Misconceptions about teen boys

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For me, when I went into this project, interviewing all these teenage boys, I didn't really go in with the expectation that there were going to be any stereotypes that were true. That's just my background. I have a very open mind. When I went in, I actually discovered that some of the biggest stereotypes about boys, are they don't cry, they don't get emotional, and all they do is think about sex. I found all of those to be not true. What I did find out about boys is that they are deeply emotional. In a lot of cases, I think they are actually more emotional than girls; they just show it in different ways. They are romantic. They weren't just interested in having sex with a girl. They wanted something deep and meaningful relationship with somebody they could relate with, somebody they could be a partner with as they go through their teenage years. One thing that stood out for me with these teenage boys is that they were incredibly loyal when it comes to their friends. They have a deep, emotional relationship with a lot of their guy friends. Overall, I would just say that teenage boys are emotional. They can be incredibly romantic and very sweet. They do have all the capabilities of emotions just like you or me. The misconceptions about boys are just that, misconceptions. My opinion is that if you think that boys are not emotional, then you have not spent any quality time around boys.

Video Categories: ALL PARENTS, Family Life, Gender Differences, TEEN, Parenting Teens, Teen Moods and Attitudes

Malina Saval, Journalist & Author, shares advice from her studies of teenage boys on the most common misconceptions about teen boys in our society

Transcript

Expert Bio

Malina Saval

Journalist & Author

Malina Saval is the author of The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens. As a journalist, her work has appeared in Variety, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, LA Weekly, Flaunt, Jerusalem Post, Forward, Heeb, Premiere.com, Moment and Fanzine, for whom she pens a monthly column entitled "Sponsored in Part." Her short fiction and essays have been included in Palehouse and The Truth About the Fact literary journals and in the anthology Now Write! Nonfiction: Memoir, Journalism and Creative Nonfiction Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers. She's lectured at several universities, including University of Central Florida and University of Eastern Michigan, and has appeared as a special expert guest on the Tavis Smiley Show (PBS), Fox News, NPR's "Talk of the Nation" and the Patt Morrison Show.