Why Can't Boys Talk To Girls Anymore?

A new-ish gender moral panic has emerged, but it might be a relevant one.

We already had this emergent moral panic about young men and young women not being able to speak to each other.

Now we have some more “data” on it, per some interviews done in advance of the 2024 elections.

"We Don't Feel Safe, Heard, or Understood."

Here, for example, is a comment from a guy:

“I wish young women understood young men who don’t have a strong male figure (father) available are sometimes lost in life. They won’t always make the best choices and will make plenty of mistakes. A young women should understand that a young man is only as good as the other males in his life.”

— Adeniyi, Age 31

That’s an interesting one. I think it goes to this idea that #MeToo shifted everything, and that men are increasingly perceived as toxic for doing basic things that women used to seem to appreciate about masculinity. That has caused confusion. I can also tell you that my dad is a good person, but we’re not super close as adults, and that probably did impact some of my relationship-forming-and-maintaining ability. You can go talk to my ex-wife about that, or a slew of teenage/20-something girlfriends, and they’d probably give you a more realistic view of me than I could (self-bias), but I’d say misunderstanding of male dynamics and addiction kinda fucked me for decades. So, I see it.

Here is a quote from a woman: