When Boys Become Boys

Book excerpt: When Judy Y. Chu first encountered the four-year-old boys we meet in this book, they were experiencing a social initiation into boyhood. They were initially astute in picking up on other peopleOCOs emotions, emotionally present in their relationships, and competent in their navigation of the human social world. However, the boys gradually appeared less perceptive, articulate, and responsive, and became more guarded and subdued in their relationships as they learned to prove that they are boys primarily by showing that they area not agirls.a a a Based on a two-year study of boys aged four to six, a When Boys Become Boys aoffers a new way of thinking about boysOCO development.a Chu finds that behaviors typically viewed as natural for boys reflect an adaptation to culturesathat require boys to be emotionally stoic, competitive, and aggressive if they are to be accepted as real boys.a Yet even as boys begin to reap the social benefits of aligning with norms of masculine behavior, they pay a psychological and relational price for hiding parts of their authentic selves. a a Through documenting boysOCO perceptions of the obstacles they face and the pressures they feel to conform, and showing that their compliance with norms of masculine behavior is neither automatic nor inevitable, this accessible and engaging bookaprovides insightainto ways in which adults can foster boysOCO healthy resistance andahelp them to access a broader range of options for expressing themselves."