Bro culture is a life sentence of poor mental health

This Movember we need to join some dots about Bro culture and men and boys' mental health. 

Transcript

Bro culture is a life sentence

of poor mental health

in boys and men.

Now, it is Movember,

and we are talking a lot about

boys’ and men's mental health,

as we should.

It is very important.

But let me just

join some dots

for you.

In the same month that

we are talking about

mental health,

We have seen an increase in

“Your body, my choice”,

In “Go back to the kitchen”,

“Make me a sandwich”,

In “Rapable Lists”.

In primary school,

we're seeing an increase in

“Girls are weak,

chuck them in the creek”.

Now what we know for sure

about mental health is

one of the biggest indicators

for poor mental health

in boys and men

is not having

intimate relationships

and connections with other people.

It's loneliness.

It's not having friends

that you can rely on.

Now, if boys grow up

with Bro culture,

If they need to be able to dominate

and control and

be superior to women and girls

in order to feel

okay about themselves,

then that wipes out

half the population

as potential people they

can have meaningful connections with.

It means that

they will never have a

successful

heterosexual relationship

because you cannot have a

meaningful connection with someone

if you have to control them

to feel good about yourself.

It means that they'll never

have a meaningful connection

with a female colleague.

It means that

they'll never be able to

cope with having a female boss.

So that's all the girls and women

gone

as potential connections

for boys and men.

Let's look at boys and men.

In Bro culture,

you have to be strong

at all times.

Never show weakness,

never show vulnerability,

never admit that

you have made a mistake.

If boys behave like that,

it means that they will never

have a meaningful connect with

a boy or a man either.

It means that they will

spend their whole life,

never having that person that

they can call

at two o'clock in the morning

when their life falls apart.

And for mental health,

we all need at least one person

that we can rely on in a crisis.

So if we want get serious about

talking about

boys’ and men's mental health,

we have to get serious about

talking about Bro culture.

We know that Bro culture

is really bad for girls and women,

but what you push out into the world

comes right back at you,

and it is really bad

for boys and men too.

I am Kasey Edwards.

I am the author of

Bringing Up boys who like themselves

and if you want your boy

to like himself,

if you want him to have

good, robust mental health,

then he needs

the gift of

strength of character

and not the brittleness

of bro culture.