What are the most important challenges facing boys in American society today?
“There are enormous contradictions in our society’s messages about violence. On one hand, boys are flooded with images from television, videogames, and movies that are much more graphic and frightening than those which occur naturally in their imaginations. At the same time, boys often are not allowed to express their own fantasies, which include both normal, aggressive thoughts as well as images from those explicitly violent scenes they have viewed in the media. Many adults are afraid that if boys think about or play about violence, they are more likely to become violent, yet boys have played games of good guys and bad guys for centuries without becoming violent from them. The challenge for these boys is to find ways to deal with the increasing stimulation while living with the expanding prohibition about expressing their fantasies in normal boy play.” Jane Katch, M.S.T. A: “I think it depends largely on social class and race. Children living in poverty face different challenges than
