By turns touching, funny, poignant, and painful, BOYHOOD chronicles the road to manhood through the personal narratives and poems of accomplished writers from around the world. "Though some of these more than 40 personal accounts convey the exquisite angst of the men's movement, the broad range of experiences should strike many chords".--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

This book is an attempt to understand suicide from the perspective of a group of men who decided to take their own lives. Their stories imply that male suicide is not, as frequently portrayed, an impulsive action arising from particular, sex-specific, causes but relates to a cluster of interlinked issues which accumulate over time. These issues were not distinctively male concerns but were connected to gender in that the men’s difficulties were exacerbated by the existence of an emotional culture which inhibited males from expressing specific feelings. The prevailing form of masculinity impeded them in developing knowledge of, and speaking about, their emotional needs and from accessing help and this prolonged their suffering and made suicide a possibility. These men produced compelling accounts of their emotional pain which belied notions of male inexpressiveness but the findings point to a link between emotionally constraining cultures and suicidal behaviour for some groups of men.

"At its core was a suspicion of emotional attachments between men and women. Boys were taken under their father's wing from a young age and taught the virtues of reason, responsibility, and maturity. Intimate bonds with mothers were discouraged, as were individual expression, pride, and play. The mature man who moderated his passions and contributed to his family and community was admired, in sharp contrast to the young, adventurous, and aggressive hero who would emerge after the American Revolution and embody our modern image of masculinity."--BOOK JACKET.

This text, by a director of university counselling, examines the interplay of forces shaping the development of masculinity. It is particularly important during a period when the status of men has undergone considerable erosion in society. Counsellors, psychotherapists, mental health professionals, and all those working with teenage males will find this study of sex and gender issues, male bonding, psychosexual adjustment, situational ethics, and sexuality illuminating.

A frank and friendly book explaining puberty and how to stay happy and confident as boys go through physical, psychological and emotional changes. Covers everything boys want to find out about, including moods and feelings, what happens to girls, diet, exercise, body image, sex and relationships, contraception, sexual health, self-confidence, drink and drugs, exam stress and cyberbullying.

This comprehensive, practical resource provides specific strategies for counsellors working with boys and male adolescents from different cultural backgrounds. The first part examines how psychological, career and athletic development of boys is shaped by a complex interaction of biological, social, cultural and economic forces. TheSecond Part covers cultural considerations when counselling particular North American client groups, such as Hispanic-Americans. The final part focuses on special populations such as gay, sexually abused and developmentally disabled boys.

"Rosenbaum offers a spirited and enjoyable defense of his version of love." —The Wall Street Journal A stirring manifesto on love in the modern age, now available for the first time in paperback: . . . In a work of ambition and brio, legendary journalist Ron Rosenbaum tackles his hardest topic yet: everyone's favorite four-letter word. He begins by investigating the neuroscience of love, arguing that our understanding of love is imperiled by quantification and algorithms, which distill our behavior into mathematical formulas, our personality into brain-chemical categories, and our curiosity into quiz questions. The very capacity that makes us human, Rosenbaum posits, is being taken over by numbers. To save it, he turns to literature and pop culture, discussing writing about love from a vast range of sources, including Tolstoy novellas, trailblazing Updike manuscripts, David Foster Wallace and Chrissie Hynde. Part of love’s essence is its mystery, says Rosenbaum, and when he eventually finds his own answer to the riddle of love — a happy ending! — it turns up in a completely unexpected place. In Defense of Love is more than an examination of the intersection of love with literature and science. It is a celebration of the uncanny and the persistent, the sublime and the ridiculous: the inexorable power of love.