The “Crisis” of Male Adolescence Is Nothing New

Written by Katha Pollitt, May 13th, 2025   https://www.thenation.com/article/society/boys-adolescence/#google_vignette

Adolescence is a limited Netflix series about a 13 year-old boy named Jamie, who we learn brutally murdered his classmate, Katie, who rejected him with a snarky put-down. The series then switches to an empathetic policeman and his no-bullshit woman partner as they build a case on Jamie; a psychologist tries to understand Jamie's mind and motive, and then finally his heartbroken parents and older sister as they realize what Jamie has done. unaware to Jamies parents, when Jamie was locked away in his room for hours, he was under the sway of manosphere and its blend of entitlement and self-loathing where men only deserve female subservience if they are rich and aggressive "alphas" like Andrew Tate. Jamie, who is not ugly in any sense, cries out to his psychologist that he is "ugly". We are used to hearing teenage girls hating their own bodies, but we are not used to hearing it from boys. Adolescence is aimed at good willed but clueless adults, like the ones in Jamies life. The fault does not lie with the parents, but did they neglect Jamie with the pressure of work? what effect did it have when he expressed disappointment that Jamie proffered drawing over sports? The boys are behind girls in school these days; they are less likely to go to collage and to graduate. It is said that too many spend all day playing video games, watching porn, getting stoned, and getting into trouble. But this has been happening for decades, girls have done better that boys in school since 1914, female college enrolment has exceeded that of males since the early 1980's. One of the main reasons men are avoidant of college and jobs is due to their male entitlement. Boys and Young men have not yet taken in the fact that certain privileges are no longer laid out on a platter for them, as they were for fathers and grandfathers. Some studies show that parents still reserve some privileges for boys.                                                                                   

These concerns mentioned in the article are real for me. My brother shows a lot of this. Growing up my brother, Shepherd, was experiencing mental problems. He has ADHD and would often run away or hit his parents. This made him for coddled and may parents were more leaneant on him growing up. Now, he is in grade 11, which is the most important year for grades and getting your college application together, and he is failing. He does not have a job, he does not do any household chores, and he stays up very late into the night playing video games. This behaviour leads into a very unresponsible adult life. If he cannot get his act together In the future during college he will fail in life. This isn't just my brother, this tends to be a trend with teenage boys. Jobs do not favour males anymore, its people with skills, You cannot just assume life is going to work out for your because you are a man. Lots of young boys do not go out of their way for grades or joining a club because they do not want to hurt their fragile masculinity. I see it a lot now days with guys, some of them are smart, they just never put themselves out there. Adolescence was an eye opening watch and I loved the series, I hope they release more shows like this, that comment on society.