"...and as girls have been channeled into once-traditionally male spaces, it’s displaced boys, as boys, like men, neither have a similar incantation to invade the other sex’s spaces, nor are boys particularly welcome in women’s spaces." - what is also true, is that by and large, boys are not particularly interested in most women's spaces (male cheerleader discussion for later), so there's neither a push nor pull function going on there. But I will die on the hill of "Yes, there should be women's only spaces, but there must also be men's only spaces" - you ever notice that even conservative, Christian, right-leaning women choke on the second part a lot?
Most women of certain generations balk at the idea of men-only spaces because of social conditioning. I’m sure my grandmothers’ generation not only understood and applauded that each sex had its own spaces, but was happy for the separation.
Count me in on that support. Men Only spaces are sorely needed and should be encouraged as much as Women Only ones.
Props to Bradford Walker's "Clubhouse" posts on gaming. He doesn't gear those recommendations to Men Only spaces, but the methods to create such environments are similar to the Gaming Clubhouse.
The thing binary thinkers can’t understand is that men-only doesn’t mean and end to women-only. Both can exist and neither is inherently bad. The double-standard is what pisses men off. There is no intent to have equality between the sexes.
I wish I could go back in time and burn every copy of every After School Special or cartoon show that had a very special episode about how "mean" it was to not allow girls in their clubhouse. I am absolutely a gatekeeper, and I believe firmly in gatekeeping for the reasons Bradford writes about. Keep a thing from being transformed into something it's not and never meant to be.
Not a new show, but the original Speed Racer hits a great sweet spot of adventure, heroism, romance, cartoon zaniness, and artistry. The show is a mood.
I find it interesting that the modern pro-girl media is NOT AT ALL the mirror image of the former media tailored to boys. Is it even a positive influence for girls? That they are god's gift to this earth and their only conflict they will ever face is that they need to force people to admit that? Where is the boy-media where the boy was the best at everything from day 1? Only villains would ever be portrayed like that. With boys, it used to be about the journey. Every girl child in these new shows/movies has the maturity of an adult and often literally takes care of the adults (the oh so common single dad/only-child-girl dynamic). I think that if you dropped a male into many of these roles, the movie/show would cease to make sense to people (they might ask, "what's the point of this?"). Do girls identify with these characters? Is the lesson: "you're already the best", valuable? Or do they feel that the gap between them and the hero is widened?
I feel so bad for the young men who have been growing up on this content. I think a lot of these creators justify it as being novel or fresh, while the library of boy-oriented content is still there. Children will not watch He-man, or at least not the same way they will watch the new shows. To many of these kids, this is all the media they've ever known. I'm an adult and I have grown tired of it; I truly sympathize with any young boys who do not have the experience of growing up with inspirational boy role models and heros to fortify them.
You are right. That’s the Mary Sue phenomenon. It’s why no Star Wars fan really liked the character of Rey—and it wasn’t actress Daisy Ridley’s fault! The character was good at everything, including the Force, for no reason. Her beating Kylo Ren in Episode VII would be like Luke beating Darth Vader in the original movie. So lame.
I don't like Paw Patrol. I don't like that my son likes it. But I let him watch it, because it avoids most of the modern tropes you mentioned in your article. At the end of the day, it's a boy (and a bunch of dogs, mostly male) solving problems. The boy is depicted as the most competent character by far. So perhaps I'll usher my son towards some 80s classics in a year or two, but for now it's Paw Patrol.
Man, I wasn't allowed to watch He-man as a kid "because it had magic in it". My Little Pony was only permitted because a friend taped the show for me sometimes. Now I kind of want to watch some of it and see what it was like. There was a girl warrior show at the same time I also wasn't allowed to watch. She-ra? The little gray cells are failing me. Anyway, now that I have sons, finding good media for them is pretty tough. We've had to go back to older books, to King Arthur and Ralph Moody. As for shows, my littles love Bluey and lots of different anime (funny how Digimon appeals to both boys and girls by hitting those three points you mentioned). My eldest son is into obscure object shows, which are kind of like indie animation shows where viewers can vote characters off the show. Modern culture hates children in general and boys in particular. I find it extremely odd that game companies no longer create Edutainment games, which were huge hits in the 90s and 2000s. The Sims is one of the few holdouts from that era because adults still play it. I guess that leaves it up to us writers, eh?
You know what other movie did this well? Speed. For both men and women. The movie was huge for a reason. You had two absolutely gorgeous leads, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, who were both smart, tough, capable, and heroic, but Keanu was all man and Bullock was all woman, and there was an honest-to-goodness romance between the characters. A stupid fun movie, but so well done.
Gotta say, I love the clarity that we should be providing good, uplifting content for boys and girls. The desire to degrade a whole class of person in stories says a lot. Sometimes it's ridiculous ideology, but I think other times it's based in personal wounds. Either way, it ruins stories, and as we're learning, it messes up impressionable kids.
Exactly. And the messing up of impressionable kids is deliberate. A culture is the stories it tells itself. And by that standard, we have a sick culture.
The perfect show for young boys and their fathers alike is the early 90s classic Batman: the Animated Series. Bruce Wayne/Batman is always intelligent, courageous, and upright, restoring order in the midst of chaos. From the earliest I could remember, I always loved Batman and I look forward to watching this show with my boy when he's old enough.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention Batman: TAS in this post. That show is so good and it still holds up. My brother and I tried to record every episode; we had about four videotapes worth of the show. Wish I could still find them.
Fantastic article. I have a son, too. I’ve never watched He man, but I am skeptical of kids entertainment these days. I may just find some old episodes to let him watch. Thanks so much.
Jenn, glad you liked this. Your son might find the animation in He-Man a little primitive, but there’s a lot of fun imagination in the episodes, and the characters are cool.
It's still surprising to me how well the original Thundercats holds up. Tigra's planning and architectural skills are as essential as his athleticism and the same goes for Panthro's mechanical abilities. How many evil plans were foiled because someone underestimated the Snarf? Lion-O has lessons to learn about all sorts of things but he is still the hero. While all of the cats are capable and intelligent it is the team with their different yet complementary skills and personalities that bring them victory, unified in an acknowledged head. But most of all, approaching forty years later it is their dedication to Truth, Justice, Honor, Loyalty-The Code of Thundera that inspired us all to be more than we were.
"...and as girls have been channeled into once-traditionally male spaces, it’s displaced boys, as boys, like men, neither have a similar incantation to invade the other sex’s spaces, nor are boys particularly welcome in women’s spaces." - what is also true, is that by and large, boys are not particularly interested in most women's spaces (male cheerleader discussion for later), so there's neither a push nor pull function going on there. But I will die on the hill of "Yes, there should be women's only spaces, but there must also be men's only spaces" - you ever notice that even conservative, Christian, right-leaning women choke on the second part a lot?
Most women of certain generations balk at the idea of men-only spaces because of social conditioning. I’m sure my grandmothers’ generation not only understood and applauded that each sex had its own spaces, but was happy for the separation.
Count me in on that support. Men Only spaces are sorely needed and should be encouraged as much as Women Only ones.
Props to Bradford Walker's "Clubhouse" posts on gaming. He doesn't gear those recommendations to Men Only spaces, but the methods to create such environments are similar to the Gaming Clubhouse.
The thing binary thinkers can’t understand is that men-only doesn’t mean and end to women-only. Both can exist and neither is inherently bad. The double-standard is what pisses men off. There is no intent to have equality between the sexes.
I wish I could go back in time and burn every copy of every After School Special or cartoon show that had a very special episode about how "mean" it was to not allow girls in their clubhouse. I am absolutely a gatekeeper, and I believe firmly in gatekeeping for the reasons Bradford writes about. Keep a thing from being transformed into something it's not and never meant to be.
That kind of gatekeeping on Mens’ and Womens’ spaces is preservative of Western Culture. Men are not Women, and Women are not Men. This is Reality.
Not a new show, but the original Speed Racer hits a great sweet spot of adventure, heroism, romance, cartoon zaniness, and artistry. The show is a mood.
I have not watched an episode of that since I was maybe six. Time to fire up the way back machine, aka YouTube.
Side note: isn’t Inspector Detector one of the greatest character names of all time?
It looks like all episodes are free to stream at https://tubitv.com/series/300010843/speed-racer-dubbed
Nice!
Ninja Turtles was sick you could always identify with one or another of the turtles and as Casey Jones was badass
That’s another good one. None of the Turtles was a buffoon needing April to kick his ass into gear. Ditto Casey.
Great article, thank you.
I find it interesting that the modern pro-girl media is NOT AT ALL the mirror image of the former media tailored to boys. Is it even a positive influence for girls? That they are god's gift to this earth and their only conflict they will ever face is that they need to force people to admit that? Where is the boy-media where the boy was the best at everything from day 1? Only villains would ever be portrayed like that. With boys, it used to be about the journey. Every girl child in these new shows/movies has the maturity of an adult and often literally takes care of the adults (the oh so common single dad/only-child-girl dynamic). I think that if you dropped a male into many of these roles, the movie/show would cease to make sense to people (they might ask, "what's the point of this?"). Do girls identify with these characters? Is the lesson: "you're already the best", valuable? Or do they feel that the gap between them and the hero is widened?
I feel so bad for the young men who have been growing up on this content. I think a lot of these creators justify it as being novel or fresh, while the library of boy-oriented content is still there. Children will not watch He-man, or at least not the same way they will watch the new shows. To many of these kids, this is all the media they've ever known. I'm an adult and I have grown tired of it; I truly sympathize with any young boys who do not have the experience of growing up with inspirational boy role models and heros to fortify them.
You are right. That’s the Mary Sue phenomenon. It’s why no Star Wars fan really liked the character of Rey—and it wasn’t actress Daisy Ridley’s fault! The character was good at everything, including the Force, for no reason. Her beating Kylo Ren in Episode VII would be like Luke beating Darth Vader in the original movie. So lame.
I don't like Paw Patrol. I don't like that my son likes it. But I let him watch it, because it avoids most of the modern tropes you mentioned in your article. At the end of the day, it's a boy (and a bunch of dogs, mostly male) solving problems. The boy is depicted as the most competent character by far. So perhaps I'll usher my son towards some 80s classics in a year or two, but for now it's Paw Patrol.
Good example! My son never got too into that, and my daughter only peripherally.
Man, I wasn't allowed to watch He-man as a kid "because it had magic in it". My Little Pony was only permitted because a friend taped the show for me sometimes. Now I kind of want to watch some of it and see what it was like. There was a girl warrior show at the same time I also wasn't allowed to watch. She-ra? The little gray cells are failing me. Anyway, now that I have sons, finding good media for them is pretty tough. We've had to go back to older books, to King Arthur and Ralph Moody. As for shows, my littles love Bluey and lots of different anime (funny how Digimon appeals to both boys and girls by hitting those three points you mentioned). My eldest son is into obscure object shows, which are kind of like indie animation shows where viewers can vote characters off the show. Modern culture hates children in general and boys in particular. I find it extremely odd that game companies no longer create Edutainment games, which were huge hits in the 90s and 2000s. The Sims is one of the few holdouts from that era because adults still play it. I guess that leaves it up to us writers, eh?
There are wide open fields to plant in because others have left them fallow. Go to it!
Good point about anime! I think a lot of the Japanese’s avoidance of these tropes is why anime and manga are very popular in the United States.
💯…… I thought of the movie “Toy Soldiers” while reading this- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Soldiers_(1991_film). I was READY for terrorists to take over my school.
I never saw that movie but I remember it.
And it’s amazing when women don’t believe all boys dreamed of this, but it’s totally true! We want to save the day.
That's exactly what the title made me think of. Loved that movie as a young teen.
We were all John Matrix and Frank Dux back then. (We still are!)
Yes!
You know what other movie did this well? Speed. For both men and women. The movie was huge for a reason. You had two absolutely gorgeous leads, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, who were both smart, tough, capable, and heroic, but Keanu was all man and Bullock was all woman, and there was an honest-to-goodness romance between the characters. A stupid fun movie, but so well done.
Gotta say, I love the clarity that we should be providing good, uplifting content for boys and girls. The desire to degrade a whole class of person in stories says a lot. Sometimes it's ridiculous ideology, but I think other times it's based in personal wounds. Either way, it ruins stories, and as we're learning, it messes up impressionable kids.
Exactly. And the messing up of impressionable kids is deliberate. A culture is the stories it tells itself. And by that standard, we have a sick culture.
Agreed. What age group are you writing for along with your son?
My Swordbringer trilogy is aimed at teenagers but I think it’s good for ages 12-100.
I’ve been thinking about something like this. I want to watch something with a hero, not some nerds or a focus on the bad guy and why he’s bad.
Exactly.
I’m not a boy but I sure do like them, I approve this message.
I am standing right there with you!
🫡
The perfect show for young boys and their fathers alike is the early 90s classic Batman: the Animated Series. Bruce Wayne/Batman is always intelligent, courageous, and upright, restoring order in the midst of chaos. From the earliest I could remember, I always loved Batman and I look forward to watching this show with my boy when he's old enough.
(All seasons streaming on Prime and Max)
I can’t believe I forgot to mention Batman: TAS in this post. That show is so good and it still holds up. My brother and I tried to record every episode; we had about four videotapes worth of the show. Wish I could still find them.
Fantastic article. I have a son, too. I’ve never watched He man, but I am skeptical of kids entertainment these days. I may just find some old episodes to let him watch. Thanks so much.
Jenn, glad you liked this. Your son might find the animation in He-Man a little primitive, but there’s a lot of fun imagination in the episodes, and the characters are cool.
Thank you! I think I’ll let him check it out this weekend!
It's still surprising to me how well the original Thundercats holds up. Tigra's planning and architectural skills are as essential as his athleticism and the same goes for Panthro's mechanical abilities. How many evil plans were foiled because someone underestimated the Snarf? Lion-O has lessons to learn about all sorts of things but he is still the hero. While all of the cats are capable and intelligent it is the team with their different yet complementary skills and personalities that bring them victory, unified in an acknowledged head. But most of all, approaching forty years later it is their dedication to Truth, Justice, Honor, Loyalty-The Code of Thundera that inspired us all to be more than we were.
Now that’s a cartoon I loved as a kid but haven’t watched in decades. I’ll have to fire up some episodes myself. Such a great look to it.
And when boys grow into men, they want this. At least, I do - https://www.tiktok.com/@iampaulconway/video/7411621573599284522
I non ironically daydreamed about saving my school from terrorists when I was 8.
We all did!