William Pollack Quotes (6 Quotes)

It's still a man's world.

There is a crisis in boyhood in America today.

Research shows, ... that while mothers tend to soothe their children and shield them from too much stimulation, the average father is inclined to arouse the emotions and stimulate a boy, playing with him zestfully and 'jazzing' him up. That roughhousing between father and son that may make mom cringe is actually the rudimentary beginning of a boy's management of his aggression and his ability to substitute emotional mastery and mutual cooperation for violent interaction.

Many people, ... base their thinking about boys on the myth that 'testosterone aggressiveness boys,' but nothing in the research, mine included, proves that equation to be true . So why do men behave so much more violently than women do, if there is no male 'violence chromosome' When boys feel disconnected (from adequate love and support) and afraid of being shamed, when they harden themselves and then put on the macho mask, the one emotion they feel it's acceptable to show, and thus the only emotion they will show, is anger.

I think he's got it basically right, although I don't believe the system was set up purposely to hurt boys.

At 5 years old boys feel shamed if they don't push away from mom.