It’s a particular conceit of authoritarian ideologies that they can somehow mould imperfect human beings into their perfect ideal. Whether it’s by architecture (as per Ayn Rand, Albert Speer or the Brutalists) or by indoctrination, these doctrinaire loons remain absolutely convinced that their ideology is the one that will make humans into angels fit for the paradise on Earth they’re building on the heaps of corpses.
The ‘gender’ nutcases are no different. Not content with chemically and medically mutilating children to fit their nutty ideology, they are determined to warp their brains with garbage propaganda, including, as authoritarian ideologues will, trying to twist so-called ‘ideological state apparatus’ to their own ends.
The Boy Scouts of America has officially changed its name to “Scouting America.” Virtually all mentions of the word “boy” have been scrubbed from the updated Scouting America website – even from the timeline detailing the organization’s 1910 founding and historical benchmarks.
Lord Baden-Powell, the original founder of the scouting movement in the early 1900s, modeled his “scouts” after the military. Today, “Scouting America” encourages boys to “do fun things together” in “a welcoming, safe environment where scouts can freely express themselves.”
Of course, boys are especially getting it in the neck. Neither the Girls Scouts in America, nor the Girl Guides in Commonwealth nations, have changed their names. That’s because, while (some) feminists rightly assert that womanhood is under assault from the ‘trans’ movement, they don’t seem too inclined to examine their own, sustained, assault on masculinity.
As Christina Hoff Sommers argues, The War Against Boys is the grim reality facing boys and young men.
In recent years, a growing number of Americans have recognized that boys and men are facing unique challenges – social, emotional, and developmental – that deserve attention and support. Since 2010, teenage boys have experienced a 161 percent increase in depression. Last year, the American Institute for Boys and Men cited that boys are typically one grade level behind girls in English language arts. In 2023, US Census Bureau data revealed that about 18 million American children – roughly one in four – live without an active father in the home.
It’s no better – indeed, likely worse – when they start school. Male role models in the classroom are almost entirely absent. Over 70 per cent of teachers in Australia are women: over 80 per cent in primary school. The dominance is even higher in education bureaucracy and curriculum design.
As a consequence, education is overwhelmingly tailored to female psychology: from set texts that are almost completely ‘girly’ to ever-longer hours in the classroom. Classrooms where boys are expected to behave like girls: sitting quietly and obediently in co-operative social groups. At worst, boys are literally shamed for being boys. In a particularly notorious example, boys in a school were made to publicly apologise... for just being male.
Unsurprisingly, then, boys are not just falling further and further behind in school and university, but in the workforce. Yet, overwhelmingly, government programmes are tailored to girls. Governments have ministers for women: no such concern for men and boys.
From higher dropout rates and mental health struggles to the pressures of navigating rapidly changing societal expectations, many boys and young men are searching for guidance, connection, and purpose. One vital way to address these challenges is by investing in male-centered programs that encourage healthy masculinity, along with resources that inspire young men to be their best.
Spoiler alert: that doesn’t mean making them read Clementine Ford’s latest misandrist hate-screed or forcing them to endure a Drag Queen Story Hour.
For decades, organizations like the Boy Scouts gave boys a structured environment where they could develop leadership, resilience, and a strong sense of identity. These types of programs offer more than just outdoor skills—they promote mentorship, responsibility, and service to others, which are essential ingredients for personal growth—and the exact values missing from much of today’s youth culture. Thankfully, some new organizations, like Trail Life USA, have stepped up to fill in the void that has been created by the changes to Boy Scouts of America.
But the place where boys will spend most of their formative years is in the classroom, which is a desert, where boys’ intellectual interests are concerned.
The institutions that once instilled grit and shaped young men into protectors of national stability no longer function as they once did. Historical risk-takers like Lewis and Clark, Daniel Boone, and John Sutter – figures who advanced our nation’s ideals during America’s formative years – are no longer required in many state education departments. What happens to a nation when it stops teaching toughness?
In an Australian context, things are much worse. Boys are not only not taught about such stirring, admirable, men as Captain James Cook, Governor Arthur Phillip, Matthew Flinders, Hume and Hovell, or, increasingly, the Anzacs, they’re taught that such men were evil. ‘Colonisers’ and ‘oppressors’. Even the Anzac legend is under assault from ‘Teachers for Palestine’, who demand to teach kids that the Anzacs were war criminals and ‘imperialist oppressors’ (never mind that they were fighting the huge, brutal, Ottoman Empire).
In a time when young men are often struggling to find meaning or are criticized for natural traits like competitiveness and assertiveness, these lessons about American [or Australian] trailblazers offer a constructive framework to develop responsibility, strength, and integrity.
Teaching toughness through history does not promote aggression – it cultivates discipline, perseverance, and true strength demonstrated through serving others. By reconnecting boys with the legacy of American [and Australian] pioneers, inventors, statesmen, and protectors, we prepare them to become capable, principled men who can lead with strength and make a difference in their communities and their country.
Which, it is too obvious by now, is the last thing the thought leaders of the elite really want. When boys are thoroughly emasculated, and so is our history, then the triumph of the Long March will be complete.
