Richard Reeves explores the structural challenges facing boys and men in modern Western societies, highlighting how shifts in education, employment, and family roles are contributing to a growing “male malaise.” He draws attention to troubling trends: boys lag behind girls in school across math, reading, and science; men’s wages have declined since the late 1970s; and suicide is now the leading cause of death for men under 45 in the UK. Reeves disputes the notion of “toxic masculinity” as a blanket explanation and instead examines how economic, social, and cognitive factors-such as delayed brain maturation in boys-interact with evolving gender norms to leave many men feeling culturally redundant, disconnected from work, education, and family life.
Reeves offers a pragmatic, policy-based roadmap to address this crisis without undermining gender equality. He proposes starting boys at school a year later to allow for developmental differences; encouraging men into caring roles through incentives for HEAL (health, education, administration, literacy) professions; and rethinking fatherhood through staggered parental leave for fathers and mothers. Rather than treating boys and men as a monolithic group, Reeves emphasizes intersectionality, exploring how race, class, and socioeconomic status compound disadvantages, particularly for Black and economically marginalized men. His message is clear: societal structures-not masculinity per se-need reform to uplift both men and women, and to foster a positive vision of masculinity in the 21st century.