Absolutely correct

As I have said, I seem to share parts of my brain with Globe columnist Margaret Wente, probably because we are roughly the same age and vintage. 

Yesterday, her column zeroed in on the pummeling and death of traditional masculinity by the American Psychological Association in its latest "Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Boys and Men".  These "expert professionals" are now saying that..."traditional masculinity -- marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression -- is, on the whole, harmful.  This explains why men are responsible for the vast majority of violence in society."

Oh really?  I thought it was because in any violent encounter between genders, the male usually won because he was the stronger sex and overpowered the weaker female.  "No where in this remarkable document is evolution discussed because apparently the APA doesn't believe in it," writes Wente.  "Nor is there any real acknowledgement that certain male behaviours might be rooted in biology."

As far back as I can remember, I used to say how sorry I felt for the young men of today who had been completely emasculated by the "women's movement".  "Gawd, you can't even pay a woman a compliment without being accused of being a sexist male chauvinist pig," I remember remarking on many occasions.  It's all so sad.

"The APA would basically like us to treat boys as if they were defective girls," says Wente.  That's a brilliant way to look at it because it's true.  "The good news is that these men can be helped.  A good therapist can gently point out the errors in their beliefs in order to liberate them from their destructive male habits," she adds.  The bad news is that this association influences the work of thousands of practitioners and researchers in Canada, as well as the United States, and if these notions take hold, boys are doomed.

"The APA report is just the latest depressing example of the way theories grounded in social constructivism and critical gender theory have leached from academia into wider society," she adds.  In closing, she encourages parents to tell their boys to man up and redeem the good things about masculinity.  "It's time to reject the people who think it's a dirty word."

Frankly, I agree with everything she writes.  Boys aren't girls and girls aren't boys.  We are very different and our differences should be supported -- as long as both genders are afforded the same opportunities and not discriminated against.  Obviously, I am not talking about the Muslim world, where this will never happen because the minute girls try to break free, they are hunted down and killed by their families.  But in the Western world, lets bring back that old expression, "Boys will be boys."