How stereotypes about boys contribute to health risks

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Transcription:

One of the most important things we need to do as parents is to think about our stereotypes about boys. The fact is we raise and treat girls and boys very differently with tremendous health consequences for our sons. Parents and other adults, for example, actually think that boys – even as babies – are less vulnerable and less fragile than girls, when in fact, they’re more vulnerable. Research shows that we think this based on stereotypes about boys and girls. Stereotypes also contribute to the fact that parents oftentimes fail to see when their sons, but not their daughters, are overweight. So it’s really important for us, as parents, to think about our stereotypes about boys if we want our sons to have realistic perceptions about their health and their risks.

Video Categories: ALL PARENTS, Family Life, Gender Differences

Will Courtenay, PhD Psychotherapist, explains how stereotypes about boys, as opposed to girls, can contribute to a greater health risk for boys

Transcript

Expert Bio

Will Courtenay, PhD

Psychotherapist

Dr. Will Courtenay, “The Men’s Doc,” is an internationally recognized expert in helping boys, men and fathers, and a psychotherapist, consultant, distinguished author, researcher, keynote speaker, radio host, and consultant to and speaker at schools and universities. His new book is titled Dying To Be Men. The American Psychological Association calls him, “a leading psychologist in the field of masculinity” and Who’s Who in America calls him a “foremost achiever in his field.” As one of the world’s leading innovators in the health of boys and men, he has a documented history of success in shaping and promoting this new field, as well as new perspectives on fatherhood, boyhood, and masculinity. Dr. Courtenay received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley and has served on the clinical faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Francisco, Medical School. He is the Founding Editor of the International Journal of Men's Health. Dr. Courtenay is a powerful, effective voice about boys and men, heard nationally on radio and television – including CNN, Good Morning America, World News, Fox News, ABC News, NBC News – and seen in print – including NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, NPR, Newsweek, USA Today, and Chicago Tribune. Dr. Courtenay is a contributor to Esquire Magazine.