  | Book Details Title: Boys & Sex: Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent, and Navigating the New Masculinity |
Book DescriptionAmazon.com Review In her 2016 book, Girls & Sex, Peggy Orenstein spoke with hundreds of high school and college-aged girls about their thoughts on hookups, love, body shaming, virginity, abstinence, and much, much more. Now Orenstein talks with boys from the same age group, revealing that their path through the modern sexual landscape is just as twisty and thorny, if not more so, as girls’. Consent, pornography, hookup culture, gender identity, sexual preference, and a constantly changing definition of masculinity are among the issues boys struggle with and talk with her about. Orenstein’s straight-ahead questions paired with the boys’ vulnerable answers make Boys & Sex a captivating, eye-opening read. A must for anyone who has a boy or young man whom they love in their life. —Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review Read more Review “Eye-opening…. Every few pages, the boy world cracks open a little bit…. Even in the most anxiety-provoking moments of Boys & Sex, it’s clear that Orenstein believes in the goodness of boys and the men they can become, and she believes in us, as parents, to raise them. As for how? There’s a great, galvanizing chapter at the end.” (New York Times Book Review)“Orenstein’s journey into the world of the young American male may not reassure … but it’s essential.” (People)“[Joins] Orenstein’s provocative 2016 hit Girls & Sex as another game changer…. Candor, empathy and easy humor … animate her reporting.” (Jessica Zack, San Francisco Chronicle)“A sobering look at the landscape in which young men are growing up — and an invitation for the grown-ups in their lives to offer a lot more support and direction.” (Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune)“[Orenstein] trains her expert eye on the world of adolescent boys, and the unique set of challenges that young men are facing today. Boys & Sex is not just a candid and often devastating view into the lives of real high school and college boys right now; it’s an affirmation of hope, and an exercise in the power of listening.” (Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon)“A brisk, bracing read, Boys & Sex is essential for any parent who wants their son to avoid the traps of what’s become known as “toxic masculinity,” to discover his true sexual orientation and desires without trauma, and to have not just safe, legal sex but really great sex. The whip-smart Orenstein … makes a convincing case for why parents who were aware of her work with girls and used to say they were relieved to have sons now “realized that their job may actually be harder: they had to raise good men,” as she writes.” (Brad Wieners, Men’s Health)“Expertly written…. [A] candid and fascinating portrait of young American masculinity.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)“Essential reading.” (PureWow)“Peggy Orenstein has done something rare. She has listened to young men in ways that have allowed them to speak candidly about the fraught world of their sexuality, and she has been true to the complexities of their experiences — their hopes but also the fears, shame, pressures and angers that cause them to violate others and corrode their capacity for care and love. What they say is scary and heartbreaking and vitally important for us all to hear. This is a bracing, insightful, humane, engaging, invaluable book. And it charts the course for real change.” (Richard Weissbourd, Senior Lecturer and Faculty Director of Making Caring Common, Harvard Graduate School of Education)“Masculinity doesn’t have to be toxic―but so much of what we communicate to boys about masculinity is just that. The amazing Peggy Orenstein does more than just document the atrocities. She listens to boys and bears witness to their efforts to free themselves from trap the culture sets for them. Boys & Sex is required reading for anyone who has ever loved, raised, been, or will become a boy.” (Dan Savage, bestselling author and host of Savage Podcast) Read more About the Author Peggy Orenstein is the New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Call Me Princess, Girls & Sex, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Waiting for Daisy, Flux, and Schoolgirls. A contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and Afar, she has also been published in New York, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and other publications. Her TED Talk has received over four million views. She lives in Northern California with her husband and daughter. Read more Customers Review: This book isn’t just great, it’s necessary. So many people are talking about boys — what they think, what they say, why they do the things they do — but very few people bothered to ask them directly. Peggy Orenstein did that and the answers she received are equal parts terrifying, enlightening, and essential if we’re ever going to positively reframe manhood. Wondering why men belittle women in the locker room, call everything bad “gay,” and can’t seem to connect with other men? Read this book and find out straight from the source. This should be required reading for everyone–not just boys or parents of boys. Because this impacts all of us, and Orenstein captures it by doing the important work of actually talking to our boys. | |
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