselves, their bodies and their sexuality, it can also help prevent violence both at home and at school.
Teenage boys with more progressive views about gender are half as likely to engage in violent behaviors as their peers with rigid views about masculinity and gender, according to new research.
The research, which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine Friday, also found that boys who witnessed their peers engaging in two or more verbally, physically or sexually abusive behaviors — such as making disrespectful comments about a girl’s body or makeup — were two to five times more likely to engage in violent behaviors themselves.
Although previous studies have shown a connection between holding rigid views about gender and masculinity and intimate partner violence, the new study sheds light on a trickle-down effect that those views might have on other forms of violence.
“We have for too long siloed sexual and partner violence in one place, youth violence and bullying in another,” said Dr. Elizabeth Miller, lead author of the study and chief of the division of adolescent and young adult medicine at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. The new study forms a foundation to begin “focusing on gender equity as a mechanism to use for violence prevention across the board,” Miller added.